Jessi Gold, director of wellness, engagement, and outreach in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, joins Cheddar News to discuss workplace burnout and what signs to look out for. 

Cheddar Wellness

Understanding Workplace Burnout 

Well guys, according to a new survey published in the Harvard Business Review, it found that nearly 90% of respondents in more than 40 different countries felt that their work lives were getting worse during the pandemic. Meanwhile, more than 60% felt that they were experiencing burnout often. So as more and more offices are now returning to work, the importance of understanding what burnout looks like now, essential for employees. So joining us now to discuss is Dr Jesse Gold, assistant professor and director of wellness engagement and outreach in the department of psychiatry over at Washington University School of Medicine in ST louis such a pleasure to have you here. So what are some of the signs that maybe a person might be experiencing burnout here? It's a good question because we use the term a lot I think pretty colloquially and it doesn't always mean burnout in the same sense that someone might come see a therapist or see someone like me and when they use it like clinically, I think what the definition that we tend to use is is like you have emotional exhaustion, which to me looks a lot like physical exhaustion and people just feeling really tired of everything, including work because all of things burnout are associated directly with work. A reduced sense of personal accomplishment, which means that you're not getting as much done, you want to get stuff done, you're not getting it done. And then the last one that we use is called depersonalization, which means, you know, I think when you're talking about something like healthcare, it would be treating patients more like objects. But if that's not your job, it's sort of just being less empathetic and less connected to what you're doing. And I think all of that is something people were experiencing before. Covid, like you mentioned, it's been worse with covid and with the changes in the work environment, but including the things we were talking about with parents and having that on top of everything else that people are dealing with. So, so many of us exhausted from work from life from the pandemic, all of that. What happens if you don't address the burnout situation? What then really happens? It's a good question. I think that for the most part when we think about burnout, I think about it as a risk factor for other things. So if you address burnout, perhaps you won't get depressed from the workplace. Burnout is also associated with things like substance use, car crashes. If you're a physician, there's a lot of evidence that it affects patients like specifically and we have like evidence that people have more errors at work and that's particularly a problem if you are in healthcare, but that is a problem in a lot of different jobs. I think that, you know, if you don't get it addressed earlier, it can cause these other problems which have long standing effects. And I think it's better to hit it on the prevention side than anything else? Okay, so let's talk about those tips for addressing it. What do you sort of recommend here for those who are sort of experiencing either burn out now or on the or on the cusp of feeling of of getting burnout. What do we sort of do to assess it here? Good question. I think that people often don't realize they're burnt out until they're very burnt out. So that criterion of like reduced sense of personal accomplishment I think is the one that most people notice because they're not doing what they want to be doing. But the whole like being tired, being exhausted, feeling like work, you're disconnected from it. It almost feels like a badge of honor in the way that we view work in America. So I think that being able to notice that there is a difference from being tired and being like so emotionally exhausted, you don't want to wake up and don't go to work the next day, you want to stay in bed, you're really frustrated with things like emails. Those are really easy warning signs right at the beginning instead of waiting until you're at the point where you absolutely need to be taking time off work evidence wise, I think what we know helps with burnout is control. So having a way to have more control over what your workday looks like. It's hard in some jobs. I totally understand that, but being able to say like these meetings give me joy these meetings don't how do I have a schedule that has some combination of all of it? Is there a way to change with some of the people I work with? So they do some of the tasks they like better but are the tasks that I don't like to do that again obviously is some kind of privilege in the workplace to be able to do that but it can make a big difference. I think that another thing that we know is helpful is social support. So being able to talk to people about what's going on particularly colleagues I think is we tend to keep a lot of our feelings about emotions and the work that we're doing outside of the workplace and bring that home to friends and partners. And I think that's really helpful but I also think it's really validating if you have that one work colleague that you really trust and you can be honest with and they can support you through it. So that's a big thing. And then the third thing would be meaning so meaning and purpose like what do you derive value from in your workplace and can you emphasize that more somehow? What do you like about your work? And you know I think a lot of people are having that conversation with themselves more because of covid like what do they value and what parts of their day do they value? And is it important for them to come home every day to dinner with their families? And is that possible in their current work environment or do they need to change their current work environment in some way or not even be working there anymore? And I think that's why we're seeing a lot of people make that decision. Absolutely. I have only about a minute or so left with you, but now that employees are now coming back to the office now and there's sort of this return to normal life that we're all experiencing here sued. Do you expect burnout to continue or do you think it's going to evolve in change now that we're sort of going back to where things were just a few years ago. It's hard to predict, but I think we're all different. So, it's a different person going back to the quote unquote same workplace, but it's not the same workplace. So, we have different stressors, we are different people who have had different things happen to us and that may make the workplace harder than we had at the beginning, even if it is, quote unquote the same workplace, you know. All right. Dr Jesse Gold, Assistant Professor and Director of wellness engagement and outreach in the department of psychiatry over at Washington University School of Medicine in ST louis such a pleasure to have you here. Thanks so much for joining us