Tag: well being

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9 crucial employee burnout statistics & trends (2023)

Summary

  • Fifty-nine percent of US workers are burnt out in their current job. – More 

  • Workplace stress was at a record high in the past year. – More 

  • More than half of the workforce cannot find a work-life balance. – More 

  • Employees with the least financial security are most likely to be burnt out. – More 

  • Employees aren’t using well-being perks and benefits. – More 

  • Hourly and shift-based industries are more prone to employee burnout. – More

Employee burnout is by no means a new concept. It was first introduced in 1974 by psychologist Herbert Freudenberger. He described it as an “onslaught” that staff members experience as a result of “excessive demands” on their energy, strength, and resources, rendering a person “inoperative.” 

Decades have passed since then, and our personal and professional lives have become more fast-paced, increasing the risk of burnout and work-related stress. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) listed burnout as a syndrome and an occupational phenomenon in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).  

The WHO says burnout is caused by “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” It is said to have three dimensions:

  • “feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
  • increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and
  • reduced professional efficacy.”

Less than a year after burnout was recognized by the WHO, the COVID-19 pandemic caused people to lose their jobs and frontline workers to fear for their safety, and many people’s homes doubled as their workplaces. This sent job burnout levels through the roof. 

Workplace burnout is a symptom that negatively affects employee well-being, wreaking havoc on the work environment as well as employee output. Here’s a look at some of the latest burnout statistics to help you better understand and tackle it.  

More than half of US workers experience burnout

The American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (Aflac) conducted a study between August and September 2022 and found that most US workers experience burnout. Thirty-six percent rated their level of burnout as moderate, 15% as high, and 8% as very high. 

These levels of work burnout are significantly higher than those reported in 2021 (nine percentage points more) and are two percentage points higher than 2020 levels.  

Workplace stress is at an all-time high

Stress is one of the main drivers behind burnout, so it is important to look at employee stress levels when trying to understand the prevalence of burnout.  

The latest Gallup State of the Global Workplace report found that workers around the world were experiencing record-high levels of daily stress. Pre-COVID, 38% of respondents said that they experienced stress during much of the previous day. When COVID hit, that percentage rose to 43%, and it rose to 44% in 2021 — the highest Gallup has ever recorded. 

Work-life balance is in jeopardy

A workplace culture and environment that provides workers with a sense of satisfaction and well-being helps people achieve a better work-life balance. Striking that balance means having the time and energy for family, personal relationships, and leisure, as well as employee engagement at the workplace. 

Harvard Business Review found that 55% of employees have been unable to establish a work-life balance. They also found that personal relationships have been negatively affected, with workers not being able to maintain a strong connection with family (25%), colleagues (39%), or friends (50%). 

According to psychologist Michael Leiter:

“These survey responses make it clear that a lot of people are having serious disruptions in their relationship with work […] It’s not surprising that people are more exhausted — people are working hard to keep their work and personal lives afloat.”

The most “financially fragile” are the most burnt out

Aflac’s study shows, perhaps unsurprisingly, that the groups with the most financial struggles are the ones that exhibit the most burnout symptoms — namely younger workers and Hispanic populations. US workers who reported “at least moderate levels” of burnout include:

  • 71% of Gen Z 
  • 69% of Hispanics
  • 65% of millennials
  • 57% of Gen X
  • 38% of baby boomers

They also found that more women reported feeling burnout (62%) than men (57%). The study also found that people who had more than one job were more likely to experience burnout than those with one job. 

Webinar: How to Manage Burnout of Younger Employees

Burned-out employees are struggling with mental health issues

According to the WHO’s guidelines on mental health at work, the workplace can be either a protective or a disruptive force for employees’ mental health. Workplace stressors and burnout have been found to go hand in hand with a number of mental health challenges, according to research done by Aflac. The most prevalent issues are anxiety, depression, and trouble sleeping.  

Webinar: How to Support the Mental Health of Hourly Staff

Job satisfaction, performance, and employee retention are negatively affected by burnout

Burnout also spells bad news for employers. It has been strongly linked with lower job satisfaction and job loyalty. It also affects workers’ opinions on whether or not their companies care for them. This effect can be seen when looking at the difference between employees who experience moderate, high, and low or no levels of burnout:

Job satisfaction rate “I believe my employer cares about my physical & mental health” The likelihood of looking for another job
High burnout 55% 47% 56%
Moderate burnout 57% 51% 29%
Low/no burnout 80% 67% 18%

All of this results in employees who are less productive at work. Nearly half (46%) of employees self-reported that their mental health situation has had a negative impact on their job performance. Similarly, just over half (51%) of employers interviewed said that the poor state of employee mental health has had an impact on the organization as a whole. 

This negative effect on mental health is felt somewhat stronger by hybrid workers (52%) and remote workers (49%) when compared to their on-site (41%) co-workers. 

Webinar: How to Stop Employee Turnover

Employee well-being programs aren’t utilized

In an attempt to safeguard employees’ physical and mental health, organizations are implementing different types of health and wellness perks and benefits for their employees. These include:

    • Paid sick days for the benefit of their mental well-being, to tackle emotional exhaustion, or when feeling overwhelmed.
    • Stipends for health and wellness expenses such as gym membership, therapy, healthcare costs, etc. 
    • Courses on stress management
    • Flexible work hours to help employees better manage their work-life balance.

In one study, Deloitte found that 68% of workers surveyed are not using the well-being resources and perks that their organizations are offering them. This is because they find them “too time-consuming, confusing, or cumbersome.” 

Shift-based industries have some of the highest burnout rates

One study surveyed employees from various industries to see which ones have the highest rates of burnout. The hotel, food services, and hospitality industry topped the list, with 80.3% of employees feeling burnt out by their workload. 

The next highest are manufacturing (77.4%) and medical and healthcare (76.8%). Wholesale and retail ranked sixth highest at 75%. 

One of the main causes of burnout? Your boss

Gallup found that the biggest contributors to employee burnout are “unfair treatment at work,” an unmanageable workload, unclear communication and support from management, and unreasonable time pressure. 

These factors are something management can address to reduce their staff’s burnout.

Download our whitepaper on how to reduce burnout of hourly employees

We’re living through a burnout epidemic, and as employers and human resources professionals, you have an important role to play in helping your employees and your organization. In our whitepaper, How to Reduce Burnout of Hourly Employees, we dive a bit deeper into the causes and costs of burnout as well as how to reduce it. 

Download the whitepaper here. 

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Monitoring Emotions at Work

With emotional well-being in the workplace, “prevention is better than intervention,” said one author and entrepreneur.

Steve Curtis

Marc Brackett, founder and director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, argues in his new book “Permission to Feel” that the workplace tends to deny healing.

“You check your feelings at the door because you’re there to do business,” he said. “What people have to realize is emotions don’t get checked at the door. They are at the seat of every table. They’re on the phone with every client and are influencing all aspects of performance.”

Emerging technologies are helping employees assess the impact of their emotional state on work performance.

One platform in the development stage, Evolve Biologix, uses the heart’s electrical signals through an ECG measurement tool wrapped around the chest to correlate with a range of emotions to develop emotional awareness and learn techniques to manage it individually and in relationship to others.

People already are using devices connected to the body such as a watch, but having something connected closer to their heart is new, said Evolve Biologix CEO Steve Curtis.

Evolve Biologix differs from other platforms in that while others are self-reporting, its focus is on gathering real-time electrical signals from each heartbeat.

“An ECG wave has different peaks with electrical signals firing through our brain,” said Curtis, whose company is in a corporate environment beta stage as Curtis seeks partners to collaborate on the notion that it can serve as a health benefit. “We’re utilizing data science and machine algorithms to understand the specific signatures of these body systems to draw out emotions, build a group performance dashboard and optimize algorithms that drive content interventions and suggestions at an organizational level.”

Marc Brackett

An Evolve Power Index score, which is displayed on a phone, represents the user’s emotional level. The higher the score, the more the end user is believed to be in alignment with their emotional state, which can range from shame and guilt to peace and enlightenment.

Regarding privacy concerns, Curtis said results aren’t connected to individuals but provide a picture of group dynamics down to work groups of three.

“[HR] departments are continually challenged with how to keep innovation alive in their organization, increase the change readiness, manage empathy in environments where people are becoming progressively more technical in nature and how to get people to care about each other and function as a cohesive team,” he said. “It’s imperative to be able to view these kinds of metrics.”

Brackett foresees a time when employee benefits will include more emotional wellness technologies.

“There’s a benefit-cost analysis to taking seriously people’s development of skills, teaching emotional self-awareness and emotion regulation as opposed to treating it once you have a full-blown anxiety disorder or depression,” he said.

 

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Business Travelers May Need Help Managing Their Health

business travel burnout

Long-distance trips may be something to boast about, with wanderlust-driven influencers posting perfectly filtered photos on their social media accounts. Work-sponsored road trips also may sound glamorous but workers should recognize the potential negative impacts of business travel on their health.

Frequent business travel is associated with poorer health outcomes, according to “Business Travel and Behavioral and Mental Health,” a 2018 article from the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The analysis found that people who traveled more often for work were more likely to smoke, have trouble sleeping and show higher levels of anxiety and depression symptoms. The study concluded that “employers should provide programs to help employees manage stress and maintain health while traveling for work.”

Hal F. Rosenbluth, chairman and CEO of New Ocean Health Solutions, at one point hit the road every other week for work. Rosenbluth knows the challenges of regular business travel within the U.S. and abroad. For people who travel overseas, there’s “always the possibility of sickness or geopolitical events that require immediate attention and sometimes evacuation,” he said.

Also read: Helping HR Care for the Business Traveler

Medical and travel security services firm International SOS and medical insurance provider Geo Blue are among the options for these travelers. “I typically use it if I’m traveling to countries where medical care isn’t terrific or I’m out of the city somewhere where there isn’t a lot of care. If something goes wrong, I know I can have a plane or a helicopter get me to where I need to go,” Rosenbluth said.

Lengthy international trips may “cause a person to lack focus after arrival” and Rosenbluth recommends travelers delay meetings for 24 hours to recover from the flight and adapt to time changes.

Whether someone is traveling domestically or abroad, work-life balance may take a hit. Especially for people with young families, the partner who remains at home with the children may feel overwhelmed, Rosenbluth said, and that communication is important.

Business professionals informally polled on LinkedIn by Workforce had several suggestions to stay healthy while traveling for work and how employers can help.

  • Find quick, healthy grab-and-go options near the hotel to resist the urge to eat fast food.
  • Join a gym with multiple locations to use the membership while traveling.
  • Employers can maintain a company culture that stresses positive health behaviors like getting enough sleep and allowing people time to eat.
  • Reimburse reasonable wellness expenses for fitness classes in travel destinations.

Rosenbluth suggests that travelers exercise, which may be difficult if there’s no fitness center or if the destination poses a safety hazard for walks offsite. Business travelers also should be careful about what they eat and should carefully consider food safety.

Also read: Got Breast Milk? These Female Business Travelers Do

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The Importance of Happiness at Work

happiness

Last year, members of our HR community called me with common feedback that they were meeting so many people who are unhappy at work and life. Any research you choose to look at for the past 10 years averages nearly three-quarters of people are looking for jobs and many of them are unhappy with their work.

Mo Gawdat, the founder of onebillionhappy.org and former chief business officer at Google X, focuses on the relation between innovation and happiness. After losing his son Ali, he made it his personal mission to help 1 billion people become happier in all aspects of their life. I saw him speak last year and after he tells the room it is all right to be happy at work, Mo’s speech brought tears to thousands of attendees.

I agree wholeheartedly with Mo and my own belief is that we need to humanize, look ourselves in the mirror and be happy again at work and at home. We spend a substantial amount of our lives at work and I believe our happiness is impacted by how we feel in the workplace. This process of pursuing happiness highly resonated with me and the important role that HR professionals play in it.

Did you know that 65 percent of startups fail because the relationship between the co-founders also fails? This is same percentage for the top 10 countries with divorce rate worldwide. I think we can draw a correlation between the two: More relationships in the world fail than succeed.

If you haven’t heard of Esther Perel yet, be sure to catch one of her podcasts. A Belgium-born psychotherapist who now lives in New York, Esther helped change the lives of millions of couples. She is not afraid to tell people to “shut it!” and is working to unleash the chains of workplace relationships where jealousy, betrayal and bitterness can sabotage a business as much as a marriage.

Also read: Keeping Data Safe is the Next Wave of HR Tech Innovation

We’re especially seeing this in HR technology. Josh Bersin, the world’s leading analyst on the future of work, highlighted the move from automation to productivity in organizations over the past two years.

In the context of the digital revolution, Esther blames our devices for causing all sorts of new vices in the workplace. Esther feels that digital communication is damaging, and because 2D communication deprives us of our senses, the level of distortion between Slack or email messaging and face-to-face to voice communication is massive. Arianna Huffington echos this and encourages everyone to start introducing her Thrive Global model in their lives to disconnect from technology and reconnect more with life.

So I ask you, how different can our world and workplaces be in five to 10 years’ time if we start making work relationships better and innovate to support this ideology?

I ask everyone to rethink their happiness at home and in the workplace, and share their thoughts on how we’re going to change the future of work for the better.

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Holistic Employee Benefit Plans Offer Long-term Value

holistic employee benefits

Company leadership, including the C-suite and HR managers, may first think of the bottom line when it comes to health insurance and employee benefits. But they could be missing the bigger picture.holistic employee benefits

The broader view includes the value of investment in benefits and people, and the impact on metrics such as workforce attraction, employee retention, productivity and company culture. High-value options and technologies are increasingly defining and shaping holistic employee benefit programs.

Central to these all-encompassing programs are intelligently constructed plans that consider and connect all aspects of care, including both mind and body, and that are reinforced by big data, artificial intelligence and sophisticated metrics.

In today’s health care environment, holistic programs are especially vital. Behaviorally linked health issues and conditions affect almost 1 in 3 adults 18 years of age or older, but the costs are underreported in claims. Some of that cost revolves around the opioid dependency and the addiction crisis, which has cost the U.S. economy $1 trillion since 2001. Other contributors include smoking-related illnesses and complications, which still levy a toll of up to $300 billion each year, and obesity-related diseases that continue to have a tremendous economic impact.

Research has shown that people who are healthy, both mentally and physically, are more productive. For those struggling with health issues, the right support structures can make all the difference, both in quality of life and in long-term health and wellness outcomes. As an employer, an approach to health care benefits that aligns with company goals and fits the company’s culture can help keep costs in check, reduce turnover and sick leave, and even make your company more attractive to potential teammates.

Also read: New Trends in Health and Wellness Benefits 

For example, at Brown & Brown, we have designed a framework called the Intelligent Health Plan that encompasses an array of customizable data-driven strategies. These include plan design, clinical programs and solutions (e.g. telemedicine), and well-being and network strategies (e.g. weight reduction programs and onsite clinics, respectively).

Navigation, advocacy and education can be wrapped around these strategies to create a plan that is integrated, coordinated, and ensures members get the right care at the right time by the right provider in the right setting. A digital hub at the center can help to pull the pieces of the strategy together and enable targeted communications. Key to all of this and any employer’s strategy is the development of relevant metrics and monitoring of outcomes.

This approach to employee benefits emphasizes risk reduction and health management. Depending on the workforce and the prevalent conditions and issues found, this could mean investing in drug rehabilitation, smoking cessation, stress reduction, healthy eating, exercise and “let’s move” programs. There are also many options to leverage technology, on both the employee and delivery side, for earlier intervention.

Technology can play a significant role in an intelligent health plan, both in delivery of new services and in increased employee engagement in risk-reduction and health management programs. Research shows that while people will often pay little attention to generic messaging, buy-in is much greater when a message is customized to their individual circumstances.

Messages can be customized through wearable technology, digital platforms and coaching and clinical programs. Components of these programs may be personalized through advances in artificial intelligence and algorithmic learning. Through more sophisticated analysis of past claims and other health data, the methods and options that offer assistance when the time is right are expanding.

This can lead to both lower health care costs and better outcomes. For example, if research indicates noninvasive methods to treat lower back pain produce results as good as surgery, an employee scheduling an MRI might receive messaging about that research and assistance in obtaining appropriate care.

Prevention as part of risk reduction cannot be overstated, but there must be a deliberate approach. Immunizations, such as flu vaccinations, are crucial, but prevention also includes promoting health screening for conditions such as cancers and catching complications early if chronic diseases do arise.

While these elements may seem focused on individuals, they have a wider impact. People with similar health behaviors, such as exercising, tend to cluster together. Therefore, when one person makes healthy changes there is a trickle-down effect with friends and family that eventually impacts a community.

One size does not fit all when developing health benefit programs. Each company and its employees will have different needs. However, expanding holistic options means programs can be tailored, considering both costs and the value they can return.

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Recognize the Signs: Addressing Behavioral Health in the Workplace

addressing behavioral health workplace
addressing behavioral health workplace
Be prepared about how to spot signs of behavioral health problems and the appropriate ways you can respond.

An estimated 23.2 percent of Americans aged 18 and older experienced symptoms of a diagnosable mental health or substance use condition in 2016. At the same time, fewer than half of those diagnosed with a behavioral health condition received treatment. When left unaddressed, these conditions may contribute to various workplace challenges, including loss of productivity, low morale and turnover.

Although behavioral health conditions are prevalent, there remains a lack of understanding in the workplace on how to properly support them. Given that employees spend a great deal of time at work, this presents you with the opportunity to better assist those with a behavioral health condition to foster trust and aid in recovery.

Understanding the typical progression of a mental health or substance use condition and its corresponding symptoms can help you better identify employees in need and connect them to available resources. While these conditions often begin with a relatively mild impairment that has a minimal impact on the employee’s performance, symptoms can progress and ultimately hinder their work.

Be prepared by knowing how to spot the signs and the appropriate ways you can respond. The following five stages explain the cycle of behavioral health conditions that an employee may progress through and tangible ways you can help:

  1. Risks emerge

A challenging aspect of behavioral health conditions is that they often begin without being noticed. In fact, a manager may confuse the symptoms of a health condition with poor performance. While conditions may be hard to identify at this stage, it’s important for employers to create a safe climate and culture for employees to speak out and seek help.

All managers should be trained on how to document performance on a regular basis, noting any observed performance changes. Managers should also be familiar with resources the organization has available to support employees, such as management coaching and employee assistance programs.

  1. Symptoms escalate to impact performance

In the second stage, an employee’s symptoms may increase to a moderate level and are more likely to noticeably impact work performance. An employee may be absent more frequently or request an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act to help them cope with the situation.

Referrals to an EAP are more common at this point, and the employee may be more likely to seek treatment on their own. Absence management approaches may also help employees address issues and stay at work in this stage. That’s why stay-at-work disability management strategies, such as referrals to workplace resources and accommodations, are best initiated at this point.

  1. An increase in severity

In this stage, the employee experiences severe symptoms that could directly impact their work performance and abilities. Performance problems and employee absences may escalate to the point where they require a disability leave. In many cases, the need for accommodations to support recovery becomes more visible to employers.

For those who are able to stay at work, it’s important to work with the employee to develop accommodations tailored to their specific limitations or restrictions. Proactively implementing accommodations may help keep an employee engaged in their work, successful in their role and supported by their peers. For employees who require a leave, being supportive of the employee’s FMLA application also is important.

Also read: 5 Practical Ways to Support Mental Well-being at Work

  1. Chronic impairment

At this point of an employee’s condition, they may continue to experience severe or chronic symptoms and apply for long-term disability benefits. The employee may also start seeing themselves as “disabled,” struggling to find a sense of purpose or meaning in life.

During this stage, goal-directed case management and return-to-work strategies are generally initiated or continued. But the impact is generally lower than during the previous stages. With earlier interventions, there’s a better chance that the employee will return to work.

  1. Recovery occurs

The last stage is where employees begin to see their condition improve — either through treatment or as part of the natural course of the condition. But with the proper employer response and intervention, recovery can occur at any stage in an employee’s journey.

Recovery before severe or chronic symptoms develop often depends on an employee connecting with timely and effective care and support. Effective support can empower the employee and rebuild confidence.

Given that mental health and substance use conditions are common in the Unites States, it’s important to address this issue through effective services and support for your employees. Research shows that only 50 percent of employees return to work after having been out of work for six months. When you’re prepared, you can intervene earlier and increase the chances that the employee will return to work.

Being prepared for a behavioral health condition means supporting employees in their time of need. Without the proper strategies, resources and assistance, an employee’s work performance may suffer. By offering your employees various programs and benefits, you can help ensure a timely and safe recovery and return to work.