Worker burnout creates hidden hazards

It’s pretty evident that burned-out, overworked employees won’t be working at peak productivity. That level of stress can cause all sorts of issues — presenteeism, increased sick time, even disability leaves.

But it’s not just a question of mental health — employee burnout can also create very real safety risks for the workplace. And some are subtler than others.

"It’s a big issue, especially in a 24-7, ‘Do more with less’ (culture)," said Mark Gorkin, clinical social worker and stress expert in Washington, D.C.

Organizations are increasingly compelled to reduce workforce sizes, but not workloads — which can create a stress epidemic among workers.

"Most people who do grapple with burnout have a history of being pretty effective problem-solvers," said Gorkin. "They’re used to taking on things by themselves — sometimes their ego gets in the way of asking for help. So their default mode is ‘OK, I’ll be the one that does it.’"

Burnout happens gradually, as stress accumulates from day to day with no relief, said Bill Howatt, president of Howatt HR Consulting in Kentville, N.S.

"If you look at burnout, it falls on a continuum," he said, adding most research suggests there are four stages of burnout.

Initially, most people are excited about their jobs, he said.

"But then, life happens. Different priorities start happening — it could be your personal life, your finances, you have a child, you need more flexibility, your career is not meeting your needs, you’re not making enough money, you’ve got too much debt. So you start to feel that the intrinsic and extrinsic reward systems aren’t really kicking in," he said.

"That’s taxing the resources."

Also, burnout effects different individuals in a different way, said Gorkin.

"Not everybody will be burnt out at the same level — some people will bail out sooner; some people unfortunately take great pride and almost look down upon you if you haven’t earned your burnout ‘merit badge.’"

As burnout symptoms start, one of the early signs is people start to have difficulty with problem-solving, said Howatt.

"What they’ll end up doing is moving to what I call ‘facilitator tasks’ to create distraction. Like, ‘I’ll start organizing a file’ or ‘I’ll starting picking trivial work.’ They want to still be productive, but dealing with that problem right now just seems too hard."

Tasks that used to be simple become a little bit more taxing, a little bit more anxiety-inducing, and employees often become more short-fused, confused or tired, he said.

The final stage of burnout is apathy, he said.

"And when a person is burnt out, they’re in a state of what’s called disequilibrium. It’s state-dependent, meaning in (one) state — in your workplace — you could be paralyzed, but you could be at home and function," said Howatt. "Some people say, ‘It’s all in their head.’ And my response is, ‘Of course it’s in their head. That’s what the issue is.’"

Some risks associated with employee burnout happen soon after symptoms begin, said Renée Gendron, founder of Vitae Dynamics in Russell, Ont.

"The first ones are really physical and psychological, because the person who’s experiencing the burnout at first doesn’t tend to be aware that they’re experiencing the burnout. So the lack of awareness means that they’re often pushing themselves physically to the brink. So instead of eating healthily, they’re eating basically unhealthy foods and caffeine to get themselves through the day; they’re not sleeping well, and they’re not getting enough rest," she said.

"They’re ignoring physical little aches and pains that come from overworking, so the little stress in the neck or the little pinch in the lower back gets ignored until it snowballs into something more serious."

From a psychological standpoint, employees begin to cope with the cumulative effects of stress, and the lack of resiliency that comes with chronic stress, she said. "And then when they crash, there (can be) mental health issues like depression."

When people reach the more serious stages of burnout, they suffer lapses of concentration and lower morale, said Howatt.

"They get to the point where their emotions and their cognitions (suffer)… and they start to really move up in the metre of indifference," he said. "You had a picture of yourself being competent, and you can’t do it anymore and you don’t understand why. It can be pretty challenging."

People start becoming very inattentive, working automatically instead of paying attention or being thoughtful, he said.

"When a person has cognitive distraction where they’re focusing on things that aren’t work, they’ll increase their safety risks," said Howatt. "If a person’s a little bit confused because they’ve decreased their problem-solving and decision-making, that can put them at risk as well."

Another key aspect of burnout is chronic exhaustion, said Michael Leiter, professor at Acadia University and Tier 1 Canada research chair in occupational health and well-being in Wolfville, N.S.

"When people are chronically exhausted, then their attention isn’t as focused, their capacity for problem-solving and responding to situations is compromised to some degree, and that decreases the possibility of people, when they encounter a risk, of being able to manage that encounter well, just because they don’t have all their capabilities."

Because they’re losing interest, those lapses in judgment, those omissions, the lack of engagement snowballs, said Gendron. "And it creates tunnel vision because they’re in survival mode. They just kind of go through the day like a zombie.

"Where they used to be vigilant and they used to be sharing information with colleagues, that’s gone, because the willingness to engage and the morale and the enthusiasm for the work has collapsed."

The reluctance to communicate, to share information with colleague is one of the more subtle but insidious safety risks of burnt-out employees, said Leiter.

"In addition to that, burnout has all these implications for your relationships with others with whom you’re working. And as that capacity for teamwork gets eroded among people on the team, then that safety culture takes a hit as well," he said.

"But also, more important in terms of teamwork, is the quality of cynicism where people, one, sort of get more distant from each other — they’re not as involved with their work and the people with whom they work — and, secondly, you get a culture of being cynical, saying cynical things, expecting indifference or a very counter-organizational kind of value that gets shared among people. And with that, people are less likely to comply with something rigorous like a safety culture.

"That gets shared among people, they start talking that way to each other, and that becomes sort of a counter-norm to the idea of having a safety culture."

In fact, instead of communicating constructive information, people may begin communicating cynicism and negativity instead, said Gorkin.

"One of the real dangers is that you may have some of the senior people who are being burnt out, and they’re going to be transferring their cynical attitude to younger people who still may have some enthusiasm and excitement," he said. "That’s a real problem, that it can spread to others who are not affected yet."

It takes a significant toll on safety culture when the communication breaks down and all that’s shared is apathy and cynicism, said Leiter.

"They don’t care enough, and partly it’s just that personal indifference… but also, a big part of what drives burnout… is when people decide that my values and this organization’s values are really not aligned. We’re working at odds with each other. And so, in that case, even if I have the energy to devote to this, I don’t really care," he said.