Work burnout is its own epidemic. Here’s how to stop the spread

Work burnout is real, and during Covid, it only got worse. A survey from careers site Indeed conducted during the spring found more than half of workers saying they felt burned out, and more than two-thirds saying the feeling had gotten worse throughout the pandemic. 

The good news: the world of work is taking it more seriously.

While Sweden is the only country to recognize burnout as a disease, the World Health Organization added burnout as an occupational phenomenon in 2019. Research shows the condition is a lot more complex than just a heavy workload, but businesses, from Nike to online dating company Bumble, have recently offered office employees extra time off of work to support their mental health and address the issue of burnout.

How to deal with burnout — and prevent future burnout — is a challenge all businesses are now tasked with as many workers hit 19 months of working from home.

Jennifer Moss, author of the new book, “The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It,” recently spoke with CNBC’s Workforce Executive Council about strategies employers and employees can implement to reduce burnout.   

“The future of work is here, and that means we need to test some new rules out,” Moss said. 

Burnout is not considered a mental health illness, but it is a mental health issue, and needs to be treated as such in workplace environments.

Moss said that require leaders to “trust employees and create flexibility” in the workplace. Creating safe spaces, offering psychological safety and resources, and prioritizing employees mental health will benefit workers and business productivity, she said. And any effort made to invest in employee well-being will show up in business results, but it has to start from the top. A leader’s first task is to give permission to workers to make their mental health a priority. 

“The key to [creating] comfort inside organizations is being permitted to prioritize mental health,” Moss said. 

Her research finds that while the average person says they are “fine” 14 times a week when they are asked how they are doing, 19% percent of the time they are lying. 

Asking workers more specific questions to better assess how they are doing, will translate into their professional work. Moss says while most meetings go on for too long and harp on non-essential issues, a 15-minute meeting a week between managers and employees can pay off in terms of mental wellness and job productivity, and it should not only focus on work issues.

Among the key questions Moss says should be covered in a short meeting:

• How was this week?
• What were the highs and lows?
• What can I do for you next week to make things easier?
• What can we do for each other?

“It’s so simple,” she said.

Talking about mental health in the workplace establishes open communication and a safe environment for employees to feel…