Written by: Lauren Cartigny, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
What?! Hear me out. This article aims to uncover the real challenges of preventing burnout in the workplace to highlight thought-provoking actions which need to take place to make a positive impact in improving well-being in the workplace.
“We are living under the delusion that burnout is the price we have to pay for success, which is untrue.” – Ariana Huffington
After 3 years of evangelising the importance of preventing burnout, I have decided to give up. Why? Because until someone experiences deep suffering due to chronic pain, sleep disruption, substance abuse, relationship breakdown, anxiety or other, I have witnessed that they don’t tend to prioritise changing their daily habits or use resources available to reduce the risk of what are advanced burnout symptoms.
Only 10% of Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) are used today in the UK according to the Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA). According to a Gallup survey in 2022, the approximate EAP utilisation rate across seven global regions is only 2-3%.
And yet, the survey also found that 42% of employees are more likely to stay at a company if they have access to mental health support through their employer. So why is the percentage of people using these services so low when mental health issues are reported at an all-time high?
Could people view EAP services as an insurance policy, a nice to have in case I break down?!
Reason number 1
The pain of suffering needs to be high enough that the risk, cost, and effort of changing are more appealing than doing nothing
The professionals who tend to invest in taking a leap in finding another way tend to do it because the alternative of doing nothing is too painful, and they feel they have nothing to lose by trying something new.
As prevention initiatives inviting people to change behaviour before it is too late seems to have low impact, the next best thing I feel I can do is to create a safe space for those who are experiencing burnout symptoms already and want to do something about it. Trying to persuade those who are demonstrating symptoms which aren’t severe enough to get in the way of their day-to-day activities seems like a waste of time.
This saddens me as my mission is to reduce suffering in the workplace and prevention is better than cure.
Reason number 2
Asking for help publicly is perceived as a risk to one’s professional reputation
The UK is ahead in evangelising the importance of mental health and taking steps to break the stigma. The British Royal Family and the government have done a lot in terms of highlighting the importance of mental health. And still, this is happening
In December 2020, Bupa Global Research conducted a survey which found the following:
78% UK business leaders have experienced fatigue, a lack of motivation, mood swings and disturbed sleep this year.
2 in 5 board-level executives said they believe it would damage their reputation if they admitted they were struggling.
39% Wouldn’t be able to seek help for fear that it would impact their social standing within the organisation.
If Leaders feel reluctant to ask for support with their mental health, what example does this set for their teams? How does this shape company cultures?
Reason number 3
People don’t know whom to turn to for help
When we have experienced burnout, it is easy, we go to our doctors’. They then recommend medication, rest, mindfulness practices, healthy nutrition, etc. All these are things we know we should do, but don’t make the time for or prioritise.
But where do we go when we start to build self-awareness that the pace at which we are working, the time we are spending and the load of work we are dealing with is becoming too much?
Professionals are directed to Mental Health First Aiders, Coaches, Therapists, Mindfulness and all the other alternative medicine practitioners.
I believe that the role of companies is to inform employees that their Employee Assistance Programs are there to be the first port of call. Training to make employees more self-aware of their stress indicators would also help employees take ownership and better manage their own well-being.
What it took for me to learn to perform from a place of well-being
In my experience, it took my body collapsing one morning on my way to catch a business flight to visit multiple countries in a few days, to go to a doctor and ask what was wrong. He signed me off work for 4 weeks.
Exhaustion never seemed like a valid reason to seek medical advice. Having been a top performer all my life, I wanted to make sure this never happened again, and I wanted to understand how I didn't see this coming after 13 years of managing a stressful job in international tech sales. It was only by chance that I passed a building in my village with a Therapist & Coach sign outside, that I decided to make an appointment one day. All it took was 8 sessions to get control back of my work rhythm and understand what I had been doing wrong. This led me to find the motivation to create new habits. This journey wasn’t easy, but at least my motivation became rock solid. This can be the gift behind having a burnout: making a commitment to take the necessary steps to never allow it to happen again.
This process was only the beginning of my self-discovery journey. Once I understood that we all have personality patterns and family dynamics which make us more or less prone to burnout, I wanted to discover more about myself to find how else I was limiting myself. Once we get our eyes opened to the fact that we can change our default tendencies to relate to ourselves and our situations differently, we can take control back of our lives rather than feel that it is happening to us.
To conclude
At the end of working with my coaching clients, once they have reached their goals, I ask them: what would you have needed to know to start this inner work earlier?
Most tell me that they don’t think that they would have listened to all this before they felt the pain severe enough to feel like they had no choice. At the point of working with me, some said that they had nothing to lose, so taking a leap of faith was better than doing nothing.
What do you make of this? Do you agree?
Do you think we need to experience burnout to seek support and start the inner work journey?
If not, what prevention initiative have you witnessed working and how are you measuring that it is working?
Something needs to change if we want well-being at work to become a reality, and not just hype.
If this article resonates, let’s start a conversation.
Lauren Cartigny, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Lauren Cartigny is a Business and Life Professional Coach for Executives and Conscious Leadership Trainer. Following a successful international corporate career in Sales for leading Tech firms, Lauren faced an unexpected burnout. After re-learning how to perform from a place of well-being as opposed to delivering results from a place of suffering, Lauren has created transformative coaching and training programs for high achieving Leaders seeking to empower themselves with self-knowledge to improve their well-being, their relationships, and their results. Lauren is the Founder of The Self-Science Lab a personal development training company for professionals seeking to find Peace, Power and Purpose.
