Burn out - a state of vital exhaustion

Published on

We are doing an ever growing amount of work with employers and their staff about understanding stress and its impact on individuals, their families and the businesses in which they work.  

Like all things its a spectrum, and at the extreme end you get burn out, a euphemism for when your mind and/or body just say that's enough and pack up shop.  Here is a great article from the Guardian with two people's stories which resonate with so many others I have heard (and one I have experienced).  

This is about all of us and we should all take five minutes to read this and reflect on what we are doing, how we are and what we might need to do to change things - because no-one else is going to do that for us.

This is about all of us. As Andrew says, “People say that one in four people suffer from mental health difficulties. It’s time to move away from that thinking. It’s not ‘us and them’; it’s each of us living a life with peaks and troughs, and anyone suffering from enough pressure could be at risk of developing burnout.”

Related Articles

Getting rid of the asbestos

Many years ago, we discovered this wonderful new building material called asbestos which appeared to have all sorts of fantastic qualities, such that we...

Words of wisdom on the tube

On World Mental Health day we are all going to see and hear a great deal about how we can all help each other improve our collective mental health. I, l...

Gender discrimination 2018: five lessons for banks from Commerzbank case

On Friday I flew in from New York and did something I hadn’t done in years: I pored over a tribunal decision: Rajput v Commerzbank.   Much has changed, ...

People Management: HR must protect workplace investigators from the threat of vicarious trauma

Head of Resolution Zoe Wigan shares how to recognise and mitigate this risk for investigators of distressing subject matter.

Personnel Today: Six ways to kickstart conversations about team stress at work

Rachael Forsberg shares six steps for workplaces properly discussing team stress, as a crucial first step in tackling it.

Reworked: The 3 Best Ways to Invest in Employee Mental Health and Well-Being

Investing in wellbeing can boost both productivity and profitability. Where should leaders begin? Mark O'Grady shares three key focus areas for workplace leaders in his latest piece for Reworked.