COVID-19 Epidemic This has led to a variety of workplace distractions, including “great resignations,” “quiet quitting,” “excessive employment,” labor shortages, and conflicts between managers and employees over personal return to work.
Employee burnout and well-being can be at the center of many of these issues.
Two new studies highlight the importance of social engagement in the workplace and explain why working from home may not be the optimal workplace setting. Hybrid Work From Home The schedule can help prevent burnout and improve mental health.
So, what is burnout?
The international classification of diseases describes burn out As “a syndrome conceptualized as a result of chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” As a diagnosable condition, burnout has three symptoms: physical exhaustion, disengagement with work and coworkers, and cynical disregard for one’s job and career.
For many who experience burnout, it can feel like the metaphor it describes: something akin to a shriveled matchstick lit, cold to the touch.
What causes burnout and how can it be prevented?
According to global research, about 50 percent employees And 53 percent of managers are on the burn in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Workplaces are clearly not thriving.
As a social epidemiologist studying contemporary emotional distress In the context of the public health crisis, I am curious to understand what factors contribute to burnout and how it can be managed successfully – especially given the ongoing challenges created by COVID-19.
You might think that researchers would know everything there was to know about burnout at this time. After all, burnout has been studied since at least the late 1970s.
Many studies conducted since then have focused on workplace conditions, such as pay, hours, management style and vague “workplace cultureAs such, the management of burnout has often focused on reshaping the work environment and improving bad managers. While these are certainly necessary, it is not immediately clear that they are sufficient.
With the emergence of the pandemic, many people have new levels of awareness of the impossibility of separating work from life.
For some, how does this awareness come about? tired They are when they come home from a shift. For others working from home, it may come from the fading gap between home and office.
In any case, our emotional and psychological well-being is with us whether we are at work or at home. As such, it makes sense that we take a holistic view of burnout. Social connection is a major driver of burnout.
Social costs and benefits of working from home
In a recent study by my lab at Simon Fraser University, we tried to identify the most important risk factors for burn out,
We looked at a range of variables, including classic factors of workload, satisfaction with pay, dignity in the workplace, control over one’s work and pay adequacy, as well as more novel variables such as home ownership, an array of demographic factors. Social support and loneliness.
In conducting this study, we found that loneliness and lack of social support stand out as major contributors to burnout, perhaps as important – if not more – than physical health and financial security.
In short, the study contributes to a growing understanding of burnout as a social problem driven by isolation.
The emerging trend of working from home is a potential and evolving source of isolation. As many people have had the privilege of learning, there are many benefits to working from home.
This enables people to save time on their commute and they have more freedom to do chores around the house or be quick Blink on their break. This means they have more time and energy for friends and family at the end of the day.
On the other hand, working from home means missing out on those water cooler conversations and casual confrontations with coworkers—which have a surprisingly profound impact on well-being.
Furthermore, given how important workplaces and schools are to find and create friendshipsLosing these spaces can have serious long-term consequences for people’s social health – especially if time spent with others at work is now spent at home alone.
The importance of social connection to health and happiness
To understand the effects of working from home on mental health, my team conducted a second study to look at differences in the self-rated mental health of individuals who only work from home. Houseonly individually, or who have worked partly personally and partly at home.
We controlled for potentially significant factors such as income, working hours, occupation, age, gender and ethnicity.
Our results showed that 54 percent of those working only individually and 63 percent of those working only at home reported good or excellent mental health,
From these results, you can conclude that working from home is best for mental health – this is in contrast to a growing number of studies that highlight the pitfalls and challenges of working from home.
However, there’s a catch: 87 percent of those who reported a hybrid Work Arrangements – meaning they worked partly personally and partly at home – had good or excellent mental health.
While work done at home and in person certainly shaped these trends, our findings point to the possibility that hybrid work may give employees the best of both worlds – especially in the context of our earlier study. in, which highlighted the importance of social interactions for workplace well-being.
In fact, hybrid work arrangements can allow employees to maintain those positive relationships with coworkers while also providing a better balance between work and Life,
It really can be the best of both worlds – at least for those who can work that way.
As employees and employers continue to adapt to the new normal COVID-19 pandemic, our research provides a strong reminder for all of us to remember the importance of social connection.
It’s all too easy to forget that strong social ties and community are the foundation of health and happiness in and outside the workplace.
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