Thread by @psychidiaries

Ajay, 28, is a software engineer working from home since last one year. Over the last few months he has been having difficulty sleeping, wakes up late in the morning and then hurriedly sits in front of the laptop slogging all day and ending up emotionally fatigued at the end. 1/n

He becomes very irritable when his girl friend calls him and often ends up arguing with her. He has been unable to finish tasks given to him and has found his productivity decreasing over the last few months. 2/n

His solution to this has been to put in more hours in work and he can be often seen working on his laptop till late at night trying to meet one deadline after another. 3/n

Raj, 27, works as a medical officer in Emergency department of a government hospital. Since the new batch of first year PGs have not joined, he has been under constant stress due to increased work pressure which results in arguments with his colleagues and subordinates. 4/n

It looks likely that both Ajay and Raj could be suffering from work related burnout.
Unfortunately in a country like ours where putting in more hours is equated with sincerity, so many people fail to recognize the signs of work related burnout. 5/n

First coined in 1974 by Herbert Freudenberger, in his book, Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement, defined burnout as, “the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one's devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.” 6/n

Signs and symptoms of Burnout -
In simple words, if you feel exhausted, start to hate your job, and begin to feel less capable at work, you are showing signs of burnout. 7/n

If you are just waiting for a weekend and dragging yourseld out of your bed every weekday morning and losing your mojo to go to work, it could be an indicator of work related burnout. 8/n

To see whether you are suffering from work related burnout, take this free test today. 9/n

Link 10/n mindtools.com/pages/article/…

Why does work related burnout occur?
It could be due to the stressful nature of the job itself, lifestyle related factors, personality traits of the individual, interpersonal disputes at the workplace, etc. 11/n

At the level of employer -

1. Ensure your employees work in an environment which is optimal.
Things like temperature, ventilation, lighting and the ambience may be appear small factors but have a bearing on the productivity. 12/n

2. Ensure regular scheduled breaks.

3. Ensure that employees are treated as humans too. Support them, talk to them, encourage them and find out the problems they are facing and genuinely try to solve them. 13/n

4. Use strategies like positive reinforcement. Honor and felicitate the employee who gets the job done rather than honoring the ones who just keep slogging long hours unproductively.

5. Team building activities to ensure everyone feels a part of the institute. 14/n

Team building activities - 15/n wrike.com/blog/team-buil…

6. Focus on basics. Weekly offs, timely salaries, fixed working hours and specific, measurable targets are a must. 16/n

At the individual level -
1. Make sure you are not compromising on your personal life due to your work. Talk to friends, family often during breaks.

2. Manage time so that you can finish your tasks swiftly. Delegate tasks that can be delegated. Don't be Salman Khan. 17/n

3. What you do post work hours matters. Have a schedule which involves some fun activities everyday. It could be playing a sport, reading a book, listening to music, watching your favorite show on Netflix.

4. Try to maintain cordial relationships with colleagues. 18/n

5. Practice Jacobson's progressive muscle relaxation/ mindfulness meditation, etc. Make it a part of routine.

6. Stay away from unhealthy coping strategies like drugs, alcohol, etc.

7. Maintain good food and good sleep routine. 19/n

8. Every few months, take some time off and go on a vacation.

9. Emotionally distance yourself from your work post work hours.

10. Set a specific time to respond to mails, Whatsapp conversations. Switch the notifications off at night before sleeping. 20/n

Add your own ways of dealing with Work Related Burnout. Share this link with others. 21/n

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