Thread by @polotek

This may be a controversial take. But I don't think people are supposed to be looking to their job for help with this. What we've been through the last two years is not something a company was built to handle. It's just that we've created a society where work is all there is.

https://twitter.com/mhat/status/1453199006285197320

I got some important questions about this, and I think it’s worth working a little harder to set context. Burnout is a thing. It was a thing before the pandemic. And I think we are all coming to understand more of the ways that work is the primary driver of burnout.

https://twitter.com/polotek/status/1453203259083026433

But my suggestion that employers can’t fix what we’re currently going through is firmly rooted in the pandemic environment we’ve been in for the past 2 years. I’m saying that I believe pandemic burnout is a specific thing that has greatly exacerbated many of these problems.

We were doing a pretty good job creating a real conversation about burnout. Many companies now acknowledge the problem and are taking real steps to address it. Of course there are many companies that don’t. But it’s possible to work at a company that takes burnout seriously.

But I do think we have to understand when the problem we’re facing has gone beyond that conversation. When I have to send my daughter to school unvaccinated, that’s not something my company can do anything about. When I haven’t seen my loved ones in 2 years, they can’t fix that.

There are so many things weighing on us right now. And that is coupled with the fact that restrictions on public life mean it’s so much harder to do the things that usually replenish our energy. There are so many more factors contributing this burnout than work.

There are things an employer might do to make things a bit easier on people. And they should. But if you find that you don’t get better, and you blame your employer for not doing more, you still haven’t accepted the scope of what’s happening. That’s just not what this is.

I talked at length about my battle with burnout. And it started before the pandemic. This thread may be helpful to some people. And I hope it shows that I’m coming at this as somebody who’s been through it. That’s part of why I feel equipped to speak on it.

https://twitter.com/polotek/status/1317600279777275904