The Burnout

Second slide
by Team Shifft | July 14,2020

In the modern world where consumerism is at its peak, and market-competition is on all time rise, organisations work consistently to churn out more profits and brand value. 24/7 operating businesses, unrealistic work deadlines, long work hours and enormous workload for employees have become mundane phenomena. An employee therefore, has to level herself up and performing duties to the fullest of their efficiency. Constantly operating at heightened levels of pressure puts immense load on the nervous system draining their mental reserves.

Next we see is the arousal of feelings like losing control, being unrecognized/unheard, and inability to cope with workload—all of which leads to prolonged stress and eventual burnout. Workplace burnout has been defined as “… a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job, and is defined by the three dimensions of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy.”

But how big of a concern is the workplace burnout?

The phenomenon of workplace burnout is persistent across industries, from corporate to medical industries in North India. About 89% of Indians report high levels of stress from work as compared to a global average of 86%. “Workplace burnout has severe major physical and emotional consequences” reported The Adecco Group, India to an article given to India Today.

Finally, The World Health Organisation on May 28, 2019 declared the burnout an “occupational phenomenon”. Ever since, the severity of workplace burnout has been recognized by organisations around the world. Employers have taken active steps and formulated mental health preventive strategies to ensure employee health and reduce mental stress.

Lately, a global practice of in-office mindfulness seminars which act as therapy and guideline to manage their mental health on work, has been adopted. Businesses have now understood the importance of employee health and have started recognising them as an invaluable asset. According to a paper published on Stress management practices in Indian industries in Rajkot, Indian giants like TATA Consultancy Services have introduced stress management has part of their HR policy under which professional coaches train and guide employees to manage stress and increase their ability to cope up with surroundings.

In these times, consumers from all spectrums of economy look for brands which would help them fight the burnout in the modern-day lifestyle and mass media has proved to be an effective tool for the same

IKEA India- a home furnishing brand, conducted a series of campaigns around the world which included films to emphasise the importance of sleep.

Apps- Calm, a world renowned meditation app has flourished the Indian markets. It is an app designed on the framework of guided meditation using sounds, along with voice instructions to allow the user to relax the senses, increase mental alertness and reduce stress. The app has become a worldwide phenomenon. People like to use the app before bed for better sleep, however the ones who meditate as low as 10 minutes a day, see tremendous changes in brain neuropathy, mentioned Michael Acton Smith the founder of Calm, in an online interview.

Social Media- In 2019, Pinterest integrated a more compassionate search experience into its platform for users experiencing sadness, stress, anxiety, depression and beyond. If a user searches for “stress relief” or “work anxiety” for example, Pinterest might suggest a collection of emotional well-being activities to redirect your energy

News and Television- In recent years, popular television shows like ‘Satyamev Jayate’ have worked on bringing forefront mental health issues in different sectors of society.

Popular news websites like India Today, NDTV and Times of India have special tags for stress management and mental health on their websites. Regular posts on these topics are also ranked by google. With more channels on YouTube sprouting on the lines of ‘Yoga with Adriene’, the platform is emerging with more and more content on the issue.

Along with these, organisations like National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) have been continuously involved in bringing forward more studies on mental health, factors affecting, measures to fight mental health issues and publishing them on their online portal

The podcast industry over iTunes and other audio platforms, is now flooded with classes, lectures and sessions on daily stress management. ‘Vishnu Ki Secret Life’ is an Indian podcast series started by The Quint bringing insightful content focussing on improving physical and mental health in daily lives.

Cinema – Gauri Shinde’s Dear Zindagi has sprouted the chatter on mental health among masses. Apart from mainstream cinema, the Cork International film festival started their Film & Mental health programme for 2020 which was then affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Also, researches are being conducted on collaborating filmmaking as a process in mental health research.

The millennial employees seem to be at a higher risk for facing immense mental fatigues. Along with new critical policies being formulated by companies every day, constant development of mediums to fight the burnout are being developed across nations. The business world has been going through dramatic shift where the employee has now become is more valuable asset than he ever was.