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Burnout caused by chronic stress is widespread

washingtonpost.com

21–30 of 176 posts

Re: Burnout caused by chronic stress is widespread

#21
It's not just companies driving to more productivity.

For example, those open office layout are about putting more people per square foot. No matter what they say otherwise. Nobody "communicates" in an open office layout and they know it.

This is an example where per-employee productivity is sacrificed for other goals (getting more people into one building). And it is directly affecting stress and burnout.

Re: Burnout caused by chronic stress is widespread

#23
post #7

> Burnout caused by chronic stress is widespread We are making employees lives miserable to reduce the need of planning for companies. Quite often management lacks the emotional maturity needed in their positions that hides normal mistakes that are part of the job, push for unrealistic schedules and sometimes even get into bulling as a way of getting what they want. 8 hours plus commute time, that has increased as ci…

Crazy idea: what if management was a licensed, regulated career, like traditional engineering, or being a nurse. Like if you have more than 5 "direct reports", you need to get a certification?

Re: Burnout caused by chronic stress is widespread

#25

What I find sad about this (and other articles like this) is when the time comes within the article to lay out how to avoid burnout and stress, the list nevver includes ways to spend less time working. It's almost like an unspoken rule. I know that to recommend that is to take a chance with your livelihood but I really hope that we can at least stop blaming ourselves for the ridiculous work/life ratio we currently mu…

I think employees also need to start taking care of themselves by not following up on every single spontaneous request and also to find something else in time when things turn too toxic.

At least for me I can say that I don't follow up on every single request I get, especially when it's many little ones after "the heavy lifting" is done. Management must also learn that this is not bearable.

Of course one needs to be in a somehow comfortable position and one probably needs a few years of work in the field. Still, for employers it's also a risk to find good (replacement) employees which I have never heard management would admit but seen after leaving positions.

Re: Burnout caused by chronic stress is widespread

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even a 20% pay raise would let you retire several years earlier, assuming you don't spend any of the extra pay.

A 20% pay rise is 10% after taxes here and wouldn’t make a huge difference. Also, I hope and intend to work well into my 70s. For that I need to not burn out in my 40s. I’m happy with what I do. I don’t need more money or more years retired. I need a job I’m happy with, money for bills and time with my family now . I pick up kids from school every day at 4 and make them dinner at 5. All this must sound pretty foreign…

Aussie?

Re: Burnout caused by chronic stress is widespread

#27
post #7

> Burnout caused by chronic stress is widespread We are making employees lives miserable to reduce the need of planning for companies. Quite often management lacks the emotional maturity needed in their positions that hides normal mistakes that are part of the job, push for unrealistic schedules and sometimes even get into bulling as a way of getting what they want. 8 hours plus commute time, that has increased as ci…

Crazy idea: what if management was a licensed, regulated career, like traditional engineering, or being a nurse. Like if you have more than 5 "direct reports", you need to get a certification?

I think it is mostly an issue caused by how managers are evaluated. Do the teams you supervise outperform (in a short-term metric set) the other teams? If so, you are deemed a good manager.

Upper management usually does not seem to care whether the people you manage leave the company eventually or try to change teams to get away from you.

Re: Burnout caused by chronic stress is widespread

#28
post #4

Pretty sure I burned myself out three years ago, while launching a big thing for my business. Basically, I ran a live course, and it happened right after some travel that had already been scheduled, so I had no downtime. It was all rush, rush, rush for 2-3 months straight. This basically set me up for the next several years in business, and I'm glad I did it, but ooof was the penalty high. This makes me think 1. Good…

Thank you for sharing this. I've been experiencing these exact symptoms for several months now and I've struggled to understand it.

I don't like talking about it at work because I don't want to be seen as damaged/ineffective, but it's really weighing on me these days.

Re: Burnout caused by chronic stress is widespread

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 20% pay rise is 10% after taxes here and wouldn’t make a huge difference. Also, I hope and intend to work well into my 70s. For that I need to not burn out in my 40s. I’m happy with what I do. I don’t need more money or more years retired. I need a job I’m happy with, money for bills and time with my family now . I pick up kids from school every day at 4 and make them dinner at 5. All this must sound pretty foreign…

Aussie?

Close. Swede

Re: Burnout caused by chronic stress is widespread

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anything has a price of course, but realistically there is no position that would let me retire earlier (nor do I want to). My 40h is also already 100% remote, so very hard to improve on in terms of commutes etc. In fact, if I were to switch to non-remote I’d never accept a 40h ass-in-seat position either.

Even a 20% pay raise would let you retire several years earlier, assuming you don't spend any of the extra pay.

I would never work more in the hopes to retire earlier. I've worked different time models between essentially do whatever I want and 42 hour weeks. All of them paid for my living standard (which I would say is rather simple).

Everything above 35 hours feels like I have no time for myself anymore.

I think the main reason why I don't get the 'FIRE' mentality is because in my country we have a healthy pension system I can look forward to.

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