Burnout: why you should switch off your emails this weekend
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- Emily Reynolds
- Published
Too much work is making us ill, often leading to burnout – and for women, the burden is even heavier.
Except: most of us, in reality, probably won’t.
Demanding bosses, an overload of work and the technology-induced blurred lines between our work and personal lives has led many of us to feel stressed, exhausted and overwhelmed – and means we spend a lot less time doing things we love and enjoy outside of work. One study even found that just 3% of our day is spent on things we love.
If you’ve not heard of always on culture, you’ve probably experienced it. The term refers to the idea that we’re now always available: because our email is also on our phones, we don’t leave it behind in the office. Instead, we spend hours outside of work replying to queries, making plans and even taking calls.
The practice is rife. Of those surveyed, 56% said they had answered work calls out of hours and 43% saying they felt they needed to “prioritise work over their personal lives in order to be promoted”.
Flexible working can be part of the solution to the pressures of always on culture, but the survey found that only 35% of those who were able to work flexibly said they actually felt welcome to take it up.
More research, from sleep company Dreams, has also highlighted how anxiety-induced bad sleep is impacting the British workforce, and in particular women. It found that work-related sleep issues were “rife”: three out of four employees suffer from poor sleep, leading to poor performance at work, days off, and a vicious cycle of anxiety and insomnia.
Sleep problems affected the working days of 25% of those surveyed – and the same percentage suggested that a good night’s sleep helped them enjoy their work more and get on better with colleagues.
Solutions are somewhat more difficult. Sleep is the “sole responsibility of the individual”, said 63% of business leaders, and 39% said there is “nothing they can do to help employees’ sleep health”, suggesting that answers are unlikely from within businesses themselves.
But, as the Microsoft survey shows, work-related stress is a huge contributing factor when it comes to poor sleep.
Dreams has now launched a ‘Sleep Action Plan’ within its own company – and it could prove a useful template for other businesses across the UK. The plan includes sleep health training for managers, conversations about sleep to be introduced as part of annual reviews, access to a sleep helpline and sleep trackers being provided to staff to help them understand their sleep patterns.
Crucially, the company has also indicated that it will be implementing a “sleep supportive culture” – which includes discouraging out of hours working.
As burnout increases, and more of us struggle at work and at home with exhaustion, stress and anxiety, steps like this will be essential for businesses to implement. And while the onus of responsibility undoubtedly lies not with us but with our employers, putting down our phones when we go home in the evening could be the first step to freeing ourselves from always on culture.
So if you’re tempted to work towards that deadline or send that email this weekend, ask yourself: can it wait until Monday?
A weekend off might be just what the doctor ordered.
Image: Getty