Epic burnout might be catalyst behind the quiet quitting trend
Quiet quitting is gaining traction in workplaces and stealing headlines, but there could be a very good reason why so many employees are disengaging from work: they’re just burnt out.
Almost 90 per cent of Canadian workers say they’ve experienced burnout over the past year, according to Ceridian HCM Inc.’s latest Pulse of Talent survey . The toll is just as bad in the higher ranks, with 89 per cent of middle managers and 92 per cent of senior leaders saying they’re tapped out. Adding to the negativity, 87 per cent of workers say they’ve felt stuck in their jobs at some point during the year, and one in three say they “often or always” feel that way. Need more evidence? Anxiety, feelings of isolation and dampened productivity — a recipe for burnout — have been mired at their lowest levels for five straight months in the most recent mental health index by Lifeworks, a Telus Inc. subsidiary.
Put it all together, and you have a large swath of unhappy, tired employees, all seemingly putting in the bare minimum until they have the strength to find something better. Indeed, 70 per cent of Canadian workers are either considering or actively looking for a new job. “What’s clear from our research is that employees have commitment issues with their employers,” Susan Toyhama, chief human resources officer at Ceridian, said in a news release.
The resulting malaise is taking a toll on people’s efforts at work. Productivity in the United States plunged to a record low in the first part of 2022 just as talk of quiet quitting was gaining momentum. But though low productivity costs companies billions, burnout is a problem that’s historically been seen as something individuals must fix on their own.
Many exhausted workers try to solve their fatigue by taking a week’s vacation, or a mental health day, only to be confronted when they come back with the same issues that fuelled their burnout in the first place.
Psychologist and burnout researcher Christina Maslach, who co-wrote the book The Burnout Challenge: Managing People’s Relationships with Their Job with psychologist Michael Leiter, says burnout happens when exhaustion meets disengagement. Postmedia News