BURNT out?

Workplace stress has left the office and followed us home. How do we cope with the new blurred lines?

Remember those first heady days of working from home? When we optimistically thought it meant getting up a little later, organising our days around the hours that worked for us, and maybe even taking a proper lunch break. But now it seems we’re finding one of the biggest challenges of this new way of working is never quite switching off. It seems burnout, the condition that used to be associated with strip-lit offices, has followed us home. According to a Yougov survey commissioned by Mental Health UK, one in four women in the UK felt unable to manage work stress and pressure. The campaign group Compass also published a report (apocalyptically titled Burnout Britain) in which it made a rallying call for change in response to the news that mental distress among workers is now 49% higher than it was in 2017-19 across most UK business sectors.

FANNING THE FLAMES

Recognised by the World Heath Organisation as a medical condition: ‘an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed’, the symptoms of burnout include physical and mental exhaustion. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, drained and unable to meet constant demands. Physically damaging, too, a 2017 review of the health consequences found evidence for it being a precursor to cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal pain and depressive symptoms.

So how, if WFH has removed the ‘workplace’ part of