The corona virus pandemic has brought many to the edge. But even though we're exhausted and overworked, some experts say we're actually not as burned out as we might think.
Many times I told myself - and friends and colleagues - that I felt like I was going to burn out.
Making a living as a freelancer can often mean long hours and trying to juggle different jobs and commitments at the same time.
Several times a year I hit what seems like a creative wall: I've run out of good ideas and just need to take a nap.
I've been calling it burnout for a long time.
But I was wrong.
We think of burnout as untouchable - one of those things we can't define and just know when we feel it.
Perhaps more of us than ever are feeling it right now.
At this stage of the pandemic, after more than a year spent trying to cope with various challenges, there is a general feeling that we have all hit a wall.
But there is a scientific definition of burnout and standards by which it is measured.
And based on those criteria, many people who think they're burned out — like me — really aren't.
That doesn't mean we're not on our way to burnout, however, and understanding how to actually measure burnout can help individuals and organizations change course before it's too late.
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What is combustion - and what is not
In 1981, Kristina Masleč, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, developed “Inventory of burning Maslečova" (MBI), in order to define and measure this condition.
"The challenge is that people use this term to represent different things," says Maslečeva.
"It's a catchy phrase, so people apply it to a variety of things. So, do we all speak the same language?".
The MBI tries to clear things up by assessing burnout based on three criteria: exhaustion or a complete lack of energy, feelings of cynicism or negativity toward work, and reduced effectiveness or success at work.
Respondents continuously receive grades in all three areas, from more positive to more negative.
The burnout profile requires a negative result in all three.
"There is a tendency to think that if you are evaluated negatively by one criterion, you are burned out," says Maslečova, but this is an incorrect use of the MBI.
The biggest misconception about burnout, adds Michael Leiter, an organizational psychologist based in Nova Scotia and co-author, along with Maslechova, of the book The truth about burnout, is that it is the same as exhaustion.
"People use burnout as a synonym for fatigue and miss the point that there's a whole spectrum of differences between the two conditions," Leiter says.
He gives the example of obstetricians who often work chaotic schedules.
"There are mothers giving birth to babies at all hours of the night and they are completely exhausted, but they bring new life into the world, and they make people's lives better, and they take care of that work.
"It's overwhelming and exhausting, but it's not burnout."
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There are many others who meet one of the MBI criteria.
"The second largest group, after people who are just exhausted, are people who are not fully engaged," Leiter says.
"They just go to work and it's not exciting, they just work to pay the bills.
"There is another group that is just cynical. They don't care about the clientele or the business."
Still, others may have low effectiveness, with careers that do not progress for one reason or another.
But fewer people may report that all three conditions apply.
I can not.
Although I have definitely experienced exhaustion and even some form of absence, I still love what I do and have not become cynical about my work.
It takes all three factors—exhaustion, cynicism, and ineffectiveness—to produce what is scientifically defined as burnout.
Most of us are not there.
"It's not an epidemic, it's an overdiagnosis," Leiter says.
But that doesn't mean there aren't problems or that conversations around burnout aren't increasing for a reason.
"Combustion qualities are on the rise," admits Leiter.
"Certainly more and more people are going in that direction."
Combustion is not black and white
Burnout is a spectrum and most of us are part of it.
Earlier this year, when the job search website (Indeed) surveyed 1.500 American workers of various age groups and industries, more than half reported feeling burned out.
And more than two-thirds said the pandemic has made burnout worse.
That study did not use the MBI, and it is likely that most respondents used a colloquial definition of burnout rather than a scientific one.
But while burnout — the kind defined by three negative MBI scores — is a profile that Maslečova says typically applies to 10 to 15 percent of people, that doesn't mean everyone else is on the other end of the spectrum.
In fact, recent research by Maslečova and Lajter identifies three profiles between the extremes: overextended, ineffective, and disengaged.
Evidence shows that more than half of employees fall into one of these profiles, with a strong negative score in exhaustion, efficiency or cynicism.
They haven't burned out yet - but they're on their way.
For people in many professions, Leiter says, things have only gotten worse as a result of the pandemic, with questions of efficiency especially difficult.
"Teachers struggled to continue teaching and didn't feel accomplished," he says.
"They just know they're not the teachers they used to be, and that's disheartening.
"It's the same for doctors. Things have improved, but at the beginning there was no protocol to deal with Covid and everything they were doing was wrong."
Those questions changed the burn data.
The study, conducted between March and June 2020, administered a series of tests, including a burnout inventory similar to the MBI, to more than 3.500 healthcare workers in the UK, Poland and Singapore.
Slightly less than 67 percent it is designated as burnt.
Although the true burnout profile of employees in all professions is slightly above 10 percent,
Maslečova says that "it has obviously increased" in light of the pandemic.
Now, she believes, it may be closer to 20 percent.
And that's a huge problem, because true burnout can't be solved by resting or going to the wellness center.
"When people really go to extremes, the vast majority can't go back to the same employer or the same type of work," Leiter says.
"They have to change careers.
"The burn is so deep - even the feeling of walking into that building or that kind of building can be a trigger. It very often prompts a career change."
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Why measurement matters
Avoiding true burnout on a large scale is vital, especially as it could mean an outflow of qualified people from important professions.
This is where the MBI and tests like it become invaluable tools.
It was helpful to know that I didn't actually experience burnout.
I was able to assess what I was actually feeling (overexpansion) and start thinking about what was causing it and what changes I could make.
That's the point of burn inventory. It's not really about diagnosing or ruling out burnout.
In fact, says Maslečova, "it is not a diagnostic tool at all." People have abused it, but it's a measure of research."
Although it is applied to individuals, what the MBI is really designed for is to measure their environment.
"If there are negative evaluations, it does not mean that the problem is with the individual. That's what they respond to," says Maslečova.
"You're not trying to find out who it's happening to, you're trying to find out why it's happening.
“You don't use it by itself, you use it with other data to tell why the grade pattern is the way it is.
"Those ratings should be used as warning signals."
An organization that sees results on the negative end of the spectrum needs to act quickly, Maslečova says, and that doesn't just mean offering yoga classes or mindfulness seminars on knowing meaning.
"Work is getting tougher, longer and harder to do. People work longer hours because they are afraid of not getting a promotion or losing their job.
"Doing more with less is at the heart of corporate culture, and that's not how people work best," she says.
“There's this giant self-help industry that's focused on how to deal with that stress.
“But to prevent, reduce or eliminate burnout, it's not about fixing people.
"It's about fixing the business."
It's not really about measuring how many workers have burned out or almost burned out, says Maslečova.
It's about identifying workplaces with unsustainable workloads and using that information to give employees more control, better tools, and the personal ability to figure out how to do their jobs better - without burnout.
"There's that old saying: 'If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,'" says Maslečova.
"The point of our argument is - why not change the heating? How about a kitchen redesign?".
by Kate Morgan
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