May is Mental Health Awareness month, so now is a better time than ever to focus on recognizing and preventing burnout in the workplace! Burnout is characterized by emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and ineffectiveness in the workplace, and by chronic negative responses to stressful workplace conditions. While not considered a mental illness, burnout can be categorized as a mental health issue and is something to take seriously if you find yourself falling into a negative pattern.
Burnout can be a problem even in the best of times – and with everything that we’ve been dealing with over the past 15 months, some burnout is inevitable! The workplace experts at Acloché have put together a list of 7 tips that can help to minimize stress and reduce burnout:
- Change up your environment periodically. Staring at the exact same space day after day will drag anyone down; move meetings outside or to a local coffee shop, add plants to your desk, or hang bright artwork on your cubicle walls. Little changes can have a positive influence on your mood!
- Take breaks throughout the day. Step outside for some fresh air, walk a few laps around the office, or do a coffee run for the team – just get away from your desk periodically and take a few minutes to rest.
- Create moments of levity during the day. Share your favorite dumb jokes with each other, watch funny YouTube videos, or play a round of white board Pictionary – whatever your group will enjoy doing together. Our Acloché Professional Divisions team in Grandview has some great ideas when it comes to this, with a whole windowsill of games and de-stressors stretching all along the wall!
- Create and enforce boundaries. Leave your desk for lunch at least a couple of times a week, set designated blocks of time to handle specific tasks, or establish “do not disturb” time before and after work hours.
- Show empathy for each other and those coming into your office. Everyone has situations happening in their lives outside the office and you never truly know what another person is going through; a smile or a few kind words can sometimes go a long way.
- Take mental health days. When’s the last time you took a PTO day just because, or spent a Saturday afternoon doing whatever you wanted? With family and other obligations, it can be hard to carve out time for ourselves, but finding regular chunks of time just for yourself is crucial to maintaining your own wellbeing.
- Cut yourself some slack. Nobody’s perfect and we all make mistakes or have bad days, but it’s not the end of the world—Shake it off and start fresh tomorrow!
Whatever your strategies are, share them with others that may be experiencing similar issues related to workplace burnout!