Improving Employee Experience For Productivity & Retention

Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc. CEO Bonita Eby of Kitchener, Ontario, was interviewed for The Globe And Mail. This article is based on that interview. Find the full article here.

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Employee Burnout & Organizational Culture

Dayforce, Inc.’s 15th Annual Pulse of Talent report indicates that burnout and stress continue to impact employee productivity and longevity. The following stats come from the report surveying 9,500 executives, HR leaders, managers, and workers across organizations with at least 100 employees globally:

• Burnout: 78% experienced burnout in the past year, similar to the previous three years, with 69% indicating that they may choose to look for a different job.

• Culture matters: 48% said they have quit a job because of a bad company culture. 75% of workers under age 34 said they would reject a job opportunity because of a poor culture fit.

Burnout can affect individuals physically by impacting their immune system and can even lead to heart disease and stroke. It is more often recognized by the mental health effects such as anxiety, trouble sleeping, reduced resilience and an inability to cope.

But burnout isn’t just an individual problem that can be mitigated through only self-care. While mindfulness, work-life balance and stress management are essential, burnout and compassion fatigue are related to organizational culture. To address the root causes, companies must evaluate their culture and provide documented strategies that support workers. Systemic solutions are needed for systemic challenges, and only leaders and managers can implement them.

How can companies evaluate employee burnout risk?

The symptoms of burnout listed below are important signs to watch for.

• Exhaustion: Employees may complain of being physically, mentally, or emotionally exhausted, which may be evident by the number of sick days and mental health days they take. When exhausted, employees may become more irritable and less able to handle conflict. Often, burnt-out people experience brain fog and cannot accomplish tasks requiring executive functioning and problem-solving.

• Reduced engagement: Quiet quitting often indicates burnout or compassion fatigue, as employees can no longer give their full selves to their work. This may lead to reduced productivity, collaboration and innovation. Further evidence is lower-quality work and missed deadlines, often leading to deep shame and guilt.

• Attitude: A change in attitude often indicates burnout, as employees’ stress triggers a fight, flight, or freeze response, reducing their ability to manage conflict or engage in relationships at work. Employees may find it more difficult to maintain healthy boundaries and need clarity and support.

• Absenteeism: When an employee starts taking more sick days, it's crucial to pay attention. Without appropriate intervention and support, sick days can lead to leaves of absence and, ultimately, resignations. This situation affects individuals who might feel embarrassed and guilty about letting their team down. When a team loses a member, everyone remaining must manage an increased workload, and burnout can spread throughout the team. In the end, absenteeism lets clients or stakeholders down, as well as the organization itself, resulting in lost revenue and a tarnished reputation.

• Assessment: Managers can implement an evidence-based Burnout Assessment to evaluate employees' risk of burnout. Then, companies can plan personalized, company-wide initiatives based on measurable, objective data.

How to effectively evaluate employee burnout risk across your organization.

How can leaders & managers support employee well-being?

Leaders and managers must receive soft skills training to cultivate an empathetic company culture, which is essential for employee retention and reducing turnover. Managers and their teams build trust through relationships and modelling behaviours. Every employee is an individual who needs personalized support. Implementing policies that promote work-life balance and establish workplace boundaries empowers employees at all levels to thrive.

Equipping employees with job-specific skills training and burnout-prevention strategies, while addressing vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue, boosts employee engagement. Offering flexible work environments and regularly surveying employee experiences leads to greater retention.

How to improve employee productivity & retention.

The 14th Annual Pulse of Talent: Canada report surveyed 1,400 Canadian workers and offers some helpful guidance on supporting burnt-out employees:

• Tech innovation: 66% said tech upgrades improved productivity and retention.

• Leader empathy: 87% said empathy from their organization’s leadership would enhance job satisfaction, retention, performance, and productivity.

• Skill training: Providing job-specific and soft skills training throughout their employment increases productivity.

• Flexible work: Flexibility and fairness remain key to employee engagement, particularly by reducing managers' administrative workload.

• Leader training: Targeted training to help managers understand how to lead with emotional intelligence to create a psychologically safe work environment for staff.

• Culture surveys: Regularly surveying employees to understand their experiences and align their values with company goals can lead to better results.

Burnout can be prevented and overcome through individual self-care practices and organizational culture changes that prioritize employee well-being. On a personal level, employees can manage stress by establishing boundaries, practicing mindfulness, taking regular breaks, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance. However, sustainable solutions require systemic support from organizations, including promoting realistic workloads, fostering a culture of open communication, and providing resources for mental health and professional development. When companies actively cultivate an environment that values employee well-being, they not only help prevent burnout but also enhance job satisfaction and retention, leading to a healthier and more engaged workforce.

About the author

Bonita Eby is a Burnout Prevention & Organizational Culture Consultant, Executive Coach, and owner of Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc., specializing in burnout prevention and wellness for organizations and individuals. Bonita is on a mission to end burnout. Get your free Burnout Assessment today.

We’re your trusted partner in employee health.

Connect with us about bringing our workshops to your organization.

Manager Burnout

Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc. CEO Bonita Eby of Kitchener, Ontario, was interviewed for Business Insider magazine by Diamond Naga Siu. This article is based on that interview. Find the full article here.

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In today’s workforce, we’re seeing manager burnout come to the forefront. While employee engagement, staff burnout and frontline worker compassion fatigue have made headlines, what happens if your manager is burnt out?

How manager burnout impacts engagement and employee experience.

When managers and supervisors experience burnout, they have less capacity to address the challenges raised by their direct reports. They may not have the energy to engage with empathy or the skill to manage critical dilemmas.

Long-term chronic stress at work affects one’s ability to navigate problem-solving, executive functioning, or higher thinking to the same extent. Under stress, the brain’s amygdala triggers a cascade of reactions, including an outpouring of cortisol and adrenaline from the adrenal glands. The amygdala also inhibits the immediate use of the frontal cortex, where higher-level thinking and problem-solving occur.

Diamond quoted in the Business Insider article, “This leaves their direct reports in a lurch, since managers have such a large impact on someone's role: workflows, productivity, support, growth, and more. Bonita Eby, a burnout prevention consultant, told me that's why it's important to remove the taboo — including for managers — of saying "I need help.”

What can managers do if they're feeling burned out?

1. Recognize the symptoms.

The first step is to recognize if you might be experiencing the signs and symptoms of burnout. The free Burnout Assessment provides essential questions across six organizational culture factors that affect burnout. Managers can use the assessment independently or as part of a company-wide strategy for mitigating employee burnout.

You can learn the evidence-based symptoms of burnout and the signs of compassion fatigue in the linked articles.

Business Insider reporter Diamond Naga Siu spoke with several experts about the signs of manager burnout. While burnout cannot be accurately assessed by others subjectively, the Burnout Assessment provides objective data to monitor burnout risk.

Signs Diamond quoted me as saying:

• Fear: "We often see that when people are going through burnout, they become fearful, because they're experiencing such vast amounts of stress," Eby said. “Fear, stress, and anxiety all go through the same nervous (system) pathway, she said, so a burnt-out manager could be working in survival mode.”

• Creating conflict: “When people are experiencing burn out, Eby told me they can begin to create conflicts. In a manager, this can look like inappropriate language or off-colored jokes, which can put employees in a scary and uncomfortable position.” 

2. Reconnect with your values.

Chronic stress and challenging life events can interfere with valued living when managers focus entirely on problem-solving and regaining a sense of control, losing track of what matters most.

Losing touch with one's values at work is characterized by an excessive emphasis on controlling the negative rather than living out the positive. However, research reveals a strong correlation between living out one's values and resilience to stressful events.

Managers can cultivate resilience by engaging in behaviours aligned with their personal and professional values. Values are one's beliefs, ethics and deeply held convictions. When managers reconnect with the organization's values that mean the most to them, it can serve as a buffer against burnout and provide impetus to regain passion and strength.

What can leaders do to support burnt-out managers?

1. Re-create autonomy.

Managers and employees alike are facing challenges as they transition from remote work to a hybrid model or, in some cases, a fully in-office arrangement.

Managers need the flexibility to work at their optimal level; sometimes that means working from home or a remote location. Organizations that provide workers with autonomy over where and when they work tend to have higher employee engagement and satisfaction. Giving managers more freedom to make choices that support their work-life balance gives them a greater chance to regain and increase their productivity.

2. Reassess support.

Regularly reassess the supports offered to managers and employees. Provide consistent check-ins to monitor how managers cope and have authentic conversations about their needs. 

Promote benefits packages and employee assistance programs every month, emphasizing what is available and encouraging usage. Stressed-out managers may be aware of only some of what is available to them to help them deal with stress and exhaustion. 

Meaningful, open conversations in a psychologically safe environment can help leaders support managers in thriving, not just surviving.

About the author

Bonita Eby is a Burnout Prevention & Organizational Culture Consultant, Executive Coach, and owner of Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc., specializing in burnout prevention and wellness for organizations and individuals. Bonita is on a mission to end burnout. Get your free Burnout Assessment today.

Want to know how we can help? Explore our services & workshops.

Connect with us about bringing our workshops to your organization.

Compassion Fatigue & Moral Injury

Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc. CEO Bonita Eby of Kitchener, Ontario, was interviewed on CHCH Morning Live. This article is based on that interview.

Click the image to watch the live television interview.

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Host: We hear a lot about burnout. What about something called compassion fatigue? Burnout Prevention Strategist and owner of Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development, Bonita Eby, joins us now with more.

What is the definition of compassion fatigue?

Host: Let's start out with what compassion fatigue is.

Bonita: Compassion fatigue is the stress resulting from exposure to suffering people. It's caused by vicarious trauma. In other words, it's witnessing or listening to other people's difficult stories or painful experiences. It’s important to note that exposure is cumulative.

Who does compassion fatigue impact?

Host: I can imagine this is something you deal with, specifically within corporate or professional roles. I can also imagine it is something that caregivers get. Are we talking about healthcare workers and social workers?

Bonita: You are completely right. We're seeing it a lot in healthcare workers, anyone from nurses and doctors to intake workers. We also see compassion fatigue and moral injury in emergency response workers, from paramedics to forensics, and we also see it within purpose-driven nonprofits.

How has compassion fatigue emerged in recent years?

Host: Is compassion fatigue new, or is it just something that people are now recognizing based on how they are feeling and acting?

Bonita: Burnout, compassion fatigue and moral injury have existed for a long time, though it's just recently that the public is beginning to understand what it means. Even with burnout pre-pandemic, it wasn’t widely discussed or well understood. Now that we’re in what’s called a post-pandemic world, the word burnout is regularly overused, attributed to too many things. Burnout is an evidence-based, recognized term with a specific meaning.

Similarly, compassion fatigue has become public knowledge. People in helping professions have experienced increased prevalence of compassion fatigue, moral injury, and burnout throughout the pandemic, and these continue post-pandemic.

Host: And because it's happening so much, there's simply no time to stop and just take a breather at work?

What is moral injury & how does it happen?

Bonita: Well, that's just it. One of the main issues is a lack of resources. People in healthcare, emergency response, and nonprofits want to help, but there is an incredible lack of resources to provide the help people need.

This is where moral injury comes in. Helping professionals want to help those they serve, but they are often powerless to do so due to a lack of funding or long waiting lists. They are highly trained professionals, and yet they feel like their hands are tied.

What can we do to prevent & support those experiencing compassion fatigue?

Host: I can imagine what frontline workers are seeing on a day-to-day basis. What's being done to stop the issue that's causing all of this?

Bonita: We're always going to have suffering people. But what we need to do is care for the people caring for the suffering people. It means putting strategies and resources in place.

It’s important for organizations to examine their company culture and the systems and processes they use to provide care. Leaders must create psychologically safe environments for employees to talk about compassion fatigue, burnout, and moral injury and seek support.

A great place for organizations to start is by using the free Burnout Assessment on my website. Leaders and employees can download and use it to evaluate employees' risk of burnout and implement strategies to mitigate burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral injury. The Burnout Assessment is used globally by organizations to care for their people and culture.

Signs of compassion fatigue

Host: What are some of the signs of compassion fatigue?

Bonita: One of the things we're seeing regularly is the quiet quitting phenomenon. When people are experiencing compassion fatigue, they become fatigued. They're exhausted, not just physical exhaustion but also mental and emotional exhaustion.

When highly skilled professionals desire to help others but are physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted, they often begin to self-protect. They put up a metaphorical wall between themselves and those they serve because they simply can’t give of themselves as much as they have in the past.

Sometimes, as their capacity decreases, they have less tolerance for others. Even kind, loving people begin snapping at others, almost like their personalities have changed. Suddenly they are acting poorly, not caring, or causing conflict within their team.

Host: And we need those people, and we need them to be highly functioning.

Bonita: That's right, and they want to be. I've never met someone in one of the helping professions who doesn't want to be highly functioning. They're giving it their all. They're in their profession because they want to make a difference in this world.

Connect with us about bringing our workshops to your organization.

About the author

Bonita Eby is a Burnout Prevention & Organizational Culture Consultant, Executive Coach, and owner of Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc., specializing in burnout prevention and wellness for organizations and individuals. Bonita is on a mission to end burnout.

To learn more about the symptoms of burnout, read The Symptoms of Burnout.

Download your free Burnout Assessment.

Consultant Helps Leaders & Organizations Overcome Burnout

Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc. owner, Bonita Eby, was a featured guest on The Digital Executive podcast. This article summarizes that interview. Click to listen to the full podcast, Consultant Helps Leaders & Organizations Overcome Burnout with CEO Bonita Eby | Ep 605.

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On a mission to end burnout.

Host: Welcome to Coruzant Technologies, home of the Digital Executive Podcast. Today's guest is Bonita Eby. Bonita is a Burnout Prevention Strategist and CEO of Breakthrough Personal and Professional Development, Incorporated. She specializes in burnout prevention and organizational culture at the intersection of health and leadership development. Bonita is on a mission to end burnout. 

Good afternoon, Bonita and welcome to the show. You've got quite a career in health and culture as a trainer and the CEO of Breakthrough Personal and Professional Development. Could you share the secret to your career growth with our audience and what inspires you?

Bonita: It all started when I went through burnout and compassion fatigue. I found a lack of resources to help on a personal or corporate level. Over time, I researched burnout and compassion fatigue: What causes it? How do you overcome it? From that research, I developed proprietary training and models to prevent employee burnout through the lens of organizational culture. 

A unique methodology.

Host: Let's talk about your methodology, which is informed by extensive research and data and is evidence-based, which is always good to hear. You also say that your method is different than the rest. Could you share what makes you unique?

Bonita: I started my career in healthcare and spent about a decade in that space before transitioning into leadership development. I’ve spent about 25 years in the leadership space. 

When I transitioned into working with burnout and compassion fatigue, I began researching. Because of my healthcare background, I accessed high-quality research, understood it, and broke it down into actionable steps for leaders and organizations to implement. 

We custom-design workshops and training for organizations based on our discoveries while consulting with leaders. In a nutshell, we meet our clients at the intersection of healthcare and leadership development, a focus that differs from most other companies.

How to excel in your career.

Host: Can you share something from your career experience that would be helpful for those looking to grow their career in coaching or entrepreneurship?

Bonita:

1. Invest in quality apps. They make a significant difference in prioritizing and being effective and efficient at work. 

2. We often hear stories about people who just got lucky and their businesses exploded. And while that is possible, I appreciate the quote, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” That's my experience. It doesn't mean working yourself to the bone. I work in burnout prevention; overworking is not the point. But do the work. 

3. It takes time to become an expert in your field. Surround yourself with great leaders. Never be afraid to have people around you who do things better than you. That's how we grow. That's how we learn. We need to depend on others who can do the parts we cannot, which is a key part of leadership.

4. And lastly, trust your gut. So many times, we see what others are doing and wonder whether we should do the same. Learn and grow, but don't try to be someone else. Trust your gut. Know that you have something special to bring into the world, and then do it with integrity.

Host: Your personal experience and what you’ve learned throughout your career and life bring much to this show. I appreciate it, and thank you very much, Bonita. It was a pleasure having you on today, and I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Learn how Breakthrough supports organizations.

About the author

Bonita Eby is a Burnout Prevention & Organizational Culture Consultant, Executive Coach, and owner of Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc., specializing in burnout prevention and wellness for organizations and individuals. Bonita is on a mission to end burnout. Get your free Burnout Assessment today.

Workplace Burnout: How to Support Employee Well-being

Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc. CEO, Bonita Eby, was interviewed on CTV News. This article is a summary of that interview.

The Great Resignation due to burnout & stress

Host: During the pandemic, we heard about mass resignations as people left their jobs due to burnout and stress. Bonita Eby is a Burnout Prevention Strategist and owner of Breakthrough Personal and Professional Development Incorporated. She joins us today to talk about workplace burnout and how to support employee well-being. Bonita, thank you for joining us today.

Workplace burnout & how to support employee well-being

Host: You have a personal story about dealing with workplace burnout that led you to this work, yes?

Bonita: I did. I went through burnout, and at the time, people were not talking about it. So, after many years of research and drawing on my background in leadership development and healthcare, I combined these to create Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development, which works with organizations and individuals to prevent employee burnout.

Comprehensive Burnout Assessment tool

Host: You've created a Burnout Assessment tool. Can you tell us about it?

Bonita: That's right. It is the first burnout assessment to include both a professional and a personal profile. The professional profile is based on the six factors of burnout that research shows contribute to it in the workplace. They are

1. An overwhelming workload,

2. A lack of control,

3. A lack of reward,

4. A lack of community,

5. A lack of fairness, and

6. Conflicting values.

The personal profile is based on the ramifications that burnout has on our personal lives. This includes our physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and relational health.

Host: And is it an online tool? How do we use it? How does it work?

Bonita: It is available online on my website at www.break-through.ca. Right on the home page, on the right-hand side, you'll see a blue button labelled "Burnout Assessment," where you can download it for free.

Organizations use the Burnout Assessment across their entire organization. For example, nonprofits, corporate entities, municipalities, and universities use it across the organization to open conversations about burnout with those they lead, creating a psychologically safe space to discuss it.

Leaders can assess, through the Burnout Assessment, exactly what challenges employees face. Then they can provide resources and training, based on that data, to equip their people to prevent burnout.

Burnout affects a company’s top performers

Host: I know we hear a lot about burnout on a personal level. Many people report or say they feel this way, but you're encouraging organizations and employers - the leaders in the workplace- to recognize burnout amongst their workforce.

Bonita: We each have a personal responsibility to care for ourselves and create a work-life balance. But the research overwhelmingly shows that burnout is driven by workplace stress that has been unsuccessfully managed. The systems in place often leave people feeling less productive, exhausted, and cynical about their jobs, and they can affect an organization's top performers. So we need to put strategies in place to protect them and the organization for the long term.

Recommended strategies workplaces can adopt to help employees feel less burned out

Host: What strategies do you then recommend that workplaces adopt in order to have employees feel less burnt out?

Bonita: One of the great things about the Burnout Assessment is that it provides leaders with quantitative data to understand where the gaps are in their organization. That way, they can implement strategies, such as training, resources, and benefits, to protect and support their employees based on data.

Companies sincerely want to support their employees but don't know what to do. So they implement numerous strategies, but too often they don't address the problems they actually have within their organization. The assessment provides that data.

Host: Such an important issue, Bonita. Thank you so much for joining us today.

About the author

Bonita Eby is a Burnout Prevention & Organizational Culture Consultant, Executive Coach, and owner of Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc., specializing in burnout prevention and wellness for organizations and individuals. Bonita is on a mission to end burnout. Get your free Burnout Assessment today.

Explore our workshops and consulting services.

Bring our consulting and workshops to your workplace.

Boundaries For Work-life Balance

Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc. owner, Bonita Eby, was a featured guest on the Balance + Bliss Podcast. This article summarizes a portion of that interview. Click to listen to the full podcast, Episode 95: Stress, Burnout, and setting healthy boundaries with Bonita Eby.

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What are boundaries & why do we need them?

Bonita: A boundary is anything you put around you to positively self-protect. Anything that indicates "this is where I begin, where I end, and where I'm comfortable with you coming in" is a boundary.

Various cultures will have distinct boundaries, just as different families do. Our family of origin is often where we learn boundaries, or lack of boundaries, and where many of our boundary issues arise.

How does a lack of work-related boundaries affect families?

Career choices can also influence our boundaries. For instance, many health care professionals have been trained not to respect their own limitations. There’s this belief that because people need you, you have to step up, and it doesn't matter what your health is like. This can lead to an incredible amount of guilt and shame.

Even within the family space, people experience shame and guilt when unable to give what they believe they should be able to. We need to have our tanks filled up so we can provide, not the other way around. If we're depleted, we have nothing left to give. And frankly, when we're talking about burnout, that's when people reach out for help. They rarely come to me because the workload is too heavy. They do whatever they can to get through. They only talk about the workload after they reach the point where they can admit they have nothing left for their family or friends. When they are so depleted, they fear losing their family because they’re giving everything to their job. At the end of the day, they have nothing left for their family and friends.

What are some tips for establishing boundaries?

Host: I can relate to that on a lot of levels. I think everyone can. What are some tips for someone who recognizes they need to establish boundaries?

Bonita: One of the boundary-making exercises I like to do with clients is called My Inner Circle, which helps specify who is in their inner, middle, and outer circles so they can set healthy boundaries. Let's walk through it.

Inner circle

The inner circle includes the people who mean the absolute most. For me, that's my husband, my parents and my siblings.

Middle circle

The middle circle usually consists of our closest friends. Perhaps our extended family. Sometimes work colleagues whom we enjoy being with go in there.

Outer circle

The outer circle includes everyone else, and that's a lot of people. This consists of the boss, our friends, family, and colleagues who are not within the innermost circles.

Learn about our Healthy Boundaries workshops.

How do boundaries differ for people working in purpose-driven organizations?

Bonita: Workplace boundaries can be tricky, in particular within purpose-driven organizations. Lots of nonprofits and even some for-profit organizations would consider themselves purpose-driven. These companies do incredible work, and people within them tend to put their hearts into it, which is wonderful, but sometimes it’s too much. It's more than a paycheque; it's about changing lives and helping people.

Early in my previous purpose-driven career, I mistakenly believed that the people I served belonged in my inner circle. However, that inner circle is tiny, so the people who meant the most to me got squeezed out into the middle circle.

Unfortunately, for many people, whoever happens to be on the other end of their phone becomes their inner circle. Whether it's a social media notification, text, phone, you name it, whoever is reaching out at that moment becomes part of the inner circle. And it's breaking them.

We’re all trying to be so many things to too many people. And again, this can lead us to a position where we have nothing left for ourselves and those we love.

How do boundaries relate to our mission, vision & values?

Bonita: When working with organizations, we talk a lot about their mission, vision and values, especially in terms of employee burnout. When it comes to individuals, we all have a personal mission, vision and values, whether we're aware of them or not. It’s the grid in which we make decisions. It’s worth the time to hammer out.

Questions to ask include,

• What am I about?

• What is my identity?

• Why am I on this earth?

• How do I want to touch other people's lives?

• What legacy do I want to leave?

We're not talking about big cars and heaps of money here; we're talking about something much more significant. When you explore meaningful questions like these, you can objectively evaluate when someone requests something of you and respond authentically.

Some helpful evaluative questions include:

• Is this request aligned with my personal mission and vision values?

• Does it contribute to my life’s purpose?

Sometimes, people feel that having a personal mission, vision, and values is selfish, but it doesn't have to be. For instance, part of my mission, vision and values is around being a good neighbour. If one of my neighbours needs help, I want to be there for them. So I will say no to certain things in order to help a neighbour. Likewise, your values don't have to be selfish either. Knowing who you are and fostering awareness of your big picture can guide your life and help you implement healthy boundaries.

Host: One of the best things we can do is take time to reflect on what we value. What do I want my life to look like? The problem is we're all moving 100 miles an hour, but it helps to pause.

How to set realistic boundaries around technology

Host: Let’s talk about boundaries around technology and social media, because sometimes we let whoever is on our social media into our inner circle. That can contribute to a lot of extra stress and burnout. So how do we set simple boundaries around our technology?

The brain on technology

Bonita: Let’s start with why and then talk about how. We've all heard the need to shut off our phones, but why does it matter? Neurologically, it changes everything.

Let’s make this simplistic. Inside the brain are two significant areas. We've got the brainstem, and we've got the frontal lobe. The brainstem is all about survival. Even reptiles have this part of our brain. Then we have the frontal lobe at the front of our brain, just below our forehead. It allows us to engage our executive thinking, higher-functioning problem-solving, and empathy.

When we experience stress, a part of our brainstem called the amygdala is triggered. When the amygdala is activated, it triggers a fight, flight, or freeze response, also known as the stress response. In addition, it causes a whole cascade of hormonal and chemical changes in our bodies. But for now, let's stay in our heads.

The amygdala in our brainstem, when triggered by stress, hijacks our frontal lobe. That means we can no longer think at our best. We cannot make decisions coherently. We cannot empathize with others because our brains want to get us to safety.

Learn more about how stress affects our brain & mental health.

Fight, flight or freeze stress responses

Here's why this matters. Every time a notification goes off on your phone, it triggers the amygdala. The fight, flight or freeze response is meant to be activated when we are in critical danger or when our lives are at stake. For instance, when a bear is chasing us, or a car suddenly crosses onto the sidewalk where we are walking. These are the things that fight, flight, or freeze is designed for. Unfortunately, our tech notifications cause us to experience fight, flight or freeze responses multiple times an hour. As a result, we have become proficient at ignoring our stress-cycle warning signs and failing to deal with the stress.

Every time one of our notification sounds goes off from a text message or social media, it triggers the fight, flight or freeze response. And on top of that, another system I won't get into here triggers a dopamine response, which is all about addiction. When we have that triggering situation of the amygdala, we want to pick up the phone and look at it because it relieves us. So we get a dopamine hit, no different than with any addiction. So now it's even more challenging to say no. It is a vicious cycle.

It will do a world of good if people install boundaries to shut off their notifications during certain hours of their day. One of the ways I manage this is by using the favourites setting on my phone, so when it's on silent, only my favourites can call through.

Host: We don't have to answer everything immediately, but we've been conditioned to believe we must receive those notifications. I keep my phone silent because I don't want to hear the dings. We can decrease our daily stress by setting that simple boundary.

About the author

Bonita Eby is a Burnout Prevention & Organizational Culture Consultant, Executive Coach, and owner of Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc., specializing in burnout prevention and wellness for organizations and individuals. Bonita is on a mission to end burnout. Get your free Burnout Assessment today.

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