Ten Ways To Reduce Employee Burnout In Your Organization

Employee burnout is a common issue in many organizations. If you don’t have a plan to reduce it, your employees will become frustrated, stressed, and less productive. The best way to prevent employee burnout is to develop a plan and follow through with it. Here are ten ways to reduce employee burnout in your organization.

How to reduce employee burnout in your organization

1. Offer rewards and recognition.

One way to reduce employee burnout is to adopt a rewards and recognition system. Rewards can be extrinsic, such as financial incentives, bonus vacation days, or public recognition. Intrinsic rewards are often more valuable because they create meaning and joy. For example, helping employees understand how their role directly contributes to the company's mission and vision.

2. Focus on teamwork.

Reducing employee burnout can also stem from developing policies and cultural norms that emphasize teamwork and working towards common goals rather than individual achievement. This collaborative model will help to create a more positive work environment where employees feel like they are part of an effective team.

3. Evaluate employees' performance and satisfaction.

To reduce employee burnout, it’s essential to have an accurate and up-to-date understanding of employee performance appraisals. By understanding how employees are performing, you can make adjustments that will improve their overall effectiveness as workers. Annual evaluations should include a survey of employees' satisfaction and workplace challenges.

4. Create a psychologically safe environment.

Another way to reduce employee burnout is by creating an environment where employees feel appreciated and comfortable speaking up about their ideas and feelings. Each team member ought to feel they have a voice and can contribute toward common goals. But first, employees must feel psychologically safe to share what they think and feel by leaders demonstrating respect, loyalty and appreciation. A values-driven work environment will help build trust among employees, leaders, and the organization while ensuring that problems are addressed quickly and effectively.

5. Provide opportunities for growth and development.

One of the most effective ways to reduce employee burnout is to provide ample opportunities for individual growth and development. This will allow employees to learn new skills and develop their unique abilities, which will, in turn, help them become more effective and efficient workers. As a result, the organization reaps the rewards as staff become more productive, engaged and innovative.

6. Identify and reduce employee stressors.

Reducing employee stress is one of the most critical factors in preventing employee burnout. To reduce employee stress, develop and implement policies and procedures that support an environment where employees feel valued and supported in their responsibilities. Use a Burnout Assessment to understand the stressors employees experience. Simple changes can make an immense difference in employee health, satisfaction and retention. 

7. Empower innovation and risk-taking.

Creating a culture that supports creativity, risk-taking, and innovation is essential to reducing employee burnout. Companies will grow to the next level when staff feel confident in trying new ideas and tackling old problems with new solutions. Employees must feel supported and encouraged to take calculated risks without fear of reprisal. The more leaders support thought leadership and innovation, the more engaged their employees will be.

8. Understand the root causes of burnout.

Reducing employee burnout in your organization begins with understanding why it occurs and then working to correct the root causes. This evaluation may involve identifying and addressing any negative systems contributing to burnout among your employees. You can do this by using the Burnout Assessment, conducting surveys, and following up with interviews to learn about your employees' experiences, challenges, and frustrations. Then, leadership can respond with appropriate and effective interventions, support and resources.

9. Communicate clearly and frequently.

To prevent employee burnout, leaders must have effective communication tools operational within the company. Any strategic plan, process, or priority must be communicated and demonstrated by the top and most visible leaders to create buy-in throughout the organization. When discrepancies arise between written and stated values and how they are applied among employees, a breakdown can occur. Therefore, it is essential that values are not only communicated but acted upon consistently and authentically on every level of the organization.

10. Provide effective stress-relieving training.

Reducing employee burnout in your organization can be achieved through experiential education such as stress management training, burnout and compassion fatigue workshops, and resilience programs. Employees will learn techniques for self-leadership, endurance and relieving their workplace stress. Supplemental stress-relieving approaches may include providing gym memberships and incentives for healthy living. By using these opportunities to promote a healthy work environment and help employees stay focused, you can reduce the likelihood of employee burnout.

Why reducing workplace employee burnout benefits the workplace

Employees feeling overwhelmed and stressed can quickly become less productive, less engaged, and less innovative at their company. To reduce employee burnout, creating an effective, healthy work environment where employees feel supported and valued is vital. Additionally, create a culture where employees feel appreciated and respected, even during difficult times at work. This support will help to increase employees' motivation to stay healthy, produce quality work and contribute to the organization's goals. Happy, healthy employees create organizations that thrive.

Reducing employee burnout is an essential commitment in any organization. By reducing employee burnout, you can improve your workplace atmosphere and lower stress levels. Additionally, reducing employee burnout can increase productivity and reduce turnover and resignations. To achieve these goals, it's important to understand the root causes of employee burnout and address them openly, clearly, and with empathy. Doing so can help reduce the risk of burnout and keep your employees happy, healthy and productive.

FAQ: Ten Ways to Reduce Employee Burnout in Your Organization

What is the best way to reduce employee burnout?

The best way to reduce employee burnout is to create a clear plan and follow through with it. Burnout prevention should include leadership action, healthy workplace systems, employee feedback, and practical support.

Key strategies include recognition, teamwork, psychological safety, growth opportunities, clear communication, stress reduction, and effective training.

Why is employee recognition important for burnout prevention?

Recognition helps employees feel seen, valued, and connected to the organization’s purpose. This can reduce frustration and increase motivation.

Recognition can include financial rewards, bonus vacation days, public appreciation, or simple reminders of how an employee’s work supports the organization’s mission.

How does teamwork help reduce burnout?

Teamwork helps reduce burnout by making employees feel less isolated. When people work toward shared goals, they are more likely to feel supported and connected.

A strong team culture can also reduce unhealthy competition, improve trust, and create a more positive work environment.

Why should organizations measure employee satisfaction and burnout risk?

Leaders need clear information before they can solve the right problems. Employee surveys, performance reviews, interviews, and burnout assessments can help leaders understand what staff are experiencing.

This helps organizations identify stressors, workplace challenges, and areas where support or policy changes may be needed.

What role does psychological safety play in reducing burnout?

Psychological safety helps employees speak honestly about ideas, concerns, stress, and workplace challenges without fear of reprimand or judgment.

When leaders show respect, appreciation, and consistency, employees are more likely to raise issues early. This helps organizations solve problems before they grow into burnout, disengagement, or turnover.

How can growth and development opportunities reduce burnout?

Growth opportunities help employees feel engaged, trusted, and hopeful about their future. When people can build new skills and use their strengths, they often feel more motivated and effective.

This benefits the organization too. Employees who feel supported in their development are more likely to stay engaged, committed, productive, and innovative.

Why is it important to understand the root causes of burnout?

Burnout is often connected to deeper workplace issues. These may include unclear expectations, heavy workloads, poor communication, lack of support, unhealthy culture, or systems that create ongoing stress.

Understanding the root causes helps leaders avoid surface-level fixes. It allows them to make changes that actually improve employee health, retention, and performance.

How can clear communication help prevent burnout?

Clear and frequent communication helps employees understand priorities, expectations, values, and changes inside the organization.

When leaders say one thing but do another, trust can break down. To reduce the risk of burnout, leaders must communicate clearly and act in ways that align with the organization’s values.

What kind of training helps reduce employee burnout?

Training can help employees and leaders understand stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, resilience, and healthy workplace habits.

Experiential education such as stress management training, burnout and compassion fatigue workshops, and resilience programs can help employees build practical skills while also helping leaders create a healthier work environment.

When should an organization bring in outside support to reduce burnout?

Outside support can help when burnout, stress, disengagement, turnover, conflict, or low morale are becoming common.

Our consultants or workshop facilitators can help leaders assess the risk of burnout, identify root causes, and develop practical strategies. This is especially helpful for public-sector, emergency-response, healthcare, nonprofit, and corporate teams where stress levels and responsibilities are high.

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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.

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.

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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.

FAQ: Boundaries for Work-Life Balance

What are workplace boundaries?

Workplace boundaries are limits that help employees protect their time, energy, focus, and well-being.

The blog explains that a boundary is anything a person puts around themselves to self-protect in a healthy way. It helps define where a person begins, where they end, and what they are comfortable allowing in.

Why are boundaries important for work-life balance?

Boundaries help employees avoid giving all their energy to work while leaving little for themselves, their families, and their personal lives.

When employees are always available or feel responsible for everyone’s needs, they can become depleted. Over time, this can increase stress, guilt, resentment, and burnout risk.

How can poor work boundaries affect employees and their families?

Poor work boundaries can leave employees with little emotional or physical energy after the workday. They may still complete their tasks, but have nothing left for family, friends, rest, or personal health.

People often seek help when they realize work is taking so much from them that their closest relationships are suffering.

Why are boundaries harder in purpose-driven organizations?

Boundaries can be especially hard in purpose-driven workplaces because employees care deeply about the mission. This is common in nonprofits, healthcare, public service, emergency response, education, and other helping fields.

When the work involves changing lives or helping people, employees may feel guilty about saying no. Leaders need to recognize this risk and create a culture where caring about the mission does not mean sacrificing personal well-being.

How can leaders support healthier boundaries at work?

Leaders can support healthier boundaries by setting clear expectations around availability, response times, workload, and after-hours communication.

They can also model healthy behaviour themselves. If leaders send emails late at night, reward overwork, or praise constant availability, employees may feel pressure to do the same.

How does technology affect work-life boundaries?

Technology can make employees feel like they are always on call. Notifications, messages, emails, and social media can pull attention away from rest, family, and focused work.

Frequent notifications can trigger the body’s stress response, making it harder to think clearly, make decisions, and stay calm.

What simple technology boundaries can organizations encourage?

Organizations can encourage employees to turn off non-essential notifications, use “do not disturb” settings, clarify response-time expectations, and protect certain hours for focused work, client meetings and rest.

How can a healthy boundaries workshop help an organization?

A healthy boundaries workshop can help employees understand why boundaries matter, where they struggle, and how to set limits without guilt or conflict.

For leaders and HR teams, a workshop can also support burnout prevention, mitigate compassion fatigue, foster healthier communication, strengthen team culture, and clarify expectations around workload, technology, and availability.

Our workshops

Discover custom-designed workshops on burnout prevention, stress management, mental health, healthy boundaries, compassion fatigue and more.

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.

Burnout Warning Signs Every Organization Needs To Know

Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development Inc. CEO Bonita Eby was interviewed on The C-Suite on Rogers TV. This article is a summary of that interview.

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Host: Our next guest is Bonita Eby, Burnout Prevention and Organizational Culture Consultant, and she is on a mission to help organizations end burnout. This is a trending topic regardless of your industry or level within the organization.

How are chronic stress & burnout related?

Host: I love your work because burnout is something that so many people are experiencing. For the purposes of this conversation, please share with us what burnout looks like in your work.

Bonita: According to the World Health Organization, burnout results from unmanaged overwhelming stress. It's stress that continues without an end in sight, and it becomes. When chronic stress becomes unmanageable, it can lead to burnout. And like many things, burnout has a progression. It begins with the early signs and symptoms and can lead to late-stage burnout.

Why organizations need to know the early warning signs of burnout.

Bonita: It’s important to notice the early warning signs of burnout so that it does not progress to more intense levels. By catching burnout early, organizations and individuals can implement effective measures to mitigate it and prevent top-performing employees from resigning.

Preventing workplace burnout is a much more cost-effective solution than replacing an employee. The costs associated with recruiting, hiring, training, managing and developing a new employee are phenomenal.

What are the symptoms of burnout in the early stages?

Host: This topic is so relevant right now. What do the early stages of burnout look like?

Bonita: In the beginning stages, burnout simply looks like overwhelming stress that creeps in over time. Over time, people become exhausted. They used to go out on the weekend and spend time doing activities they loved. Once they begin experiencing chronic workplace stress and exhaustion, they spend more of their weekend on the couch. They are no longer able to do the things they enjoy. They may find they simply do not have the capacity at the end of the day to be with their children or family the way they desire.

As burnout progresses, they may experience minor illnesses such as rashes on their chest or face. They may find they have little emotional capacity left.

Then, as they progress through the stages of burnout, the illnesses often advance toward more serious issues such as heart attacks or heart disease.

How can leaders & managers spot burnout early?

Host: From the leadership side of it, what are some early stages of burnout that a leader might be able to pick up on and take action to minimize or circumvent?

Bonita: One of the things I tell leaders to watch for is when passionate team members begin losing their passion. Notice when someone loses their drive, meaning and purpose. Notice when an employee becomes disengaged from the organization’s mission. Notice when apathy creeps. For instance, when a direct report used to show up passionately every day for work, but now they just don’t seem to care, or they seem so drained that they have little to give.

Pay attention when employees begin taking sick days, especially after a significant push or completing a major project. This is a huge warning sign. This is where the Burnout Assessment comes in handy, as it can spot red flags before they reach this point.

I encourage leaders in the marketplace to use the Burnout Assessment with the teams they manage, so they can implement effective measures before their best people burn out.

How can people overcome the stress cycle to prevent burnout?

Host: What are some tips that you have to help lessen burnout?

Bonita: Learn to recognize the signs of stress in your body. Whenever we experience stress, no matter what the cause, whether a ding from a text message or a bear chasing us, we undergo the same stress response.

When stress occurs, the amygdala in our brainstem is triggered, signalling our adrenal system to pump cortisol and adrenaline into our bodies. That causes our hearts to beat faster, leading to stress-related breathing. Instead of taking deep diaphragmatic breaths, we breathe from our chest. Then we can’t think clearly because we're not getting the same amount of oxygen to our brains.

When we become aware of our body during these stress-cycle reactions, we can make a difference. When you notice stress in your body, I recommend asking yourself what your thoughts are. You might think it's intuitive, but we sometimes have automatic thoughts going through our heads, causing the cascade of cortisol. So stop and ask yourself, “What is my thought right now?” and go with your gut because your gut is usually right. By acknowledging your thoughts and replacing them with accurate information, you can change your perspective and stop the stress cycle.

Deep breathing helps you exit the fight, flight or freeze response.

The second thing I recommend is deep breathing. Just as your brain tells your body to go into a fight, flight, or freeze response, sending cortisol and adrenaline coursing through your body, you also have the power to use your body to signal to your brain that the stress has passed.

Breathing deeply from the diaphragm induces a biofeedback mechanism that tells your brain to stop stressing. A common practice is to breathe in for a count of three and breathe out for a count of four. After a few rounds of this, your body and brain will begin to relax, and you’ll be able to focus.

Tips for managing technology.

Host: Do you have any tips for anything around managing electronics?

Bonita: Shut off your notifications whenever possible. Every time a text message dings, an email pings, or a Messenger notification comes in, it disrupts our thinking. It triggers the amygdala in our brainstem and sets off a cascade of hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, preparing our minds, bodies, and emotions for a fight, flight, or freeze response.

We need this stress response to survive, but when it happens repeatedly, it can escalate your ongoing chronic stress, and this is where burnout comes into play.

Easy tips to reduce stress & prevent burnout.

Host: What I like about these tips, Bonita, is that there are things you can do at your desk. You could be sitting at your desk and recognize you have a stressful thought and deep breathe right at your desk. You don’t need to leave or buy an expensive gadget to help your body and brain. Simply by using them the way they are meant to be, we can calm all those stress hormones.

Thank you, Bonita, so much for having this conversation with us and sharing these tips on how we can decrease the stress the overwhelm and increase our focus and ability to thrive, not just survive.

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

Discover custom-designed workshops on burnout prevention, stress management, mental health, healthy boundaries, compassion fatigue and more.

Manage stress & burnout with healthy boundaries

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, Episode 95: Stress, Burnout, and setting healthy boundaries with Bonita Eby.

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Stress, burnout & boundaries

Host: Today, we're talking about something that I think every single person can relate to. We're talking about stress, burnout and setting boundaries. I just learned that boundaries were a thing in the last couple of years, which is terrifying. So I'm hoping you can shed some light on how to set healthy boundaries in our lives to reduce stress and reduce the likelihood of burnout.

What led you to work in the stress and burnout fields?

Host: You're passionate about burnout because of an experience that you had. Tell us a little bit about how you got into this work.

Bonita: I started out in healthcare as a Registered Massage Therapist working with survivors of traumatic motor vehicle accidents in the hospital and my own clinic. That work was incredibly rewarding but very hard on my body, so I transitioned into a leadership development position after a decade. I retrained, retooled and worked in leadership development, project management, and training teams and leaders. I loved that leadership space, but I was also on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on a crisis line. As the years went by, the tasks and responsibilities grew, as did the crisis caseload.

That went on for years, and to be perfectly honest, it took years for the overwhelming stress to build up before recognizing there was a problem. But, interestingly, I felt like I dealt with stress pretty well. I’d successfully handled many different crises, but I didn’t have the necessary training, tools, and resources to deal with the trauma I witnessed, so eventually, I experienced burnout and compassion fatigue.

How long did it take before stress became burnout?

Bonita: It took a good five years to go from early-stage burnout to late-stage burnout. I had no idea what was happening to me or what I should be doing about it. At that time, people weren't talking about burnout. It just wasn’t on the table. It was a taboo subject. I spoke with my medical doctor, but he didn’t understand what was happening to me beyond recognizing it was stress-related.

Eventually, after many years, I resigned from my job, which was a difficult decision, to say the least, because I was passionate about what I did. However, once I resigned, my body crashed, and it was stunning to me. I literally went from running marathons to being flat on my back for an entire year. It took five years and the help of many healthcare experts to recover.

Who does burnout typically affect?

Bonita: Typically, the people who burn out in any given organization are its top performers. That's what the research shows. It’s not the people who just clock in and clock out because it’s a job. It's the people who give it their all, and sometimes it's too much.

What signs of burnout did you experience?

Host: Looking back, do you see any glaring signs you would now recognize as symptoms of burnout?

Bonita: The clearest indication was the way stress presented in my body. We are holistic beings. We have our physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, relational, financial, and professional parts that make up our whole. For me, the most glaring symptoms were related to physical stress. I became tired. I'm one of those people with loads of energy, but eventually, I got to the place where my battery was low all the time. I experienced a lot of minor illnesses alongside frequent bouts of laryngitis.

Unfortunately, I worked out really hard to compensate and felt amazing from the adrenaline rush, but it only drained me even further. I needed yoga or other gentle exercises that would bring my parasympathetic nervous system up and my sympathetic nervous system down. Instead, I continued to feed the stress cycle.

Can working out make burnout worse?

Host: I see so many women who are stressed out to the max. They are on autopilot, go, go, go, go, harder, faster. I see so many people working so hard when, in reality, what their bodies need is exactly what you talked about. They need to soothe their parasympathetic nervous system, but instead, they drive their sympathetic nervous system compulsively.

What can people do to lower their adrenal stress response?

Bonita: We need rest. Until the pandemic happened, it was almost as if rest was a bad word. Like there's something wrong with you if you need rest. There's something very unhealthy, systematically, socially and personally, with that kind of mantra. We deeply require rest, not only physical rest but also emotional and psychological rest.

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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The Difference Between Stress & Burnout

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

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Host: Burnout and stress are terms that are used much more frequently and often interchangeably, but there is a difference. Burnout Prevention Strategist and owner of Breakthrough Personal & Professional Development, Bonita Eby, joins us this morning.

What is the definition of burnout?

Host: Good morning. Thanks for joining us. We throw the term burnout around all the time, but can you define burnout for us?

Bonita: Burnout results from chronic workplace stress that has been unsuccessfully managed. It often presents as exhaustion, cynicism around our work and reduced productivity. 1

What is the difference between burnout & stress?

Host: There's a difference, obviously, between burnout and stress.

Bonita: Absolutely. It’s that chronic, ongoing stress that happens in our workplace that can cause burnout. Stress is the impetus, while burnout results from ongoing, unresolved stress.

Can burnout look different in different people?

Host: Burnout is the result, but can it look different among individuals?

Bonita: Yes, and that's tricky because it looks different, although there are a few symptoms that tend to show up most of the time.

What are the symptoms of burnout?

Exhaustion:

First is exhaustion. Sometimes that starts with just feeling frequently tired, but in the end, it can escalate toward being exhausted to the point of not being able to walk up the stairs or get groceries or take care of your children properly. 2

Reduced Immunity:

Sometimes burnout presents through reduced immunity. Often, people find that their immune system is affected when they’re exhausted and have stress hormones coursing through their bodies. As a result, they may get colds and cases of the flu more often. In the early stages, they might not be able to fight off a rash. But eventually, the decreased immunity can lead to heart disease or even a heart attack. 3, 4

Sleep Disturbances

Insomnia and sleep disturbances can lead to emotional exhaustion. Often this is when people reach out for help. They find that their productivity is declining because they can no longer sleep well. They're just not able to handle things. But when their relationships at home begin to suffer, they reach out for help. 5,6

Learn more about the Symptoms of Burnout.

Does burnout happen quickly or slowly?

Host: Do you find now, with your clients, it's something that's just been a slow burn until all those things have piled up and they realize they've got a problem, but it just develops over a long period of time?

Bonita: Burnout does take a long time to develop. In the beginning, it looks pretty insidious, and that's why I have a free Burnout Assessment that helps you understand where you are at risk and where you are not. People use this, both individually and within their organizations, to take care of their employees.

How can an employee talk to their employer about burnout?

Host: Prevention is so important here, and so is talking to your employer if you're getting these warning signs.

Bonita: That's how many people use the Burnout Assessment. Individuals will download it, complete the Burnout Assessment and then talk with their boss. They now have something tangible in their hands to express what they're experiencing and find the resources they need to thrive. Sometimes that means going to a counsellor or talking with a close friend.

Entire organizations use the Burnout Assessment with their employees to catch red flags early, provide resources, and offer training, sometimes in workshops, sometimes through individual coaching. Then we get them through so they can be productive people within that organization in the long term.

Are companies willing to address workplace burnout?

Host: Are you finding among employers and employees that the climate is right for that or is there a hesitancy to admit it?

Bonita: There’s both. There are those who have been working on their culture and recognize that it’s often cultural issues within the organization that can be tweaked to make a profound difference for their employees. That makes a huge difference to their bottom line. It's very expensive to lose one of your highest performers, but putting a few things into place so employees can thrive lets your organization succeed.

Other organizations are a bit hesitant to address workplace burnout, so sometimes I'm the one who comes in and opens the conversation through workshops or consulting.

Host: We’re going to link up your website because it is a great resource. Thank you.

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.

References

1, 2. Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International classification of diseases. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2021, from https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases

3. Bargellini, A., Barbieri, A., Rovesti, S., Vivoli, R., Roncaglia, R., & Borella, P. (2000, July). Relation between immune variables and burnout in a sample of physicians. Retrieved June 22, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1739992/

4. Mommersteeg,, P. M., PhD, Heijnen, C. J., PhD, Kavelaars, A., PhD, & Van Doornen, L. J., PhD. (2006). Immune and Endocrine Function in Burnout Syndrome : Psychosomatic Medicine. Retrieved June 22, 2020, from https://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Abstract/2006/11000/Immune_and_Endocrine_Function_in_Burnout_Syndrome.10.aspx

5. Sonnenschein, M., Sorbi, M. J., Van Doornen, L. J., Schaufeli, W. B., & Maas, C. J. (2006). Evidence that impaired sleep recovery may complicate burnout improvement independently of depressive mood. Utrecht: Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17383501/

6. Armon, G., Shirom, A., Shapira, I., & Melamed, S. (2008). On the nature of burnout–insomnia relationships: A prospective study of employed adults. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 65(1), 5–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2008.01.012