Extinguishing the burnout flame

What you and employers can do to avoid the emotional, psychological and physical effects of burnout.

By Maureen Dingus, CAE, and Jill Edmonds

In the two previous issues of Disclosures, we discussed the differences between stress and burnout, as well as how burnout affects employees and their organizations. Now it’s time to proactively squash burnout for good.

The American Psychological Association says burnout is characterized by emotional exhaustion and negative attitudes and feelings toward one’s coworkers and job. Burnout takes an immense emotional and physical toll that can ultimately affect health and wellness of workers and the bottom line of their organizations.

Luckily, there are a variety of strategies you can employ to keep yourself from burning out. Additionally, organizations can implement proactive policies to promote employee mental health.

Take control of your own wellness

There are many ways you can address burnout symptoms and reverse course. (Spoiler: Many involve opening up — to your boss, family, friends, or a therapist.) Before you can do anything, though, you have to attack the problem at its root.

1. Ask yourself the tough question. What is the root cause of my stress and/or burnout? It could be workload, it could be financial strain, it could be a Godzilla boss. But nothing will get better until you identify the true cause of your mental and emotional strain.
2. Be proactive. Burnout will not magically fix itself or go away. You must proactively work toward solutions — with yourself, your boss, and others who care about you.
3. Determine your non-negotiables. Before going to your boss and asking for workload modifications or to take time off, determine what you need to reduce burnout. Maybe the answer is that you cannot be available after work hours because of the strain on your family. Maybe it’s something different. Maybe your doctor gave you some hard truths at your yearly physical, and your non-negotiables are health related. Regardless, before you begin to reverse the problem, identify what matters most to you.
4. Talk it out. Here’s the talking part. Talk to a friend. Talk to your spouse. And especially, talk to your supervisor about your workload and prioritization. There are even therapists that specialize in burnout.
5. Defend your personal time and pursue other interests. A 2012 survey of surgeons found that those who had hobbies (even for only 15 minutes a day) were better equipped to avoid burnout than those who didn’t. Whether you want to read, run, garden, or something else, it’s important for your mental health that you’re well-rounded and not only focused on work.
6. Have serious conversations about workload. If enough is enough and workload is a serious contributor to burnout, it’s time to discuss solutions with your supervisor or even executives. Discussions could include:
   a.    Addressing working conditions and policies (see the employer section, below, for ideas).
   b.    Making sure you have the right equipment for your job. 
   c.    Ensuring you have freedom and autonomy.
   d.    Properly prioritizing what really matters.
7. Understand that self-care is a tool, but not the whole solution. Yes, taking vacations is important. So are exercise and sleep. But just implementing self-care tactics alone will not remove burnout if the root cause is not addressed. 
8. Find purpose. What story do you tell yourself about your job? You can say you do taxes. Or, you can say you help small businesses in your community navigate a complicated tax process and help them save money. How you choose to view your profession is up to you, but focusing on the larger, positive picture of what you do daily is a mental shift that can boost happiness.
9. Consider a job change. This is a last resort if the steps above don’t help with the problem. Sometimes people conclude their workload is unsustainable and a job is simply too much for their mental wellness. It’s okay to make tough career choices to preserve your sanity, whether it be moving to a different role or position, company or industry.
10. Strive for wholeness, not perfection. This advice is directly from a Financial Management magazine podcast in which psychologist Mike Drayton says, “Strive to be a good early-career accountant, to do your job well. But also strive to have good relationships with people, both in your work life, your professional life, and more importantly, in your personal life. Strive for wholeness in terms of, as I say, be a good professional, but also be a rounded person. Have an interest in other things outside of work, have hobbies, have interests.”

The corporate responsibility to employees

As we discussed at length in our last article, companies have a vested financial interest in keeping employees happy and performing well. A burned-out staff is not going to dedicate the time and effort necessary to keep an organization successful. Furthermore, protection from harm (which includes security and safety) is one of the Surgeon General’s five workplace essentials. The American Psychological Association’s 2023 Work in America Survey shows companies can do better. Nearly one in five employees say they experience toxic workplaces — a severe risk factor for diminished psychological well-being.

Here are several areas organizations can address to ensure the mental fitness and well-being of staff:

1. Set the tone from the top. It’s not rocket science. If you want employees to establish healthy workplace habits, executives and managers must model it themselves. If a vice president is constantly emailing on Fridays at 10 p.m., the behavior signals to staff that working late is expected. Make sure employees can visibly see executives taking lunch breaks, not responding to emails from vacation, and shutting down on the weekends.
2. Make sure “mental health” isn’t a “dirty word.” Research from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found workers feel their employer’s leadership and organizational culture around mental health are contradictory, leaving them feeling uncomfortable discussing mental health at work. While 73% say their organization cares about mental health, 46% also say their organization’s actions say otherwise. If upper management can model that mental health conversations are welcomed and part of the culture, fewer employees will feel they will be retaliated against if they open up about struggles.
3. Make mental health a normal part of the supervising process. Similar to making sure talking about burnout and emotional wellness isn’t taboo, managers can weave conversations on mental health into the supervising process. During check-ins and coaching sessions, simply ask employees how they’re doing. Are they feeling stressed or burned out? Active listening can go a long way. If a supervisor suspects an employee may need more help, discretion is always paramount.
4. Investigate which factors are causing burnout. If an organization is seeing burnout become a systemic issue, further inflection may be needed to make widespread change. If employers are complaining about workload, what changes do you need to make? If you’re understaffed, why? Are starting salaries too low, affecting recruitment? Are you taking on dead-end clients who pay very little but add up to a large chunk of time? CPA firms are becoming more discerning — some are raising rates and firing clients to protect their reputations and staff.
5. Embrace technology. You know the AI revolution is here. But are you putting it to good use at your organization? Are you implementing effectiveness through technology or Lean Six Sigma to reduce friction and increase effectiveness? (To note, however, technology can be a double-edged sword. Consider this BBC article that highlights how AI can make burnout worse. The key is to evaluate how staff uses new technologies to make sure it’s working to their advantage.)
6. Implement policies that encourage mental wellness. Whether it’s limiting the number of hours people can work during year-end or busy season, or instituting four-day workweeks during the summer, the policies and procedures you enact send a message to staff that you care.
7. Make changes to workplace environments as necessary. Review employees’ workplaces to see if changes need to be made. Are there not enough quiet spaces for deep work at the office? Do remote employees need better technology at home to make working easier? A few tweaks can go a long way to show you care.
8. Ensure staff understand their benefits. The SHRM study revealed 67% of American workers are unaware or only somewhat aware of the mental health resources their employers offer. Fully half don’t even feel comfortable asking about them. Make sure you regularly and consistently communicate the benefits you offer.
9. Foster an environment of belonging and authenticity. SHRM says employees who feel a strong sense of belonging are 2.5 times less likely to experience burnout. The Surgeon General emphasizes the importance of fostering positive social interaction and relationships at work. Programs and policies that create inclusion and belonging, cultivate relationships, and foster teamwork can all curb burnout.
10. Stay curious and agile. If your organization establishes guardrails for working, great! But setting one or two parameters and calling it a day isn’t going to work in the long haul. Successful companies are constantly surveying the landscape, reviewing their client bases, establishing new rules and programs, and sunsetting others. 

Recovering from burnout isn’t hopeless! Whether you’re managing your own stress or helping a team through a difficult workload, these are solutions you can implement today.

If a three-part series on burnout isn’t enough, we can always provide more! Through the VSCPA’s Strategic Insights program, we give presentations on recognizing and curbing burnout. We also recommend the book “Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle” by Emily and Amelia Nagoski.

Maureen Dingus, CAE, is VSCPA chief operating officer. She first joined the Society in the 1990s and now oversees general internal operations and strategy implementation. Maureen gives frequent presentations on topics like strategic planning, mental health, and more through the VSCPA’s Strategic Insights program. She has two children, one a VCU grad and one at JMU, and in her free time combines her love for running and music in Rocktown Racers, her running group. 

Jill Edmonds, VSCPA senior director of marketing and communications, joined the Society in 2003. She has decades of experience in association communications and reporting, and has acted as managing editor of Disclosures magazine since she began. She lives in Leesburg, Va., with her family and three teenagers, one of whom attends Virginia Tech. She is a proud graduate of the University of Virginia and her favorite punctuation mark is the em-dash.