GRANTED: Burnout is everyone's problem

During a pandemic, the jobs of health and safety workers become even more critical. As they put themselves in harm’s way, we need to make sure we care for the caregivers.

With that in mind, today’s episode of WorkLife is on burnout. Meet a teacher, a doctor, and a firefighter who have reduced exhaustion by redesigning jobs and changing cultures.

You can listen here. Highlights:

1. Burnout is not in your head. It’s in your circumstances. Since workplaces are responsible for the causes, they need to take responsibility for the cures.

2. You can reduce burnout with demand-control-support. My favorite model: decrease the demands of the job, give people more control to manage them, and provide more support to help them cope.

3. Being fired up depends less on big triumphs than small wins. The strongest buffer against burnout seems to be a sense of daily progress. We feel rejuvenated when we move forward on our goals and help others achieve theirs.

To join the conversation, head over to the WorkLife podcast club on LinkedIn.

For more, check out Thrive Global, founded by Arianna Huffington to fight stress and burnout. It’s a big goal, but as the science shows, microsteps can help with small wins. For more from Arianna, subscribe to her Weekly Thoughts newsletter here or follow her on LinkedIn here.

And if you're looking for ways to give and seek help during the pandemic, we have a GRANTED community on Givitas. I hope it will make it easier to stay connected during this time of isolation. If you’re already a member, login here. To join, sign up here.

In hibernation,
Adam

Adam Grant, Ph.D.
Organizational psychologist at Wharton, author of ORIGINALS, GIVE AND TAKE, and OPTION B, and host of WorkLife, a TED original podcast