Acknowledging and addressing when burnout occurs

Acknowledging and addressing when burnout occurs

Many people who are going through workplace stress are at the risk of putting themselves to get burnout. Burnout can leave an individual empty, exhausted, and most of the people are unable to cope up with most of the needs of their lives. Burnout is real, and most of the people who are under burnout are always under pressure that is constant because they always want to achieve the goals and desires of the organization (Benner & Curl, 2018).

Most of the workers are not given enough opportunities in order to take leave, and this has been one of the primary reasons as to why most of the workers are getting stressed up. They become overwhelmed by the duties in their respective professionals, and this creates a way to reach the burnout stage. Some of the workers are getting burnout because of the financial stress, and some of them are going through the problem of burnout because they are bulled by their senior colleagues at the workplace (Burke, 2016). The following are the signs that show burnout has occurred to an individual.

Physical and mental health symptoms

In most cases, burnout can be detected from an individual when he or she has physical and mental health symptoms. Therefore, if these symptoms are not dressed in time, burnout can make a person find it difficult to function well in his or her daily life (Burke, 2016). Burnout occurs when one has physical symptoms such as chronic stress symptoms that are likely to lead a person to have a headache, internal issues, and stomachache. Therefore, it is vital for everyone to seek a remedy when experiencing any form of physical or mental symptoms. This calls for one to seek help from a professional health officer who is able to provide the victim with the correct remedy for the problem of burnout.

Feeling emotionally Exhausted

One may also have burnout when he or she is emotionally exhausted; it makes people feel that they are drained, always tire, and cannot cope up with their daily routines. Most of the people are overworking themselves in their offices with a lot of reports to make and many goals ahead of them to achieve. This makes most of the people to get burnout because they overwork their minds, and they spend less time to rest from their daily activities (Carter, 2019).

Exhaustion can be in the form of physical tiredness. Most people work for more hours and take a few hours to have rest, and this makes them physically exhausted. The majority also become victims of burnout because of emotions; they feel frustrated because of the long days of work and a lot of reports to make, and this ends up rendering most of the people to have the problem of burnout at their working places. Besides physical and mental exhaustion, there is also mental exhaustion, and this makes most of the people to feel that they don’t have enough energy that makes them continue with their daily responsibilities in the office (Gorski, 2019).

Alienation from the related work activities

Burnout can also occur when one is feeling alienated from his or her work-related activities. Most of the people who are struggling with burnout view themselves as if their daily work is a burden to them, and they don’t feel like doing them because they feel frustrated. In most cases, they also isolate themselves from other people at workplaces and feel numbed about their work. Such people need to be taken care of because they end up maybe complicating the situation and in most cases, majority of the burnout victims who feel alienated from their daily activities at the office may end up resigning their jobs without proper decision making that may hurt their lives in future (Gorski, 2019).

Reduced performance

Another occasion that one may feel burnout is when he or she has reduced performance. When a person feels uncomfortable to attend to his daily tasks, then that person is suffering from burnout. Most of the people with burnout are feeling negative about their daily chores, and this makes them inactive, and they cannot be creative (Enshassi, Al Swaity & Arain, 2016).

For example, when one is unable to deliver as usual in the office and keeps on complaining, that is a sign that one is having a burnout. In such cases, they deliver reports after the deadlines, and they also have a lot of work that is pending on their desks (Carter, 2019). At that point, such workers are supposed to be monitored well because if they are not monitored and help administered to them then they may end up losing their jobs. Therefore, it is vital that when cases of performance reduction are witnessed among the employees in the office, that is a precise indication that the worker is going through the problem of burnout.

Lack of motivation

Lack of motivation is a sign that burnout has occurred to an employee; most of the workers who are not feeling enthusiastic and o not have internal motivation towards their work are having high chances of getting burnout. For example, you will realize that an employee finds it difficult to reach at his or her working station in time, and sometimes they find it difficult to go to work every day as required by their employers. These are strong signs that one is experiencing burnout, and such cases should be taken with seriousness concerning the state of such employees (Gorski, 2019).

Interpersonal issues at work

When one is experiencing burnout, they tend to have problems with their colleagues at work. Most of the time, you will realize that an employee experiencing burnout is having constant arguments with the colleagues at work and easily gets annoyed. The other cases are that some of the victims of burnout will tend to shy away from his or her colleagues at work and spend most of the time alone at work.  Therefore, it is vital that when a colleague gets annoyed and involves arguments at the workplace, it would be possible to seek help because they may end up getting out of the organization (Kampa, Rigotti, & Otto, 2017).

Cognitive issues

When one is experiencing a lack of concentration and pays less attention to his daily activities at the office, then such a person is going through burnout. Some of the people will start to think about negative elements which they may perceive as a form of intimidation to them. Therefore, such workers cannot have time to concentrate on their duties because they are stressed, and they also feel intimidated about their situations at the workplace (Krok, 2016). A worker is supposed to put more concentration on their work in order to meet the goals of the organization, but in a case where one loses concentration,  therefore, it shows that such people are experiencing burnout.

Coping mechanisms linked to dealing with burnout

In order to cope up with the issue of burnout, it is vital for an individual to accept that he or she is suffering from burnout. It is very dangerous when burnout is leading away from your colleagues at work because it will be a challenge for them to realize that you are experiencing burnout.  When an individual denies that he or she is not experiencing burnout, it may become difficult to seek help from colleagues and any other person. Therefore the following are some of the mechanisms for coping up with burnout (Mérida-López, & Extremera, 2017).

Making friends at working place

One of the mechanisms involves making friends at the workplace; this will always create a way that you are able to release your daily stresses by sharing them with your colleagues. One needs to have friends at the working place to joke with them and communicate because it breaks the monotony in an individual (Gorski, 2019). Having ferine at the workplace is vital because even if one is not able to realize that he or she is experiencing burnout, the friends will be at the frontline to know, and they will take the necessary measures to address the issue before it becomes severe.

Finding value in your work

It is also essential for one to find value in his or her job; for example, you can provide the most needed services when you don’t have a lot of work in the office. The majority of people should learn to have a positive attitude towards their jobs to avoid the issue of burnout.

Taking off from your job

Another mechanism is to take off from your job when one feels that he or she is having burnout; it is vital to take leave from your work. This will help you to settle down and have enough rest. For example, you can do that by taking your family for a vacation and try to pursue the mood of recovering. It is vital for one to have rest from his or her stressful duties because that will provide relief to an individual who is suffering from burnout (Pigni, 2016). It is advisable that when one takes off from his or her job puts more concentration on your family and has a moment of enjoyment and amusement because that will help to reduce the rate of stress one has.

Exercise

Exercise is also another important mechanism that helps most of the people struggling with burnout to be able to recover, especially from tiredness and get the energy to work best. It is, therefore, important that when one is feeling burnout, he or she should be doing daily exercise to help him or her recover (Hooker, Post & Sherman, 2020). We have a number of exercise activities that one may get engaged in order to release stress. One may decide to take a daily walk or morning roadwork for some hours a day or start playing games that are essential such as football, volleyball, among other helpful games. Exercise will help to lower the rate of stress down, and this will help an individual to recover from burnout.

Put a limit to contact with negative people

When one realizes that he or she is going through burnout, it is vital to stop associating with people who are negative minded. Most of the negative minded people love complaining, and this will play a role of dragging the moods of burnout victim down (Gorski, 2019). It is, therefore, advisable that if one is working with people who are negative minded, try to limit the time you associate with such individuals.

Avoid nicotine

People who are going through the problem of burnout are advised to avoid consuming nicotine; for example, they are warned about smoking because when they smoke, they feel that they have been relieved from their stress and feel calm. But nicotine is considered to be a powerful stimulant, which is leading to higher levels of anxiety, and therefore, it does not lower the level of anxiety as the majority who take nicotine may think about (Pines, 2017).

Have plenty of sleep

Getting plenty of sleep is very necessary because it will help you to reduce the rate of thinking hence reduces stress. When one feels tired, he or she may exacerbate burnout, and this causes one to have irrational thoughts. Therefore, it is essential for one to have plenty of sleep because that will cool the stressful situation; hence it is a vital mechanism of coping up with burnout ( Savaya, 2014).  Those who are suffering from burnout should ensure that they have proper sleep of at least six hours because rest is a vital aspect that will help to release their stresses.

How can existing coping mechanisms be applied to humanitarian aid workers?

Humanitarian aid workers can apply the coping mechanisms of dealing with burnout by forming social groups at the working places. The social groups formed by the humanitarian aid workers will ensure that the welfare of each one is catered for. The social group formed by the humanitarian aid workers can support people by giving counseling to most of the people who are stressed up and are not performing well in their working places (Krok, 2016). They can also motivate others who have developed a negative attitude towards their work, the promotion can be in terms of buying a gift to an individual to make him or her feel like part of the group and encourage them to work hard (Pines, 2017).

Humanitarian aid workers should always stop associating themselves with people from places who are having negative minds about them and do not appreciate their vital work of helping the vulnerable. Most Humanitarian aid workers face the challenge of being criticized by the people or the government of a particular region where they are trying by all means to calm the situation that is affecting them (Enshassi, Al Swaity & Arain, 2016). But in most cases, they are not rewarded, and this causes them to be victims of burnout. It is vital that they should stop delivering their services to the countries or regions that are having negative minds about their work because that will reduce the rate of the pressure they are getting; hence they will stop being victims of burnout.

It is essential for humanitarian aid workers should always ensure that they are tied with their work without observing some of the vital aspects that will help them cope with burnout. They should focus on various activities such as organizing sporting activities every week on their respective location of service. Involving in exercise activities will always help to reduce the rate of their stresses that they are encountering at their working places. Therefore, exercise is an essential aspect to humanitarian workers because it will help them to feel better from their stressful responsibilities (Siebert, & Siebert, 2007)

Another important mechanism of coping up with burnout that is applicable to the humanitarian aid workers is to find value in their respective works. It is essential for humanitarian aid workers to develop a positive attitude towards their work because most of them have a negative attitude towards their tasks and this has caused most of them to be under stress because of the places of deployment are sometimes alarming. They should also ensure that they have enough rest no matter what the situation of their work is because lack of enough sleep promotes stress hence may make someone experience burnout (Maslach, & Leiter, 2017).

Most of the Humanitarian aid workers should also observe the message of avoiding taking nicotine as a measure to help them from suffering from burnout. Most people depend on nicotine as a means of relieving themselves from stress, especially those who are smoking. One important thing that they should understand is that nicotine is a stimulant, and therefore, they don’t lower the level of anxiety; instead, they trigger it to go higher. People who are taking a lot of nicotine to remove stress are not on the safer side, and therefore, they are likely to suffer from burnout in their lifetime (Savaya, 2014).

Another way that most of the humanitarian aid groups can apply the mechanisms dealing with burnout is to have team building. This will help to increase activities for most of the workers who are not feeling ok and are suffering from burnout. Another trend of the mechanism is to organize trips for the group because this will help most of the people to feel free and share when enjoying or sharing outside the workplace (Robbins, 2020). Taking people for a trip will make them feel relieved from their daily tasks, and this can cause them to feel free to share with others. It is, therefore, important that most of the humanitarian are supposed to apply these mechanisms for a positive response from the workers.

How findings in other fields can be used to help humanitarian aid workers and organizations to deal with burnout?

Findings from other fields such as social workers, nurses, and police officers can help humanitarian and other organizations to deal with burnout because they are able to find different causes of burnout from individuals. For example, social workers are able to identify the psychological aspects that are causing burnout to individuals at the workplace (Wright & Katz, 2018). This can help the humanitarian aid workers and other organizations to be able to apply the right course of dealing with burnout. Another thing is that other fields are able to provide the necessary means of dealing with burnout, and this will help the humanitarian aid workers to budget and provide the required assistance to the people who are suffering from burnout.

Most of the fields, especially justice workers, are facing similar challenges that Humanitarian aid workers are facing. For instance, they are facing insecurity, violence, carjacking, cases of assault, kidnapping, and some of them end up dying. Humanitarian work has been described by Kristalina Georgieva as one of the most dangerous jobs. All these insecurity cases are giving workers constant pressure hence forcing them to be under stress. It is essential that different working fields including humanitarian aid workers should be entitled to security in order to deliver their mandate without fear that pushes them to have stress and the end of the day (Vila, 2006)

One of the most significant findings from other fields that can help humanitarian workers and organizations to deal with burnout is to reduce excess workload. Most people are suffering from burnout because of the workload they have in their offices. Most of the humanitarian aid workers are exposed to an excessive workload that becomes difficult to finish in time, and this causes them to be under pressure subjecting most of them to be victims of burnout. It is vital to reduce the rate of workload to workers because, alongside the office work they also have family responsibilities and when all these are in excess, then it is difficult for most of the workers to cope with the situation hence this makes them suffer burnout (Robbins, 2020).

Excess workload may lead one to become addicts to alcohol, and some of them find it appropriate to quite from the sector because of too much work that they cannot finish in time. Excessive workload suppresses the efficiency of most of the humanitarian workers and even workers from other fields and reduces their productivity because they feel fatigued (Pines, 2017). For instance, when humanitarian aid workers have the project of building houses to vulnerable communities, and after that, the houses are destroyed by the earthquake, they feel wasted and become stressed; hence this makes them experience burnout.

Most of the staff do not receive enough briefing from their managers about the condition of the work, the challenges that they are likely to face so that they are prepared to meet those challenges or find a way of settling them before they arrive at the working site. The reason as to why most of the people suffer burnout is because they become alarmed by the risky working conditions on their arrival at the site (Hooker, Post & Sherman, 2020). It is vital that the Human Resource managers should brief the staff about the risks and the challenges that they are likely to face at the site of the work and support them by providing enough resources and counseling to them.

Humanitarian aid workers face issues of culture when upon delivering their mandate to a community, and this, in most cases, suppresses their energy to deliver. It is upon the HR to inform them of what kind of challenges they are likely to face and what are the possible solutions to such problems so as to avoid the issue of burnout among the humanitarian workers. They should be counseled in order to avoid imagining the tough challenges that they are going through, and the management should also keep on checking on the workers and inquire about any rising problems when humanitarian aid workers are out delivering to the communities (Hooker, Post & Sherman, 2020).

The majority of the humanitarian aid workers and other professional fields do not find time to exercise because of excess workload or because there are no places to exercise. Managers should ensure that workers are given enough time to exercise in order to avoid becoming exhausted and stressed. Most of the humanitarian aid workers are working in places that they cannot afford to secure a place to do exercise, and this is not healthy for their lives because of the rough conditions of their jobs (Krok, 2016). It is essential for the managers to ensure that humanitarian aid workers have secured a place where they can find time to go and job their minds to reduce stress from their end. It is not ethical to find most of the humanitarian aid workers to seek counseling from psychologists and spend a lot of money because of burnout that can be reduced by having enough exercise.

Humanitarian aid workers, together with the other organization, are able to use the findings from the different fields to help individuals who are struggling with burnout by establishing proper means of helping the victims. For example, creating recreational places at work will most of the people who are suffering from burnout to be able to find apace to do exercise after work, and this will help to reduce the level of burnout from the individuals. It is, therefore, crucial that most of the fields should work closely with the humanitarian aid workers and other organizations so that they can implement different findings they have realized from their people who are struggling with burnout. This will help to restore most of the situations to normal for the majority who are suffering from the issue of burnout (Robbins, 2020).

Conclusion

Humanitarian aid workers are essential people in our countries because majorities depend on them, especially when experiencing natural disasters and during conflicts.  During their relief work, they face a lot of challenges that make them become mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted; hence this leads to burnout among them(Robbins, 2020). Burnout is the condition of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion to individuals, especially at their working places. Most of the humanitarian aid workers are having poor working conditions that create fear into them, causing them to have stress. Insecurity is one of the significant problems, most of the humanitarian workers are working in areas with no proper security, and this places their lives in danger of being kidnapped, some are raped, and some are brutalized to death.

The fear of these challenges has contributed to a bigger percentage of humanitarian workers to have burnout. It is, therefore, important for most of the managers of the humanitarian aid workers to deal with the conditions that are leading to burnout among the employees(Krok, 2016). They should ensure that there is a reduction of the excess workload at the working places, provide enough safety measures to the workers in order to improve living conditions. Implement measures that will also help to reduce burnout among the workers, such as providing exercise facilities to the humanitarian aid workers.

Implementing motivational factors, for instance, rewarding the workers, will motivate them, and the majority will get relieved from their stresses. Another vital aspect is to provide leave to workers because that will provide them with enough time to have rest and enjoy hence reduces the rate of burnout among the worker (Pines, 2017). It is, therefore, important that humanitarian aid workers should be given priorities to live stress-free because of the complicated tasks they have before them.

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