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The R3 Continuum Playbook: The Interplay of Stress and Burnout: What they are, How they Relate, and How to Combat Them

May 10, 2022 by John Ray

Minneapolis St. Paul Studio

The R3 Continuum Playbook: The Interplay of Stress and Burnout: What they are, How they Relate, and How to Combat Them

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The R3 Continuum Playbook: The Interplay of Stress and Burnout: What they are, How they Relate, and How to Combat Them

Linda Saggau, Chief of Staff and Chief Strategy Officer at R3 Continuum, is the presenter in this webinar excerpt on the intersection of stress and burnout. While some stress can be positive, negative stress can lead to health impacts: both physical and mental. Stress also directly correlates to burnout. Although they are different, the two often go hand in hand. Linda highlighted the differences between the two, explained the magnitude of burnout and its impact, and more.

The full webinar can be found here.

The R3 Continuum Playbook is presented by R3 Continuum and is produced by the Minneapolis-St.Paul Studio of Business RadioX®. R3 Continuum is the underwriter of Workplace MVP, the show which celebrates heroes in the workplace.

TRANSCRIPT

Shane McNally: [00:00:00] Broadcasting from the Business RadioX studios, here is your R3 Continuum Playbook. Brought to you by Workplace MVP sponsor, R3 Continuum, a global leader in workplace behavioral health, crisis, and security solutions.

Shane McNally: [00:00:13] Hi there. My name is Shane McNally, Digital Marketing Project Lead at R3 Continuum. On this episode of The R3 Continuum Playbook, we’re going to hear a segment from a recent webinar that was done with R3 Continuum Chief of Staff and Chief Strategy Officer, Linda Saggau. This webinar was titled The Interplay of Stress and Burnout: What They Are, How They Relate, and How to Combat Them. It may not be widely understood the differences between stress and burnout as they often go hand in hand, but they can have some significant differences. This webinar highlighted these differences and took a deeper look into the impact and effect that burnout can have on your employees and your organization as a whole.

Shane McNally: [00:00:53] And kind of like on that of doing self-assessments, we’re seeing it in other people, can you kind of go over what like the magnitude of all of burnout is in the workplace?

Linda Saggau: [00:01:04] Yeah, for sure. We put together this little slide for you all. The sources are stated down below. But this is pretty recent. This is research over the last maybe a couple of years. So, now that we understand what burnout is, it’s just important that you understand the magnitude. So, 75% of workers have experienced this. My guess, it’s probably more. The pandemic didn’t help, right? 40% specifically said they experienced it during the pandemic.

Linda Saggau: [00:01:40] So, you think about what our frontline healthcare workers have faced, again, burnout is complete exhaustion due to repeated exposure to emotionally demanding situations. Think about what they’ve been going through, and if you are one of them, thank you for everything you do, everything you’re going through, everything you’ve experienced. If you are experiencing burnout, don’t dismiss it.

Linda Saggau: [00:02:12] Take time to take care of yourself and put together a strategy to ensure that you can get out of it. 67% of workers said that increased over the pandemic. I can’t imagine why. Fortunately, my son was launched off to college, but so many of my coworkers had a new puppy, two children that they were homeschooling, cooking and household chores increased. There weren’t offices to have two people or two partners doing their conference calls.

Linda Saggau: [00:02:49] There were a lot of emotionally demanding situations over the pandemic, and they continue. We still have to be very, very cautious. And then, managers and individual contributors, they saw the pressure increase as well and their burnout increased as well. So, there was a quarter of them pretty equally that reported burnout. And as we look at the convergence of what’s going on, the news is emotionally demanding. Give yourself permission to take a rest from it.

Linda Saggau: [00:03:28] It doesn’t mean that we bury our heads to the needs of other people and the issues going on in the world, but give yourself permission to step away. Give yourself permission to step away from this thing and stop scrolling on Twitter, or Instagram, or LinkedIn, or whatever it is. There’s a moment where you’ve got to put it down. Pay attention to your sleep hygiene. If you can, resist the urge to bring this thing into bed with you. It’s one of the best things you can possibly do.

Shane McNally: [00:03:59] I absolutely—go ahead.

Linda Saggau: [00:04:00] Go ahead. Sorry.

Shane McNally: [00:04:01] I was going to say, I absolutely agree with the news and the Twitter. I was going to bring up Twitter, because sometimes, even I’ll catch like I’ll read something on there, and be like, nope, I can’t go into this, I can’t go down that rabbit hole type of thing, and give myself a break. I think that’s very relevant to me. So, I thought that was funny, you brought that up. So, we see obviously the magnitude, 75% of workers have experienced burnout. Can you kind of talk to us a little bit about the impact that that’s truly having?

Linda Saggau: [00:04:29] Yeah. Well, we’re seeing it in the great resignation, right? Not all of our companies, but we’re seeing it in many organizations. So, almost three times, well, I round up easily, 2.6 times, if you’re burned out, to seek a different job, and what these folks probably don’t understand is that their burnout is going to go with them, because the behaviors and the habits, maybe not taking care of oneself or whatever, are just going to go with them.

Linda Saggau: [00:05:03] So, you might want to consider, if there are good things about your job, and you’re being treated fairly and compensated fairly, you might want to stay there and just see like, okay, what happens if I deploy a self-care or burnout strategy? 63% are more likely to take a sick day and 23% are more likely to visit the emergency room. So, workplace stress and burnout costs a lot, and globally, it costs over 500 billion per year and there’s 550 million workdays lost. So, it is not only a devastating thing for people, but it’s a devastating thing for organizations, and our communities, and our economies.

Linda Saggau: [00:05:54] So, again, I kind of like to—when I talk about this topic, whoo, tempting to boil the ocean, but I want to just remind you that the change actually starts with you, taking care of yourself, noticing your own signs and symptoms, and kind of educating others when it’s appropriate, and helping them understand what they can do to help themselves. And then, they get to share and they get to share, they get to share, because waiting to see change to happen is not going to get at this problem. We just have to look at this as individuals in our communities, our workplaces, our families, and have productive, healthy conversations about it.

Shane McNally: [00:06:47] Yeah, absolutely. And I think it’s really interesting hearing the sharing pattern, it’s that trickle effect. It’s, I’m not a clinician, but here I am listening to you, and now, I’m understanding things and I can go tell my buddy that’s in healthcare that I know is struggling, but he’s just continuing to go. And now, you don’t have to be a clinician, I know you mentioned armchair therapists and all that, but you can lead them to different resources that we’ve kind of discussed throughout this as well. So, I appreciate that comment, too.

Linda Saggau: [00:07:17] Right. And that’s really the core of things like mental health first aid, it’s about sitting down with somebody, and saying, hey, I care about you. And I’ve noticed that it appears that you might not be doing well. How are you? And then, the opportunity is just to gently make suggestions to doors for help that people can walk through. And it’s how we serve others, but also if I ever slid into burnout again and I needed to have an intervention, I would hope that my colleagues, Shane, no pressure, would pull me aside, and say, hey, I’ve noticed, and it’s always done with the greatest care and compassion.

Linda Saggau: [00:08:10] It’s not about judging somebody. And I’ve literally seen people do those gentle interventions at work with their families and do them without judgment, and it’s actually helped people get closer. It’s not driven wedges. It actually helps people get closer, because you’re actually expressing care and concern, and you’re leading people to resources that are viable. You don’t want to send people to any resources that are not viable.

Shane McNally: [00:08:47] I’m sure most of us can relate to feeling stress while working. In fact, it’s very normal. Over time, however, if that stress is growing little by little, it can slowly lead to burnout. It’s important to understand how burnout can impact your organization and what can happen if it’s left unaddressed. R3 Continuum can help. Connect with us and learn about our services at www.r3c.com or email us directly at info@r3c.com.

Show Underwriter

R3 Continuum (R3c) is a global leader in workplace behavioral health and security solutions. R3c helps ensure the psychological and physical safety of organizations and their people in today’s ever-changing and often unpredictable world. Through their continuum of tailored solutions, including evaluations, crisis response, executive optimization, protective services, and more, they help organizations maintain and cultivate a workplace of wellbeing so that their people can thrive. Learn more about R3c at www.r3c.com.

R3 Continuum is the underwriter of Workplace MVP, a show which celebrates the everyday heroes–Workplace Most Valuable Professionals–in human resources, risk management, security, business continuity, and the C-suite who resolutely labor for the well-being of employees in their care, readying the workplace for and planning responses to disruption.

Connect with R3 Continuum: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter

The R3 Continuum Playbook: Workplace Stress and Burnout

November 4, 2021 by John Ray

Minneapolis St. Paul Studio

The R3 Continuum Playbook: Workplace Stress and Burnout

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The R3 Continuum Playbook: Workplace Stress and Burnout

Stress and burnout, says Dr. Tyler Arvig, Associate Medical Director at R3 Continuum, affects not just the health of employees but that of the overall organization. With numerous surveys and studies revealing that employee stress and burnout have risen dramatically over the past year, Dr. Arvig discusses signs to watch for and resources that can be employed to address these conditions. The R3 Continuum Playbook is presented by R3 Continuum and is produced by the Minneapolis-St.Paul Studio of Business RadioX®. R3 Continuum is the underwriter of Workplace MVP, the show which celebrates heroes in the workplace.

TRANSCRIPT

Intro: [00:00:00] Broadcasting from the Business RadioX Studios, here is your R3 Continuum Playbook. Brought to you by Workplace MVP sponsor, R3 Continuum, a global leader in workplace behavioral health, crisis, and security solutions.

Tyler Arvig : [00:00:15] Hi. My name is Dr. Tyler Arvig, Associate Medical Director at R3 Continuum. Over the past two years, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in stress and burnout in employees. Stress and burnout, if left unaddressed, can have a significant impact on the mental health and overall wellbeing of our employees and our organization. There are a handful of challenges that surround stress and burnout in the workplace. Stress and burnout affect every level of an organization, from the executive level on down.

Tyler Arvig : [00:00:51] Stress and burnout affect people really on three different levels, personal, professional, and organizational. They are also often multifactorial, which can make finding the root cause a challenge. Employees have been through a lot over the past two years. While it may seem like working from home, practicing social distancing, masking, temperature checks, and the like, are just second nature these days. Many impacts on employees have yet to be fully realized.

Tyler Arvig : [00:01:26] Over time, stress and burnout can slowly erode employees until that level of stress that they’re feeling just becomes normal to them. And, often, when that happens, it’s simply quite unhealthy. In a recent webinar by R3 Continuum, we asked our audience if they felt an increase in stress due to work over the last year. We’ve received over 800 responses, 94 percent of which indicated they felt an increase in stress over the last year due to work. In that same webinar, we asked our audience if they’ve experienced any form of burnout over the last year. Again, those same 800 respondents, 84 percent said they have.

Tyler Arvig : [00:02:19] We can see just based on these numbers – and by the way, there are several other studies out there that show essentially similar findings – the stress and burnout are real and they’re having significant impact on employees in all industries. Having a better understanding of stress and burnout and knowing different ways to address these are critical to maintain the mental health and wellbeing of our employees and also, parenthetically, ourselves.

Tyler Arvig : [00:02:54] There are many different signs or key indicators of stress or burnout. If you noticed early these individuals, what they’re experiencing can be drastically reduced. Having keen observation skills can help identify some of the signs in employees, such as unusual changes in mood, difficulty getting stuff done, increased cynicism, having constant negative thoughts, or a negative attitude, having difficulty concentrating, sleeping too much or not getting enough sleep, concerns about substance use or abuse, and feelings of hopelessness. If you see these things, that may indicate an employee who is struggling with some level of stress or burnout.

Tyler Arvig : [00:03:50] If you do observe the above in your colleagues or you notice them in yourself, it’s important to recognize and to try and address these things. When it comes to supporting coworkers, there are numerous approaches we can take. But one of the most important and also easiest to do is simply to stay in touch. Communication and having a positive attitude is really important. And positive attitude, in particular, can be infectious and help rub off on others.

Tyler Arvig : [00:04:29] Help a coworker take a break from a project, because that’s also going to help them to have a little bit of a break from the stress they might be experiencing. When connecting, it’s important to not ask invasive questions. But if the coworker is beginning to open up or share, share your own experiences with them if you’ve had a similar situation. This will help them to validate the feelings they might be experiencing and to feel less alone or isolated in what they’re experiencing.

Tyler Arvig : [00:05:02] Make time to connect with others also outside of work. Letting that coworker take a break from work interactions and unwind is also a good way to help support them. But be mindful in any of these things to maintain professional boundaries and, certainly, to keep any information that’s shared privately, private.

Tyler Arvig : [00:05:27] As mentioned earlier, stress and burnout can affect anyone in the organization. Whether you’re at an executive level or you’re an intern, self-care needs to be a priority. Take some time to step back from your work and recognize when you’re feeling stressed or when you’re feeling burned out. This is key to being able to be effective at work and also help those around you.

Tyler Arvig : [00:05:54] Leaders often feel stress and burnout and never address it because they’re too busy supporting others. However, if an executive is no longer feeling motivated or a passion for the organization, that will trickle down through the workplace and through the workforce. Ensuring executives know the importance of addressing mental health for themselves and their employees is a really good way to make sure that your organization is supported from the top down.

Tyler Arvig : [00:06:26] There are many resources available, some through your organization and others that are more open sourced. Your workplace will probably have an employee assistance program or EAP. Most EAPs offers several no cost counseling sessions available for situations just like we’re discussing. Your H.R. department may also have resources available. I would recommend that people consider also engage in psychotherapy if they are struggling.

Tyler Arvig : [00:07:03] It is easier than ever to utilize psychotherapy as telehealth has made it possible to engage in therapy with your computer or even your smartphone. You don’t even need to leave your home or your desk. There are also other options such as free apps you can get on your phone or your computer that might help provide some basic skills or tips for managing stress, anxiety, or depression. You could also consider mutual support groups. An example of this that everyone might be aware of are Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. But these are groups were, essentially, people that are going through similar situations can help support each other. There’s lots of them out there, so utilize that. They don’t cost anything.

Tyler Arvig : [00:07:51] The point here is, you have many different options and nobody should hesitate to use anything and everything that’s available to them. Understanding the impact that stress and burnout can have on employees and knowing how to address these things properly can and does make a quantifiable difference on the health of your people and your organization.

Tyler Arvig : [00:08:17] R3 Continuum can help your organization support the wellbeing of your employees in many ways, including a service we call Proactive Wellness Outreach. To consult with an expert regarding your unique situation or to learn more about our custom solutions, you can contact us at www.r3c.com or reach out by email at info@r3c.com. Thank you very much.

Show Underwriter

Connect with R3 Continuum: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter

What is the Difference Between Stress and Burnout?

June 23, 2021 by John Ray

North Fulton Studio

What is the Difference Between Stress and Burnout?

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What is the Difference Between Stress and Burnout? (Episode 58, To Your Health with Dr. Jim Morrow)

In this episode, Dr. Jim Morrow addresses the characteristics of stress and burnout, the five stages of burnout, and how to tell the two conditions apart. “To Your Health” is brought to you by Morrow Family Medicine, a member of Village Medical, which brings the care back to healthcare.

About Morrow Family Medicine, A Member of Village Medical

Morrow Family Medicine, a Member of Village Medical, is an award-winning, state-of-the-art family practice with offices in Cumming and Milton, Georgia. The practice combines healthcare information technology with old-fashioned care to provide the type of care that many are in search of today. Two physicians, three physician assistants, and two nurse practitioners are supported by a knowledgeable and friendly staff to make your visit to Morrow Family Medicine, A Member of Village Medical one that will remind you of the way healthcare should be. At Morrow Family Medicine, a Member of Village Medical, we like to say we are “bringing the care back to healthcare!” The practice has been named the “Best of Forsyth” in Family Medicine in all five years of the award, is a three-time consecutive winner of the “Best of North Atlanta” by readers of Appen Media, and the 2019 winner of “Best of Life” in North Fulton County.

Village Medical offers a comprehensive suite of primary care services including preventative care, treatment for illness and injury, and management of chronic conditions such as diabetes, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and kidney disease. Atlanta-area patients can learn more about the practice here.

Dr. Jim Morrow, Morrow Family Medicine, and Host of “To Your Health with Dr. Jim Morrow”

Dr. Jim Morrow is the founder and CEO of Morrow Family Medicine. He has been a trailblazer and evangelist in the area of healthcare information technology, was named Physician IT Leader of the Year by HIMSS, a HIMSS Davies Award Winner, the Cumming-Forsyth Chamber of Commerce Steve Bloom Award Winner as Entrepreneur of the Year and he received a Phoenix Award as Community Leader of the Year from the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. He is married to Peggie Morrow and together they founded the Forsyth BYOT Benefit, a charity in Forsyth County to support students in need of technology and devices. They have two Goldendoodles, a gaggle of grandchildren and enjoy life on and around Lake Lanier.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MorrowFamMed/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/7788088/admin/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/toyourhealthMD

The complete show archive of “To Your Health with Dr. Jim Morrow” addresses a wide range of health and wellness topics, and can be found at www.toyourhealthradio.com

Dr. Morrow’s Show Notes

Covid-19 Update

“Check my antibodies” – says nothing about immunity – need a vaccine anyway

Variants – vaccine works well so far against these new and increasingly important viruses. Previous infection does nothing to prevent infection by these variants.

“The vaccine is not a vaccine, it is gene therapy.”

“I don’t want people to get the vaccine if they live with me because then I can get the virus from them.”

HCQ has been in the news again recently. Some REPORTS, not STUDIES, said that it might help those on a ventilator. So far, All of the SCIENCE says that it does not stop this virus.

What is The Difference Between Stress and Burnout?

Stress
- It is characterized by over engagement
- The person’s emotions are overreactive
- It gives one a feeling of urgency and hyperactivity
- It leads to loss of energy
- It leads to anxiety disorders
- Its primary damage is physical

Burnout
- It is characterized by disengagement
- Blunted emotions
- Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness
- It makes one lose motivation, ideals, and hope
- It leads to detachment and depression
- Its primary damage is emotional
Burnout may be as a result of excessive stress but they do not mean the same thing.
Burnout is a cycle of
- negative emotions,
- paralysis
- and withdrawal.
- It is the body’s response to putting too much effort into something without taking in what you require to restore yourself.
- It is mental, emotional and physical exhaustion that leads to diminished interest in performing tasks.
Physical symptoms of burnout include
- having low energy,
- headaches,
- muscle tension,
- digestive disorders,
- frequent colds and changes in one’s sleep patterns.
  - Its mental symptoms include
    - feeling sad,
    - inadequate,
    - frustrated,
    - unappreciated
    - and irritable.
    - These symptoms can result in
      - withdrawal,
      - accidents,
      - increased sick days and crying.
      - Increased consumption of food or alcohol
Stress, on the other hand,
involves too many pressures that demand too much from you either physically or psychologically.
- Stressed people though can still see a light at the end of the tunnel,
  - they just often can’t figure a way to get to it.
Stress is just a day-to-day experience
but burnout is a more serious consequence of the build-up of too much stress which causes the individual person to shut down.
If stress persists on a full scale for a long period of time, there are increased risks of burnout.
Although stress is an essential prerequisite for burnout,
- burnout is not necessarily the result of too much stress.
- For burnouts to occur there must be an additional psychological factor.
People who are stressed can often still function
and do all that the tasks or jobs required of them.
This is due to the fact that different people can bear different levels of stress for different lengths of time.
- This is quite a contrast to people experiencing a burnout.
- Burnout usually leads to a total shutdown of all systems in the body
  - and it causes a person to become completely nonfunctional.
  - Burnout causes people to experience long-term exhaustion

and diminished interest in life as a whole.

What are the Stages of Burnout?

Stage 1 – Honeymoon

marked by
- high job satisfaction,
- commitment,
- energy,
- and creativity,
  - the key issue is what coping strategies you begin to develop when facing the inevitable stresses of the job.
  - In theory, if the patterns of coping are positive, adaptive, then you will remain in the honeymoon stage indefinitely.
  - But few persons do.

Stage 2 – Balancing Act

as opposed to the unbridled optimism and positiveness of Stage 1,
- you now are clearly aware that some days are better than others as far as handling stress on the job.

An awareness of a noticeable increase in the following is indicative of Stage 2:
- job dissatisfaction
- work inefficiency, including avoiding making necessary decisions,
- “losing” stuff at work (even on your desk!), etc.
- fatigue (a general fatigue, often accompanied by deep muscle fatigue)
- sleep disturbances (often that you are so “busy” in your head that you can’t get to sleep)
- escapist activities of choice (including eating, drinking, smoking, zoning out in front of the TV, etc.)

Stage 3 – Chronic Symptoms

marked by an intensification of some of the same indicators cited in Stage 2, including
- chronic exhaustion
- physical illness (remember that stress is a risk factor in many diseases)
- anger
- depression

Stage 4 – Crisis

the symptoms become critical
- physical symptoms intensify and/or increase in number
- obsessing about work frustrations increases
- pessimism and self-doubt dominate your thinking
- you develop an “escapist mentality”

Stage 5 – Enmeshment

The symptoms of burnout are so embedded in your life that you are more likely to be labeled as having some significant physical or emotional problem than you are to be called a burnout case.

Source: Psychology Today

The R3 Continuum Playbook: Employee Burnout

May 13, 2021 by John Ray

Minneapolis St. Paul Studio

The R3 Continuum Playbook: Employee Burnout

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The R3 Continuum Playbook: Employee Burnout

Dr. Tyler Arvig reviewed conditions that create employee burnout and several tips for businesses to help curb burnout in their employees. The R3 Continuum Playbook is presented by R3 Continuum and is produced by the Minneapolis-St.Paul Studio of Business RadioX®. R3 Continuum is the underwriter of Workplace MVP, the show which celebrates heroes in the workplace.

TRANSCRIPT

Tyler Arvig: [00:00:14] Hi. I’m Dr. Tyler Arvig, Associate Medical Director for R3 Continuum. And today, I want to talk about employee burnout. And, in particular, how to support your employees who might be struggling while managing life challenges and work demands.

Tyler Arvig: [00:00:32] Burnout has long been a topic of discussion in the workplace for obvious reasons. And although the term burnout isn’t my favorite, we all have a mental picture of what this might look like. Decreases in productivity and job satisfaction, lack of stamina, feeling as if you’re at a dead end. None of this is new. However, the current state of life poses new challenges and stressors that, for many, have increased the sense of feeling burned out.

Tyler Arvig: [00:01:02] Employees at every level are balancing work with more demands than ever before. There are increased family needs, social stressors, financial constraints, and lack of time to devote to recreational activities. This, combined with high levels of sustained anxiety, depression, and stress, can culminate in people reporting feeling burned out, having hit a wall, or just feeling stuck. With that, here are some helpful tips to keep in mind for your employees. This is not an exhaustive list, but we have seen these to be helpful in our extensive work around COVID-19 over the past year or so.

Tyler Arvig: [00:01:52] The first thing is to help others keep a sense of perspective. It’s easy to get drawn down into details or problems and to feel as if this represents someone’s life. The more we can do to keep perspective, including all of the things that are happening and how well we have done given the difficult situation that we’ve been in, the more likely we are to feel productive and satisfied in life. And the less likely we are to get that sense of feeling burned out.

Tyler Arvig: [00:02:25] The second thing is to learn to let things go. The old adage that you need to pick your battles certainly applies here. Being able to prioritize things that are truly important over things that are non-important will help us to make better decisions. Letting go of little things is one way to stave off a sense of burnout.

Tyler Arvig: [00:02:49] The third tip that I have is, first, to expect some hard days. This is not to say that we should assume every day is going to be hard. But it’s to say that some days are simply going to be a challenge. Yet every day is a new day. And just because today was hard doesn’t mean that tomorrow is going to follow suit.

Tyler Arvig: [00:03:12] The next tip is to keep a sense of humor. All too often as things get difficult, we forget to add levity in situations where it might be appropriate or helpful. Humor can help build relationships, relieve stress, and gain much needed perspective on a particular problem or situation. Appropriate humor can have an infectious positive effect on your work environment and can be a boon to productivity as well as employee satisfaction and devotion.

Tyler Arvig: [00:03:46] The next tip is for us to learn to accept good enough. Good enough will not suffice for every task that we do, but will suffice for most of the tasks that we do. Lowering the bar where it can be lowered into having the energy and drive to achieve the task that truly require the highest standard.

Tyler Arvig: [00:04:11] The next piece of advice would be, to avoid comparing ourselves to others and encourage your employees not to compare themselves to others. The sense of burnout or unhappiness is often amplified by comparing ourselves to others. Or more specifically, by comparing our internal emotional states to the outward appearances of others. As you can imagine, this is never a fair comparison and usually results in feeling as if other people are doing better than might actually be the case.

Tyler Arvig: [00:04:47] The next tip that I found to be particularly helpful, and it’s a bit of perhaps an unusual suggestion, but consider encouraging others to master something new. This could be something personally that we take on, but it could also be something new that we take on in the workplace, a new skill, learning a new task, or even taking on a new role. The sense of mastery, learning, and discovery is likely to help stave off feelings of burnout or frustration.

Tyler Arvig: [00:05:27] Encourage building and nurturing relationships. In the ever changing work environment, it is often about simply just getting things done. And while this is needed at times, it is often not sustaining. Encourage your people to actively build and engage in workplace relationships that will not only foster greater teamwork, but aid in more creativity, better problem solving, and improving the team’s overall productivity.

Tyler Arvig: [00:06:00] The next tip really can’t be overstated, and that is, to encourage your people to seek professional help if they need support. As a manager or leader, what resources are available for your employees who might need more formal help? R3 Continuum offers several options, as do your EAP and probably your private health insurance plan as well. Burnout in the workplace is often amplified or exacerbated by personal issues that we all may be experiencing. So, getting professional help is certainly appropriate for most of us at many times.

Tyler Arvig: [00:06:42] Finally, communicate. Frustration or burnout in the work environment is often a reflection of feeling undervalued, under informed, or out of the loop. Communicate often. Show appreciation for employee efforts. Address challenges and celebrate successes. Employees who are engaged and feel part of the organization are less likely to feel burned out.

Tyler Arvig: [00:07:10] I hope you have found these tips to be helpful as you go about supporting your people. Realizing that you might need additional help, please do feel free to reach out to us at www.r3c.com or email us at info@r3c.com. As experts in employee behavioral health, my colleagues and I would be happy to have discussions with you regarding any challenges that you may be facing in your work environment.