Impact and Burnout

Recently I have seen a discussion about whether or not having “meaning” in one’s work can ameliorate burnout.

I have had many jobs of the course of my career. Some were more impactful than others. The least stressful was working manual labor, I was the healthiest I had ever been. I showed up did what was expected and then went home. When I was off the clock, I was off the clock. Did it have “impact”? Some, I was working construction, I got to watch new buildings go up including a hospital. I felt what I was doing had meaning, even if my contribution was small.

The only time I truly experienced burnout was my most impactful job. I taught high school for 15 years. The last two (pandemic) years were so over the top I don’t have words for it. I couldn’t turn off the mental and emotional fatigue. My students suffered: some were grieving the death of a parent, some were having mental health crises, some simply forgot how to behave around other people.

That isn’t what really trigged the burnout. It was having an administration that didn’t put the well being of the staff as a priority. Decisions like adding additional layers of documentation and oversight in the middle of this incredibly stressful time created a culture of “never enough” in a job that already had tendencies in that direction.

Labor is a resource that needs to be managed. If you burn through your capital your company will fail. If your burn through your personnel, your company will fail. A good manager knows this. Burnout doesn’t come from difficult tasks or lack of meaning or lack of self care.

Burnout comes from a culture with unreasonable expectations and no safety net. The only cure is to start taking care of each other and to regain functioning communities.

I left teaching after 15 years. There was no good bye from the school. Not even a card. A small handful of teachers and parents through me a party off site which I will always treasure. The lack of official acknowledgement of my years of tenure speaks volumes of how we treat employees and why people are burning out. It’s because we are not treating employees as people. Environments where people feel cared for are few and far between these days, but it is the only cure.