Stress at work can lead to burnout
Lunch and Learn – preventing too much stress and recovering from burnout arranged at Høvik 22.3.
TEXT: LIN B. KASTEN
What is burnout? Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It can be a consequence of too much stress and too little restitution, causing longer term anxiety, lack of sleep, fatigue and an increasingly cynical perspective on work and life. (Quote from intranet article by Fenna van de Merwe).
Employees say, it was lack of time that caused stress. Although there are different causes and reactions to stress, one third answered in the recent survey by Simployer & Frankly that they experienced negative stress. This is harmless in the short term but can be harmful if last over a longer period.
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What can you do to reduce negative
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stress at work? 44
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE STRESS Stress affects our ability to perform, and we see that performance increases under a certain amount of stress. At the same time, we see that there is a breaking point and that at higher stress levels, performance is reduced. We also see that the more cognitively demanding the tasks are, the earlier you reach the breaking point. Research shows that a moderate level of stress provides the best performance. There are, of course, individual differences how people deal with stress. Stress only becomes dangerous if it becomes chronic and you do not manage to get down from the peaks. At the same time, we know that short-term stressful situa-
tions followed by a rest period are perceived as positive. DIFFERENT CAUSES OF STRESS "Employee Engagement 2022" shows that the most important cause of stress in the workplace is time pressure. Being able to perform their work tasks within the allotted time is a prerequisite for doing a good job, and thus avoiding negative stress. In second place is "lack of control", which can be explained by the fact that our ability to cooperate deteriorated during the pandemic. Research on stress in the workplace shows that high workload and time pressure are important causes. Another reason is the combination of high
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Most of us experience stress at work from time to time. A positive thing is that most people do not go as far as a burnout.
