Some have labeled how people are feeling as an extreme form of burnout often called “Pandemic Fatigue.”

Burnout is often described as the absence of mood volatility – a flatlining of our vital energies.

McKinsey published insights on employee well-being in their article entitled, “Overcoming Pandemic Fatigue – How to Reenergize Organizations for the Long Run”, published November 2020. Leaders must actively manage the energy of their workforces, cultivate the quality of employee relationships, and demonstrate a capacity for resilience to recharge their organizations during crises.

McKinsey quotes studies that show that 75 percent of employees in the United States and close to a third in the Asia–Pacific region report symptoms of burnout. European nations are reporting increasing levels of pandemic fatigue in their populations. The number of those who rate their mental health as “very poor” is more than three times higher than before the crisis, and mental-health issues are still likely to rise.

Forbes reports in their 2016 article entitled, “How to Light the Fire When You’re Burned Out”, that burnout is not so much the presence of huge negatives as the absence of positives. One distinct casualty of burnout is creativity. It is rare that saturated professionals can muster the perspective to generate fresh ideas and perspectives. Energy is spent coping; little is left over for exploration and innovation.

Add on the stress of a global pandemic after a year of uncertainty and you may be feeling lowered energy, a sense of feeling overwhelmed, increased negativity, and difficulty initiating new efforts.

In a Eagle Hill Consulting COVID-19 Workforce Burnout Survey conducted online by Ipsos from April 8-10, 2020 and included 1,001 respondents from across the U.S., 45% of US employees said they were burnt out, with one in four indicating that the cause is attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Imagine what this data might look like more than 9 months later and now that we know it won’t be over any time soon.

Forbes, in an article on “A Unique Approach to Overcoming Burnout”, identified some of the common causes of stress and fatigue as a result of the pandemic.

• Duration of the crisis – what worked in March-June is not working as well in September onward
• Maintaining productivity within and across teams
• Managing uncertainty – constant change and not being able to plan for the future
• Separating work versus personal – difficult to compartmentalize
• Concentration – distractions use up your emotional energy
• Technology fatigue – too much of a good thing
• Stress from “outside” of work – political, economic, family, etc., factors

The University of Michigan Health published a blog identifying 6 ways to relieve your work from home fatigue. Bloomberg News documented that the pandemic workday is 48 minutes longer and has more meetings based on studies conducted by Harvard Business School and New York University researchers.

Based on this information, consider the following recommendations in how to take better care of yourself:

• Switch to phone calls instead of video conferences. Take Zoom fatigue seriously
• Practice saying ‘no.’
• Reduce multi-tasking
• Schedule fewer meetings
• Take micro-breaks
• Stick to your pre-COVID work routine (even commuting time)
• Figure out your body’s energy rhythm, and then plan accordingly
• Do something joyful that marks the end of the day

Leaders must actively manage the energy of their workforces, cultivate the quality of employee relationships, and demonstrate a capacity for resilience to recharge their organizations during crises.

Yet more than one-third of employees say that their organizations are not taking steps to address employee burnout. It is the responsibility of leadership to do what they can to counteract the COVID-19 fatigue impacts to their workforce.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US states that “stress and burnout during the pandemic has significantly impacted the lives of workers, regardless of the type of industry they work in, or whether they do remote or on-site work.”

Here are some ways you can help your employees or team members to build resilience to COVID fatigue:

• Encourage employees to communicate with you, co-workers, and supervisors.
• Create an environment where stress impacts can be openly discussed – topics:
  • Understand how the pandemic affects productivity at work
  • Explore ways employees can stay in touch with friends and family
  • Recommend health resources such as employee assistance programs
  • Invite employees to talk about aspects of their lives over which they lack control
• Suggest that your employees maintain a routine to help them feel grounded
• Remind employees that their efforts to protect themselves and others matter, even if the results are not clearly apparent
• Promote healthy work habits to support well-being