Is festive burnout something we need to talk about more?
The festive period can be exciting and filled with Christmas spirit, shopping, parties with everyone you know, good food, and more. There’s no denying that December is a jam-packed month.
Finding the right balance between end of year work deadlines, social engagements, present buying, and a bit of much needed downtime, can be quite a difficult task. It’s clearly the most wonderful *and busiest* time of year…
This can all actually come together and cause a case of burnout- festive burnout…
For businesses and most workplaces, the end of the year comes with a lot of deadlines, targets, and planning for the year ahead. Employees have to keep up with this and their usual workload, but with extra commitments outside of work. Inside of work too, if you count work Christmas parties and events. This combination means that there’s going to be, rightfully or wrongly, an increase in hangovers at work and tiredness, even sick days and absences throughout the month.
That alone can be a cause of stress for employees and employers, but it doesn’t stop there. Christmas, and the whole festive month of December, can cause a lot of stress and worry. People worry about how many presents they have for loved ones, whether they can afford presents, afford social engagements and parties, whether they can afford Christmas dinner, if they have enough annual leave, or if they get the annual leave dates they need, childcare- the list goes on.
Stress and worry, as well as tiredness from social engagements, means that there’s higher risks of burnout. This is a clinically recognised health condition, that can make people feel drained physically and mentally and can often present itself in various ways. People can experience low mood, irritability, headaches, nausea, etc. Burnout is a state of poor mental health and needs to be taken seriously by individuals themselves and employers.
How can *Festive* Burnout Impact Work?
Burnout can have a negative effect on people at work because it can mean that people find it harder to concentrate or be present whilst at work; this is increased levels in presenteeism- where someone might be physically present at work, but not working to their full capabilities and should really not be there. It can also cause higher absence rates; people feel unwell when they’re experiencing burnout and so might feel they need to take time off work for however long they need.
Burnout is a form of poor mental health, and so there’s a lot of implications that need to be considered. If someone already suffers from poor mental health, this can make them feel worse and amplify any negative emotions. It’s very important that burnout and poor mental health is something of concern for employers as their workforce can experience it often due to work, family and health, and Christmas or social events and happenings.
For employers, it can be hard to manage different cases with issues like absence management and return to work plans. It can be hard to implement strategies to reduce these problems with burnout and poor mental health, especially as mental health needs clinical support and interventions. Therefore, having an occupational health team offer support takes the stress of management from the employers and places it in more clinically suited hands, ensuring that employees can remain in the workforce and be healthy.
