A lot of companies have permanently shifted to remote work. Although this new mode of operation is quite liberating and provides a better work-life balance, there is an unseen challenge of virtual burnout. This kind of burnout is usually silent and invisible because it affects the minds and bodies of employees without the knowledge of others.
In this article, we are going to shed some light on these silent struggles, how a leader can identify the warning signs and what practical and kind gestures a leader can make to support their teams.
Let’s take a look at this:
Anna was a senior graphic designer who felt that she was always running on empty. Her days were a blur of back-to-back video meetings, which all occurred at her living room desk. She was lonely, despite the fact that she talked to her team throughout the day. The computer screen became her whole world and the pings she received in her work chat kept her mind occupied long after she closed her laptop at night. The line that used to exist between her work life and her personal life was totally gone.
How has Anna come to this? And why do so many remote workers feel so? The reality is that the same factors that make remote work so good can cause burnout. To be able to assist their teams, leaders must learn the underlying causes.
The Invisible Toll: Understanding the Core Struggles
Remote work is the world of video conferences, instant messaging, and electronic deadlines. This is a persistent connection that is useful in accomplishing tasks but at the same time can set the stage to burnout on the part of the worker. In this state, the three major struggles that are often unnoticed are:
1. Screen Fatigue
This is not the tired eyes. The issue of screen fatigue is a genuine one that is attributed to the excess time spent on the screens. It is a combination of body pain and psychological exhaustion. The physical symptoms are eye strain, headaches, and pain in the neck due to sitting in one place the whole day.
The psychological aspect is even larger. Notifications and video calls constantly provide the brain with new information, overwhelming it. The need to appear good and be on in video conferences is also stressful leaving individuals feeling tired. How this works is a science, and you can click here to get to know more about screen fatigue. However, this overburden complicates concentration, decision-making and creative thinking.
2. Loneliness and Isolation
Social relations occur randomly in an office. You chat with a colleague in the coffee line, tell a joke at lunch, or make a rapid brainstorm at the whiteboard. Such small moments matter in helping people to combat loneliness.
However, once you start working at home, such relationships are lost. A worker may have no casual or non-work conversation in a whole week. Such disconnection may leave individuals feeling extremely lonely and unattached to their team and company. This is particularly difficult for new employees who lack the minor and frequent conversations that make them familiar with people and feel they belong to the group.
For Instance:
There is pressure on an employee to constantly be on, visible and engaged in video meetings. This brings about a condition of performance anxiety that is psychologically exhausting. Their brain is overwhelmed even when they are not in a meeting with a never-ending stream of digital information and notifications. This mental clutter causes them to find it difficult to concentrate, be innovative and make quality decisions. This emphasizes how this unending exposure to screens may cause more mental fatigue than mere physical eye strain.
3. Blurred Work-Life Boundaries
One of the major advantages of an office job is that after the work day, you can literally leave the work behind. However, when you work out of your kitchen table or the corner of your bedroom, that boundary between work and home ceases to exist. It becomes difficult to switch off in the mind. You may want to check your emails at night or work on weekends.
This forms an always-on culture where employees have a sense that they should be available anytime. This feeling of always being available takes away personal time, family time and rest time. This causes one not to be able to recharge completely over time, resulting in constant stress and fatigue.
What then can leaders do to detect these inner battles before it is too late?
Recognizing the Red Flags: Warning Signs of Burnout
Leaders will not be able to observe the slightest symptoms of burnout that are highly noticeable in an office environment. To identify these red flags, there will have to be a shift in mentality from overseeing the work to monitoring the welfare of people. The following are some of the main indicators:
Alterations in How They Work: There can be a sudden decline in the quality of work, missing deadlines, or simply lack of interest. An employee who was prompted to respond may begin to take hours. An otherwise outstanding employee may begin to make mistakes. Burnout may not come in the form of a total work halt, but as a gradual loss of concentration and motivation.
Changes in Mood: A typically cheerful member of the team may be silent, irritable, and less engaged in conversation. This is one of the traditional symptoms of burnout because an individual no longer finds the strength to interact with others and withdraws.
Health Complaints: Although it is difficult to identify them at a distance, employees may complain about being constantly fatigued, having regular headaches, or having difficulties sleeping. They could also complain that they are too stressed or worried about their job.
Working Longer Hours: It may be surprising but this is one of the common effects of burnout in employees. This is not due to the fact that they are more productive. It is so because they are not able to cope and they feel that they have to work more in order to prevent falling behind. This is a red flag because a leader may receive emails sent at late hours at night and even during the weekends.
After leaders notice these signs, what can they practically do to assist?
Proactive Approaches: Building a Resilient Virtual Team
There is no silver bullet in the process of fixing virtual burnout. It is not about one single solution. It is about creating a culture of kindness, flexibility and trust. Leaders can make a positive difference by establishing an environment that makes employees feel understood and appreciated. Here are some proactive approaches to use:
1. Encourage Flexible Schedules
Remote work does not fit the old 9-to-5. Flexible working permits employees to work at their optimal times. But it is not the case of work taking precedence over all time, but having what is called a core time of meeting and leaving people to their work at their own time. Leaders can also facilitate asynchronous work, which implies that not all things require a prompt response. This lessens the burden of being accessible all the time and enables the employees to concentrate on their duties without being disturbed all the time.
2. Prioritize Mental Health Check-ins
Managers ought to take time to inquire how team members are actually doing. The mental check-ins are not prying; it is ensuring a safe environment where employees can discuss their struggles. Such basic questions as, “How do you feel about your workload this week?” or, Is there anything I can do to help you? will help you open the door to meaningful conversations and demonstrate that you care.
3. Normalize and Encourage Time Off
Taking vacation is not a luxury, it is a necessity when it comes to burnout prevention. This has to be demonstrated by leaders taking their own time off and urging their team to do the same. This implies clarifying that employees are not supposed to check emails or work messages when they are not present. The team should devise ways of covering the work of someone before taking time off.
4. Promote and Enforce Digital Boundaries
Healthy digital habits can be introduced by leaders. Leaders should urge their teams to switch off work notifications after work. This helps individuals in regaining their personal lives and detaching themselves mentally from work.
5. Foster Social Connection
Although forced virtual happy hours may be awkward, this is not the only solution to the development of a sense of community. Chatting about non-work-related things, such as hobbies or pets, can be useful and should be encouraged. Fun virtual team-building activities that are not work meetings are also significant. The idea is to restore the simple, human connections which tend to be lost during remote work.
Conclusion
The remote work is a potent weapon that should be applied wisely. Loneliness, screen fatigue, and blurred boundaries are real and can have a significant effect on employees and companies, as it is the silent battle of virtual burnout.
Leaders can develop a healthy, happy, and strong virtual team by emphasizing kindness and support. The future of work is remote, and the future of leadership will have to be founded on the human-first caring approach.
