Written by Leslie M. Dill, AWT Director of Public Relations, UT-Austin Department Manager and Film Enthusiast
Burnout. burn·out /ˈbərnˌout/ : the physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress.
Going far beyond the universal times of stress throughout the year, burnout can happen to anyone at any time. I personally experienced burnout earlier this year intensely enough that I had to ask for time off from my job. Now reread that sentence again. "Intensely enough,", "I had to ask for time off." Many of us are guilty of justifying our sense of burnout with knee-jerk reactions like "it'll get better once this project/month is over," or, "I'll eventually get a break here soon, I just have to make it through." And therein lies the problem. We seem to have internalized the assumption that all stressful times or situations will eventually end without speaking up. In a way, it's true that nothing lasts forever (insert dad joke: 'except death and taxes' here), and hard work is not the enemy, but rather, we should be identifying environments, systems and expectations that don't account for the human element of well...everything.
There's a simplistic analogy that gets tossed around when talking about burnout. It usually goes something like ,"you have to charge your phone regularly, why wouldn't you do the same for yourself?" Though I would personally love to learn how to go into "low battery mode" or "do not disturb", the comparisons between human life and the iPhone are a bit forced, in my opinion. Earlier this year, I had gone through months of extensive financial training at work, on top of my regular managerial responsibilities which range from overseeing the complete overhaul and migration of our website to managing our accounting and HR business processes. I was also dealing with the cornucopia of issues life likes to throw at you at the worst of times, like my dog's keen sense of when to get sick in the middle of the night, my car needing a new part to the tune of $1,000...now that's what I call burnout!
In my current position, late July and all of August is considered the busy season, as it's not only back-to-school time, but it's also the end of the fiscal year - in other words, there's more than a lot going on. I could feel myself draining quicker by the day, and there was no recharge going on. No matter how much I tried the online "listicle" suggestions of going to bed at a reasonable hour, getting fresh air or cooking all my meals at home, my energy levels were just not renewing.
There's only so many midday walks you can take.
The only fix, I realized, would be to completely step away from my work...even for just a few days. (Please note, I know this isn't applicable to everyone and isn't a one-size-fits-all suggestion.) Stepping away seemed like the only way to do a hard "reset" on everything and return as much as possible to my regularly programmed factory settings. (This is the end of the tired iPhone puns, I promise!)
Of course, the next step would be to admit that I was getting burnt out to my manager. For some, this never seems to be an issue. For others, it causes enough anxiety to consider not asking for time off altogether, for fear of being judged. Luckily, I work for a person who's very empathetic and also raised the idea that there may be processes in the office we could address head on upon my return to prevent any future burnout. (The key phrase being "upon my return", not "instead of taking time off.") I haven't always been so lucky with managers, though. In the past, I've worked for a variety of people, some of whom would approach using my earned vacation time by saying, "it's your time, you've earned it, just tell me when you'll be out-of-office," and others who would reply to a request to use a few hours of sick time with, "I mean, it is actually food poisoning, or are you able to hop on this call?" No wonder there's a stigma about asking for time off to address serious burnout!
In a perfect world, we'd be able to take time off when we need to. Period. End of sentence. Unless you're abusing the company vacation or remote work policy, employers really shouldn't be asking you for a personal essay on why you're taking time off. But we live in a world where we have to internalize the ideas that "HR is not your friend" and you really should save every email just in case. So before you ask for time off because you're burnt out, consider the following questions:
- Is your manager likely to counter with a suggestion, instead, to lighten your workload temporarily?
- Are you bringing this up around a huge deadline or a typically demanding time?
- Do you already have the accrued vacation or personal time? Or have you already spent the hours?
While burnout doesn't discriminate about when it hits, there are times of the year in every organization that are consistently busier than others. (I.e. asking for time off a week before the annual close, on December 1st or during that big conference you'd been planning will likely not only not yield you the response you want, it will almost certainly be mentioned in your annual performance review.) You should be able to take your earned time off when you're truly burnt out whenever that may be...but reading the room will always go a long way. Think about it as the same reason you don't ask for vacation during your first week in a new job. No matter how innocent the intention, it's not a good look.
Having a few examples and reasons outlined about why you're burnt out will leave your manager very little room to "negotiate" with you. You don't want to walk into your manager's office planning to take time off the next week and leave having heard "this busy period will end in about a month and that would honestly be a better time to take off." Just as you write your out-of-office emails, listing names of colleagues who can help out in your absence, plan out who can cover what projects, questions, problems, etc., before you ask for time off.
Finally, if you find yourself negotiating with your manager about being burnt out *insert eye roll here* be prepared to talk about the ways in which you've already tried to address your burnout. Yes, that's right, talk about your lunchtime walks and trying to get so many hours of sleep every night. Explain that it is a last resort as opposed to another way to ask for vacation.
When it came to asking for time off due to my own burnout, I carefully wrote my manager an email, outlining the reasons I was feeling burnt out, what I had already done to address it, how we could adjust a few processes for the future and the exact number of days I would be taking off. Of course, I said I was happy to discuss this further in a one-on-one meeting. A week later, my out-of-office automatic replies were turned on, and for the first time in a long time, I didn't think about work. I took myself out for morning coffees, enjoyed long lake walks with my dog, caught up on my Netflix watch list, took that Pilates class I'd been putting off and went to bed at mostly reasonable hours. I returned to work the next week with a new lease on my career and the renewed energy needed to tackle my inbox. Most importantly, when my manager asked if I got what I needed from my time away, I was able to say, "Yes, and thank you for listening."
Got any burnout advice for us? Leave it in the comments!
If you'd like to contribute to the AWT blog, please connect with Leslie M. Dill via LinkedIn or email publicrelations@awtaustin.org.
