Did You Know Over 50% of Professionals Work More Than 40 Hours a Week?

Did you know burnout is actually a health condition, rather than just a phrase? 

Burnout is a health condition recognized by international medical bodies such as the World Health Organization. This condition, more easily recognizable as workplace stress that goes unmanaged, impacts both employees and organizations. That’s why it’s imperative that employers take a vested interest in their employees’ mental health and performance. Keeping an employee engaged can be a make-or-break scenario, especially if their motivation, work performance, and efforts have been suffering.

Working from home is part of the culprit in the increase of burnout as well as poor mental health in employees across all industries. Over 42% of the United States workforce is working from home — that’s twice as many as before March, 2020. 

No profession is left untouched! 

During 2020, so many companies established new policies about working from home in order to keep both staff as well as clients and patrons safe. Regardless of what industry you might be working or professionally tied to, work-life balance changed in many ways throughout the course of this year, leading to more burnout than ever before. The boundaries of work and home-life have all but evaporated, leaving employees reaching their breaking points sooner than they might have if they were able to be in the office with colleague support, instead of working in an isolated fashion. 

To get a better look at the breakdown of work-life boundaries and a work-life balance, the remote educators of Grand Canyon University explored how professionals experience the hustle-and-grind of a 9-5 job by surveying professionals across different industries. Their survey, in part, was to get a better understanding of the current standard of work-life balance, and also in part to give new graduates or soon-to-be graduates a better understanding of the working world. 

Over 50% of professionals in the early, entry stages of their careers are spending 40 hours or more on their work throughout the week. In fact, currently, that number only increases with the time in career. It’s clear either a societal shift is a must, or we’ll see higher numbers of burnout among expert professionals in year to come. 

Aside from spending a lot of time at work in the early stages of their career, professionals are suffering in their outside relationships due to the increased pressure and expectations of work. With less boundaries, it’s easier to neglect relationships in lieu of an email, or even your own physical health while you sit through another video call. 

The end of the year is a time for reflection, intention setting, and inspiration for the upcoming year. It’s also the perfect time of year to take a look at the way we would like to make sure we take care of ourselves in the year to come so that we might be able to reach our goals the upcoming year. To learn more about how to prevent burnout on your team, these empathetic leadership tips will help.