Burnout is common among employees who work long hours in stressful conditions. It is not limited to any industry or job profile. Since the pandemic, companies have moved to mass remote working and hybrid models. Now, employees prefer working from home to returning to the office so much that they would switch jobs to avoid giving up remote work. Employees report higher levels of work satisfaction than before, but other problems have begun to surface.

Work-Life Balance

People working remotely work longer hours, with more than half the employees exceeding 40 hours per week. There is added pressure to demonstrate productivity through high performance while working from home. This compared to the office, where you could just come, sit and look busy, giving the impression that you were productive. The remote employees are feeling burnout.

One consequence of working from home is separating your personal and professional lives becomes difficult. The line between home and work is blurring, making it tough to compartmentalize and maintain a work-life balance. It was not entirely unexpected that employees would struggle with caring for their families while adapting to working remotely because of the pandemic.

Women face a far greater conflict between their personal and professional lives. Reports indicate higher stress and burnout for women. There are the added expectations of running the house and caring for the kids at home. On the other hand, being “flexible” is seen as causing less burnout. These findings support the notion that traditional gender roles and gender bias contribute to burnout.

Increasing Loneliness

Loneliness is a significant contributor to burnout and other related issues. Reports indicate that people working remotely are 52% more likely to feel as if they are mistreated and have trouble resolving workplace conflicts. Remote employees may feel left out since they are far from the workplace, even if that’s not the case.

Loneliness is one of the biggest challenges of working remotely. Employees miss each others’ company and camaraderie. Part of the problem is also that the remote workers are physically isolated from one another. There are fewer people to interact with when employees are working from home. It takes longer to bond with your colleagues in a completely virtual environment than to meet them physically.

Remote teams spend way too much time in Zoom meetings, so they don’t want to socialize over Zoom. The longer you work remotely, the more meeting fatigue you may feel. If you don’t manage to bond with your colleagues, doubt and trust issues add to the stress and burnout.

Working at Odd Hours

Since most companies are encouraging remote work, it is now possible for employees to work from anywhere and anytime. The unintended consequence is employees working odd hours and not giving themselves proper rest.

There is the added self-imposed pressure of always showing up and being available. Employees need to respond quickly to all communication, even at odd hours. All this is despite our knowledge and acceptance of asynchronous communication. In the long run, working odd hours harms employees’ health because it leads to stress and burnout, eventually resulting in lifestyle diseases.

In a world where working remotely is becoming the new normal, employers must take responsibility for their remote teams and employees. People working from home must improve at establishing boundaries between their personal and professional lives. They need to be patient when attempting to bond with their colleagues. Avoiding burnout is the key to a long and productive career and to a happy life.

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