During the COVID - 19 pandemic, burnout in the workplace was very common especially when employees have been exposed in the field and battling frontline. Nurses, doctors, medics, and other frontline workers cry for help as they have been overworked, but experiencing low compensation and hazard pay. In addition to that, they are isolated from their loved ones and have been experiencing discrimination in their barangays and other places.
According to Blake et al., (2020), health care workers are not only at high risk of acquiring Covid-19, but they also experience psychological distress due to isolation from their loved ones to prevent transmission of the virus, increased workload, and hours of duty that leads to burnout, shortage of medical supplies, equipment, and protective gears, physical and emotional exhaustion and many life and death decision making. Experiencing burnout in the workplace comes from; mental and/or physical fatigue, pessimism is the cause of detachment in responding to providing services and it reduces professional efficacy which is the mindset that you will be unable to complete tasks successfully.
According to the Job Demands-Resources model (Taylor et al., 2015), burnout occurs when the employees experience that the demands in their workplace exceed while the resources that are available to them decrease. Resources can also be the employees’ work climate, job social support, job autonomy and skill direction, and self-traits.
With these experiences, it is important to cope and build resilience and provide emotional support for your colleagues as well. Being compassionate to yourself and your colleagues helps decrease stress and emotional extremes adopted in the workplace. You can do this by checking up on your colleagues once in a while and trying to think of some activities that will help you feel relaxed after long hours of duty. It is also important to connect with family, colleagues, and friends as one of your coping mechanisms. It is said that having a social connection with people with the same experience as you helps as emotional support, just don't forget to balance it with your family and non-work-related friends.
References:
Taylor, N. Z., Millear, P. M. R., (2015), “The contribution of mindfulness to predicting burnout in workplace”, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.10.005
Sritharan, J., Jegathesan, T., Vimaleswaran, D., Sritharan, A., (2020), “Mental Health Concerns of Frontline Workers During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review”, doi: 10.5539/gjhs.v12n11p89
Tomlin, J., Warburton, B. D., Lamph, G., (2020), “ Psychosocial Support for Healthcare Workers during the Covid-19 Pandemic”, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01960