Panic-Working Is a Manic Defense
Even Gianpiero Petriglieri, a psychiatrist, MD, and associate professor of organisational behavior at the Business School for the World (INSEAD) admitted in late March that “by the time I went to bed at 3 a.m., I was exhausted, edgy, and miserable” due to “panic-working” from home.
The obsession with staying productive at all costs is considered a “manic defense” by psychoanalysts. Panic-working gives us a false sense of security and the illusion of being in control. It numbs us in the short term but this defense comes at a high price – feeling disconnected from reality, our experiences, and other people, and completely burned out.
Fighting Fire with Fire: A Vicious Cycle
Remote workers are oftentimes pushing themselves too hard as a way of coping with their anxieties and fears caused by the pandemic and the recession. But overworking in an effort to stay productive does not serve them well; in fact, it’s akin to self-sabotage because it eventually leads to burnout, more anxiety, depression, and other repercussions on their mental and overall health.
Both employers/virtual managers and remote workers need to be aware of the increased risk of burnout associated with working from home, recognise the (early) signs, and effectively combat it as early as possible.
Working Harder and Longer Has Become the Norm
Transition to a work-from-home culture has been challenging for managers across the globe. Finding new ways to ensure that their remote teams stay productive is one of their main priorities. However, instead of worrying about their teams’ underperformance, virtual managers should be on the lookout for overperformance, which has been found to be productivity’s enemy rather than its ally.
According to a 2017 working paper published by researchers at Harvard Business School, task selection is a common way through which workers manage their increased workload. More specifically, they tend to complete easier tasks, a behavior labeled as Task Completion Bias (TCB). Although TCB has been found to improve short-term productivity, it negatively impacts long-term performance measured by revenue and speed alike. Workers who do not exhibit this behavior tend to be significantly more productive than those who exhibit TCB.
Research shows that the vast majority of remote workers are more productive than their in-office counterparts. They work harder and longer hours than ever before for different reasons, including the fact that employers apply increasingly more pressure for efficiency purposes. for financial rewards, and out of fear. Remote workers fear for many things – they fear for the health and safety of themselves and their loved ones; the economic fallout and uncertainty of the future; they fear for losing their livelihood/financial security and no longer being able to provide for themselves and their family, and more.
But the reality is that overworking makes a remote worker more prone to WFH burnout.
The Warning Signs of WFH Burnout
Work-from-home or lockdown burnout refers to a state of exhaustion on physical, emotional, and mental levels caused by prolonged and excessive stress associated with panic-working/overworking from home and disruption to the work-life balance.
Although burnout is still not classified as a medical disorder, the World Health Organisation (WHO) included it in ICD-11 last year as an occupational phenomenon and is defined as “a syndrome” that results from chronic and unsuccessfully managed workplace stress.
What to watch out for:
- Chronic fatigue/exhaustion and apathy
- Depression and/anxiety worsening over time
- Constantly elevated stress levels and reduced energy levels
- Feeling overwhelmed and mentally drained all the time
- Inability to focus and forgetfulness/memory issues
- Lack of motivation, feelings of negativism toward one’s job
- Declining performance, avoiding work or inability to switch off
- Chest pain, shortness of breath and/or heart palpitations
- Irritability, anger, and sleep disorders (e.g. insomnia)
- Dizziness and headaches/migraines
- Loss of/reduced appetite and/or gastrointestinal issues
Early recognition of these signs via virtual channels such as chat apps and video calls is of the utmost importance. It’s worth noting that a worker who is affected by WFH/lockdown burnout does not necessarily have to exhibit all of the above signs, because it manifests differently in different people.
Burnout can also weaken a remote worker’s immune system, which in turn may increase the risk of getting infected with the novel coronavirus.
Tips To Combat Lockdown Burnout
- Establish clear boundaries that separate work from personal life to prevent work-life balance disruption
- Set office hours and create a schedule designating work, free and family time to regain control
- Avoid the tendency of being the perfect worker, which adds extra pressure
- Take time off to unwind and discover a new hobby
- Maintain social interactions/connections to avoid social isolation and detachment
- Don’t suffer in silence -Talk to your team, virtual manager and reach out for help
- If you are a manager or supervisor, make sure you can provide first aid for mental health incidents involving anxiety, stress and burnout.
- As an organisation, provide workplace mental health training and resilience building skills training for your managers, supervisors and leaders.
Reach Out For Professional Help From Therapists
It’s absolutely crucial for virtual managers to learn to recognise the telltale signs of work-from-home burnout as early as possible in order to minimize its long-term impact on remote workers’ mental well-being as well as to properly address it in a timely and efficient fashion. The Workplace Mental Health Institute ( WMHI) is here to help virtual managers across the globe with a suite of tailored, top-tier and results-driven telehealth training courses and services, counseling, and coaching sessions on mental health, well-being, and resilience of employees working remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
If you’re an employee working from home and you’ve been feeling the effects of burnout and overworked during lockdown, it’s in your best interest to take some time off to decompress and to speak with a qualified therapist. In case your job offers free counseling sessions through an employee assistance program (EAP), then do yourself a huge favor and take full advantage of it for the sake of your mental health and well-being in these uncertain and difficult times.
