Job Burnout: Redefining Work-Life Balance

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Job Burnout: Redefining Work-Life Balance

Michael Alleruzzo, Certified Leadership Coach, discusses the importance of a work- leisure blend to control burnout, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the work lifestyles we once knew.

Philadelphia (April 29, 2021)- The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the way we work. In order to ensure the safety of their employees, businesses across the nation transitioned from their traditional office work lifestyles to new remote work lifestyles. This new work lifestyle has caused employees to feel “burnout”, also defined by Mayo Clinic as “work-related stress — a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.” FlexJobs and Mental Health America (MHA) conducted a survey that found that 75% of people have experienced burnout at work, with 40% saying they’ve experienced burnout during the pandemic specifically.

Common symptoms of burnout include reduced performance and productivity, anxiety, detachment, low mood, difficulty concentrating, lack of creativity, and fatigue.

Michael Alleruzzo is a certified leadership coach, specializing in coaching, teaching, and consulting with leaders through his services. Alleruzzo believes in the importance of a work-life blend to deal with this burnout. Although he thinks that the term work-life balance should no longer exist, instead he suggests a new and improved term, work-leisure blend.

“I believe the time has come to replace the ‘term work-life balance’ with a new term – ‘work-leisure blend’.  Why?  Because for people who strongly identify with their careers, work is synonymous with life. The two are constantly interacting, and that is ok.  I find the idea of balance a bit problematic in that it suggests a 50/50 of each. Very few people have that.  So, the idea of work and life being separate and ‘balanced’ against each other isn’t attainable, or even desirable for many people. Instead, if we replace the term work-life balance with work-leisure blend, we allow for every person to define for themselves how much work is necessary, and how much leisure is necessary for the person to live a life of health, happiness, achievement, and fulfillment.”

As businesses begin to make plans for future openings, many are discussing if they will go back completely in person, offer hybrid work lifestyles, or allow employees to stay completely remote. As Alleruzzo mentioned above, everyone defines their life needs differently. Some prefer more time working, while others prefer more time doing lifestyle activities. That is why a new formula for employee effectiveness and engagement is critical for businesses and should be central to their future discussions. 

A survey of 8,500 knowledge and skilled workers from around the world was conducted by Future Forum, a business that “works with industry and academic institutions to publish research, case studies, and position papers publicly to drive discussion about the future of work and enable teams to build off best practices.” Fortune Magazine released details of this survey stating that 63% of knowledge workers prefer a hybrid model. Another 20% prefer fully remote, and 17% want to always work from the office.

In his popular TED Talk “Why We Do What We Do”, Tony Robbins once referred to ‘the science of achievement, and the art of fulfillment’.  The past year and beyond has allowed (for some) and/or forced (for others), the opportunity to examine one’s life in these two contexts – what we have achieved and what we want to achieve, in relation to how fulfilled we feel inside.  

Each of us assesses differently our current state of both achievement and fulfillment.  And, because we are all different, we all have varying goals for each.  These goals exist within a variety of domains.  These domains include career, home/family, other responsibilities (community, church, school), as well as self-care necessities.  

Many people have reported increased reflection during the pandemic regarding what they want for their lives from both achievement and fulfillment lenses.  And various surveys are revealing that many people across the age spectrum are looking for increasing autonomy over how they contribute to achievement while attaining (or maintaining) fulfillment.

Rather than trying to go “back to normal”, companies should instead “focus forward” regarding their entire business model.  At the core of that model are their employees.  And the smartest companies, the ones that will gain, maintain, or increase their competitive advantage are the ones that put their people first, and welcome them into a conversation as to how to connect employee and organization achievement, with employee fulfillment.  

About Michael Alleruzzo

Michael Alleruzzo is a full-time college professor at Saint Joseph’s University in the Management department of the Erivan K. Haub School of Business. Alleruzzo is a certified leadership coach, guiding people on how to lead themselves, lead others, and lead organizations. He does so through his services of lessons, seminars, coaching, and consulting. For more information visit https://michaelalleruzzo.com/.