Burnout-related complaints up again

Burnout-related complaints up again

In 2022, 1.6 million workers will suffer from burnout-related complaints. This number is up from 2021, when 1.3 million workers were affected. Burnout-related complaints involve emotional exhaustion from work, and this can have serious consequences for employees and organizations over time.

Source: www.tno.nl

For example, by 2022, 3% of workers in the Netherlands report being overworked or experiencing burnout caused by work. And in 2021, employees absent themselves a total of 11 million days due to work-related stress. The absenteeism costs involved for employers are estimated at 3.3 billion.

This emerges from the fact sheet 'Work stress' (pdf) published by TNO as part of the Week of Work Stress. A week in which attention is drawn to the theme of work stress and which, given the figures, is sorely needed. The fact sheet is based on the National Survey of Working Conditions (NEA) of TNO and CBS.

Psychological safety at work

A major cause of work stress is work pressure, a situation in which there is an imbalance between the demands of the job and the employee's ability to meet those demands. By 2022, one-third of workers experience high task demands, and 42% experience little autonomy in their work.

Work stress can also be caused by undesirable behavior or conflict at work. By 2022, more than a quarter of workers will have had a conflict with a colleague, supervisor or employer that year.

So it's important that employees feel safe at work. Fortunately, most workers (98%) experience social support from co-workers, and most can bring up difficult issues (69%) and easily ask for help (79%).

In addition, 60% indicate that they do not mind making mistakes. However, these figures also indicate that for some employees, social safety is not (yet) in order. In order to reduce work-related stress, it is important that social safety on the shop floor also receives continued attention.