Burnout: Real and pretty bad but remains mostly unacknowledged in India

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's decision to resign has turned the spotlight on workplace fatigue

“No more in the tank”. The words of Jacinda Ardern, until recently New Zealand's prime minister, have drawn the attention back to workplace burnout. Ardern, 42, who became the world’s youngest woman head of government in 2017, declared last week that she would not contest for a second term. “For me, it’s time,” she said.

Political leaders admitting to burnout and then stepping down is rare globally, to say the least. In India, it is even less likely.

Burnout is real but remains mostly unacknowledged in India’s political circles, says a 31-year-old who has worked with the National Political Action Committee (NPAC) and was involved in planning several municipal and state-level election campaigns.

“With top national political leaders claiming to work 22 hours in a day, several local and state level politicians feel the need to follow suit and present an image of a tireless leader for the constituency,” says this person who is based out of Bengaluru but does not wish to be named. “Thus, while most may complain about burnout in intimate circles, they either brush it away or end up denying it altogether in public.”

In the business world, too, one seldom hears of people, especially in leadership roles, accepting it.

This, when a recent study by Slack found that 54 per cent of Indian knowledge workers experience burnout and nearly 66 per cent are planning on a job switch.

Here too, the younger crowd, especially Gen Z (18-25 years), had the highest number of burnouts (58 per cent) in the last 12 months. The study, based on a survey of over 2,000 Indian knowledge workers, found that the work-from-home experience during the pandemic and the current economic conditions have stressed out employees and ultimately increased the incidence of burnout.

The trend continues across sectors. The percentage of employee burnout was as high as 59 per cent in the retail sector and 58 per cent in healthcare and government jobs.  

According to a survey by the McKinsey Health Institute, Indian respondents expressed elevated rates for every outcome — burnout, distress, anxiety, and depression — as compared to other Asian nations like Japan and China, as well as the global mean. 

Of all Indian employees surveyed by the organisation, 38 per cent showed signs of burnout; 41 per cent registered symptoms of depression; while 40 per cent exhibited anxiety symptoms.  

The survey accounted for nearly 15,000 employees and 1,000 human-resource (HR) decision-makers across 15 countries.

The usual symptoms of burnout are frequent leaves, delays in implementing the projects, and aggressiveness at work.

Among the major factors for employee burnout, toxic workplace behaviour is dominant, accounting for approximately 90 per cent of explained variance for every outcome.

Sumit Kumar, chief business officer, TeamLease, explains that while awareness for employee wellbeing and mental health has increased post-pandemic, only a few large and established firms are ensuring employee workplace wellbeing.

“Start-ups, which had implemented some innovative initiatives to ensure employee wellbeing to attract talent, have also withdrawn these practices due to the recent downturn in business,” Kumar says. “Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which have the maximum employee burnout, usually have very limited practices or none.”   

Business Standard spoke with young professionals across major metropolitan regions in India, including Kolkata, Delhi-National Capital Region, Bengaluru, and Mumbai. Most concur with the findings of past surveys.

The blurring of work-home boundaries, excessive work hours, toxic and “unprofessional” work culture, and the lack of respect for personal choices in matters of gender and sexuality, dresses, and food, emerged as major reasons for people to feel alienated and burnt out only five to seven years into their careers.

Shruti Nag, a 32-year-old IT professional based out of Mumbai, has recently switched her company. “However, instead of feeling excited about the new job and better salary package, I feel a sense of exhaustion. Just as it was in my last job, my work invariably rolls over beyond my mandated work hours,” Nag says.

Another Bengaluru-based IT professional claims that despite a hefty pay package, the work culture in his current company — an Indian IT major — is less than “professional”. “I have worked five years in London across two separate firms. Coming home, I am shocked to see how common petty name-calling, abusive workloads, and casual violations of the employee’s work-life boundaries are among even the top Indian companies. It's quite draining,” she says.

According to another survey, by Deloitte, 63 per cent of women participants from India in the age group of 18 to 25 admitted to feeling burnout, as compared to the global average of 61 per cent. The number stood at 43 per cent for the age group of 39 to 54, as compared to 40 per cent globally.

Kumar points out, “Many organisations, while being aware of employee burnout, tend to stay away from implementing employee welfare initiatives due to thin or shrinking margins. Organisations need to take this as an investment in talent to improve their motivation and productivity.” 

With entrepreneurs like Ashneer Grover dismissing burnout as a "Western concept" and therefore non-applicable to "desi emotions", a serious discussion around investment in employee health still seems a far cry, however.