Female Workers Are More Likely to Experience Burnout

July 18, 2022

Burnout is a syndrome that can develop as a result of chronic workplace stress and can affect an employee’s health and wellbeing. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), people experience burnout on three levels: feeling tired or exhausted, needing to distance themselves from their job or having negative feelings about their job, and exhibiting poor performance at work. Although burnout is not a medical condition, this occupational phenomenon has a variety of effects on workers’ health and quality of life. While burnout is now a common consequence of stress for all workers, female workers appear to be more susceptible to it.

A recent Deloitte report shows that most working women are now experiencing high levels of stress that are causing burnout, and they intend to quit their current jobs within the next two years. According to Deloitte’s Women @ Work 2022 Study, more than half of the women surveyed said they were more stressed than a year ago, and nearly half of them went as far as to say they were experiencing burnout. The report shows that not only is the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to affect female workers, but burnout has also reached critically high levels among them.

From the COVID-19 Pandemic to a Stress Epidemic

Workplace stress has always been a problem, but the recent COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issue, and its effects are still being felt by US workers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this healthcare crisis has had a significant impact on people’s lives, as many were forced to face new challenges that proved to be nerve-racking and overwhelming. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people in the US and other countries struggled to cope with feelings of fear, rage, sadness, anxiety, numbness, or irritation. They also had trouble concentrating and making decisions. Moreover, many of them have also dealt with physical problems, such as sleeping disorders, headaches, and body pains, among others.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly difficult on female workers because many of them struggled to provide emotional and domestic support for their families and communities, while also adapting to new job routines, or working on reduced hours or salaries. Moreover, it’s important to note that women have also been disproportionately impacted by job losses, while women of color suffered the most during the healthcare crisis. To sum up, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only fueled the stress epidemic affecting US workers, but has also disproportionately affected women, and even more so, women of color and ethnic minorities.

Stress Epidemic Cannot Go Unaddressed

According to Deloitte’s Women @ Work 2022 Study, 38% of women who are currently looking for a new job cited burnout as their primary motivation. Moreover, more than half of the women who took part in the study said they want to leave their employers in the near future, and only 10% said they will probably work for the same company for over five years. In the past, leaving a job or company was motivated by very different factors: 22% of women pointed to the lack of opportunities to advance as the main reason for leaving their former employers, and 18% blamed the lack of work/life balance or wages.

Considering the fact that stress in general, and burnout in particular, seem to affect female workers more than ever, US companies and HR managers should address this stress epidemic sooner rather than later. The Deloitte report also shows that women who work for companies that promote mental health and wellbeing, dubbed Gender Equality Leaders in the report, perform significantly better than those who do not. Only 3% of the women who are employed by Gender Equality Leaders report feeling burnout, and 87% of those who work there say they receive adequate mental health support. In contrast, 81% of the women employed by undeveloped organizations are now experiencing burnout.

Steps Employers Can Take Right Now

Companies in the US and abroad are aware that with the COVID-19 pandemic now over, they should shift their focus to retaining women as valuable members of their staff. However, if stress and burnout are not addressed, they might be unable to achieve this. Companies should take action right away by offering effective benefits to address the ongoing stress epidemic, such as tools that can promote mental health and wellbeing among their workers. Moreover, HR managers should also note that burnout is more likely to appear in places where there is a misalignment between workers’ expectations and workplace reality—hence, heavy workloads and lack of recognition should be avoided.

Burnout has emerged as one of the most pressing challenges facing women in the workplace, and if this issue is not addressed, it could undermine not only the organizations’ gender-equality ambitions but also their future. 

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