5 Ways Stress & Burnout Can Impact Your Office

Everyone in the workplace faces certain pressure and strain, it’s usually just part of the job. However, this doesn’t come without consequence. 

The World Health Organization defines stress as a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation. Because the stress response is so often associated with negative events, its utility has often been neglected. When too much stress is not properly managed, it can lead to burnout, a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress. Burnout is characterized by feelings of exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy. 

“When we look at the data around employees that report high levels of stress and burnout, you would hear things like they have difficulty concentrating and you see productivity and motivation go down.” says Amaura Kemmerer, LICSW, Uwill’s Director of Clinical Affairs “From an output standpoint, these are all bad things, some even affecting one’s physical health.”

Effects of Stress and Burnout on a Workplace
The impact of these effects range from the degradation of a company’s employees to a loss of profits for a business. Here are some ways that stress can impact a workplace:

• Increased Absenteeism
  Stress and burnout in the workplace can often lead to higher rates of absenteeism. Employee leaves of absence for mental health issues are up a whopping 300% from 2017 to 2023, according to SHRM.
• Reduced Work Quality/Productivity
  Those who feel burned out from their work are significantly less likely to go above and beyond what is expected of them at work (40% versus 56%), according to SHRM. Simply put, employees who are overworked and mismanaging stress can lack motivation which leads to subpar performance at work.
• Poor Health
  36% of employees noticed their mental health suffered because of work demands and conversely 33% noticed their productivity suffered because of their mental health, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Effectively, one third of all employees have noticed their mental health struggles have a direct impact on their work performance.
• Lower Morale
  76% of US workers say that workplace stress affects their personal relationships, according to The American Institute of Stress. Stress and burnout from work can have negative effects on one’s relationships with their families, friends, significant others, and anyone else whose personal relationship they value.
• Higher Turnover Rates
  Workers who are burned out from their jobs are nearly three times more likely to be actively searching for another job (45% versus 16% of those who did not report burnout), according to SHRM. Time spent looking for a new job can affect one’s performance at their current job and could potentially cost their company in productivity and resources needed to fill vacant positions.

How Uwill Can Help
Employers looking to combat burnout amongst their employees can look to Uwill as a mental health and wellness solution. Uwill’s core product, Umatch utilizes its proprietary tech and culturally competent counselor team to offer immediacy, choice, and no barriers to receive mental health support. Umatch makes it easy to book same day appointments with available, licensed therapists based on individual needs and preferences and a choice of therapist based on gender, language, ethnicity, clinical need, and more.

“The most unique and innovative thing that Uwill is doing is creating the opportunity for immediate access to a certified counselor that matches the preference of the individual.” says Kemmerer “When a person is in a really bad headspace and is looking at a situation where there is extreme stress or possible burnout, we don’t want them to have to wait and lose their motivation to go seek support.”

Additionally, Urise is Uwill’s wellness component that hosts curated on-demand wellness content designed to complement therapy. This programming includes accessible and easily digestible yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and sleep aid videos from responsible, evidence based, trauma informed, certified wellness instructors: all great tools to manage stress and to unwind. 

Burnout in the workplace can be both detrimental to an employee’s state of mind but also can have negative effects on a business as a whole. With Uwill, prioritizing easy, accessible mental health care can help alleviate the burden many employees and businesses feel.

If you’re an employee looking for help:

If you’re an employer looking to bring Uwill to your organization:

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