Good afternoon Mrs Lüdi, many thanks for taking the time for our interview today. Briefly about yourself: you work as a psychologist at WorkMed, an outpost of the Baselland psychiatric service, is that right?
Exactly, WorkMed is a centre of expertise specialising in work integration and rehabilitation, so by and large in mental health in connection with paid employment.
Then let us begin quite generally: to what extent would you say that work can be, or become, a factor that endangers health?
In principle it is actually assumed that work is beneficial for our mental health. It covers a great many basic human needs such as structure, orientation, identity, a social network, appreciation and also financial independence. So work is actually part of being able to lead a good life. The health-endangering factors, on the other hand, are very individual. It depends greatly on the person's personal resources and on their overall life situation.
Work can certainly be classified as endangering health from the moment when a person's balance of burdens and resources is no longer right over a longer period - that is, when over the longer term there are more burdens than resources. What is known specifically for Switzerland, for example, is that one of the biggest stress factors is frequent interruptions to work, though that alone does not yet make you ill. A heavy workload and so-called psychosocial stress factors such as conflicts, slights, bullying or another difficult situation in the social environment are also strongly stress-inducing factors.
So far we have spoken generally about stress triggered by the various factors you have just named. To what extent can a burnout syndrome then actually develop out of this stress?
There we first have to make an important distinction regarding stress: we are very well equipped for acute stress, we can handle short challenges without difficulty and rise above ourselves in stressful situations. The idea that with the right mindset you could go through life in a state of deep relaxation throughout is not correct. Where the line to burnout or an exhaustion depression is definitely crossed, however, is when the stress level is maintained chronically.
Burnout is also often misunderstood - probably because of the word «burning». People imagine that simply too much energy is used up. But what happens instead is that the body gradually suffers a loss of its capacity to recover. You could say that you are not simply using too much fuel, but that you can no longer refuel at all. Burnout therefore does not always have to be the consequence of stress, but it very often is a consequence when a high stress factor is present over a long period, that is, chronically, and the person cannot cope with it. Also decisive is whether the stress is multifactorial. If, for example, there is a difficult team situation at work and you come home and can engage very well with your private life, then the tendency for burnout to develop is considerably lower.
How do excessive stress or the first signs of burnout manifest themselves? What can and should you watch out for in yourself?
Early signs can be found on all three levels of health, that is, physical, mental and social. The most common complaints are in the area of sleep and the ability to concentrate. You notice quite quickly when you sleep badly, have trouble falling or staying asleep, are excessively lost in thought, have difficulty concentrating and are therefore also less productive at work.
What very often occurs on the emotional level is anxiety. Stress is fundamentally more of an anxiety state. People with burnout often have panic attacks over time, for example, or develop other insecurities. The loss of joy and enthusiasm is also typical - and then really the feeling of exhaustion, so that you no longer experience sleep as restorative at all. In the social sphere it is often increased irritability or social withdrawal.
You touched on it earlier: what you can do to avoid burnout is probably to make sure you have a good counterbalance to possible stressful situations, isn't it?
Exactly, so basically along the lines of «eyes open for chronic imbalance in life». That becomes a topic above all when people are very committed at work and go through their working day with the attitude of «just grit your teeth one more time». Precisely with multifactorial stress factors, that is, when you have several building sites in your life, it is worth getting in touch with your superior and communicating that you are currently under a lot of pressure in your private life and have to manage your resources carefully.
At the level of personal prevention it is advisable above all to keep an eye on your own ability to set boundaries and to recover, and to create free spaces actively through which the system can wind down again. Active recovery through walks, meditation or short breaks is enormously effective. Building so-called micro-breaks into the day, that is, interrupting the ongoing stress level in a simple way, can also help.
It is also important to shape the transitions from work to leisure consciously. In this respect some people had problems while working from home during the pandemic, since the boundaries are far less clearly given. Exercise, too, has been shown to regulate stress - if you do it properly, that is, if you train at 80 per cent of your capacity rather than aiming to increase performance. And of course social contacts; good social bonds provide support.
Are there occupational groups that are particularly affected by stress and burnout?
Burnout has been on the radar for quite some time; initially it was mainly related to the classic «workers» after industrialisation. Later it came up more in the social and healthcare sector; the feeling was that it is primarily an emotional burning out. By now, however, it can be said that it occurs across all occupational groups without any specific concentration.
We are now particularly interested in the construction industry: what factors could you imagine leading to stress and burnout specifically in this field?
There are no really representative figures, but from my experience I would think it is that «sandwich position», above all as a project manager, that could be problematic. You constantly have to move between different needs, between timetables where dependencies exist that you do not always have in your own hands, and where delays are the order of the day. How you handle that, however, again depends very much on the individual factors and resources of the person.
Are there factors that employees and superiors in the construction industry in particular can pay attention to in order to defuse the sometimes unavoidably stressful situations and to avoid stress and burnout in the long term?
An incredibly important factor is social relationships, in the working environment too. Integrity within the business, the knowledge that people stand behind one another and that there is a positive way of dealing with mistakes, are certainly decisive. What can be said across all areas, moreover, is that health-conscious managers also have healthier employees and ultimately fewer absences.
Where can you turn if you recognise signs of excessive stress or signs of burnout?
The first port of call is often the family doctor. If you really already recognise signs of burnout and the preventive measures mentioned are not working, it is definitely sensible to go for a personal consultation with a specialist.
Is it likely that - if you already have signs of burnout but do nothing about it - the complaints will recede and it will resolve itself? Or is it more a problem that you have fundamentally, because you handle the relationship between work and private life «wrongly», for example?
You can of course wait a while and see whether it is an exceptional situation at work or privately just now - not every situation of strain is directly a precursor to burnout. Here it depends on continuity. If you have sleep problems for weeks, can no longer switch off or feel constantly resigned or irritable, then that is something else. With mental complaints it is similar to physical ones. If you have a bit of back pain on one day, that is not yet a concern, but if it lasts for weeks then of course it is. So you should look at how often and for how long symptoms occur.
If the complaints are longer-term, you should take them seriously. There are indications that people predisposed to burnout are often perfectionist and highly committed, they identify strongly with their work; they are the employees you value greatly. And it is precisely those people who tend to grit their teeth for two years and then suddenly nothing works at all any more. It then takes considerably longer to build people back up. In our daily work we see that such crises often already have a long prehistory.
That sounds understandable. How would you best proceed if you have the feeling that you recognise signs of persistent stress or of burnout in an employee? Is it best to seek dialogue directly?
Yes, that is what we clearly recommend. Our studies have shown unambiguously that managers are all interested and concerned, and have a good sense of their employees, but do not act enough. Perhaps they also have too much respect for moving into private areas - even today it is still a different matter to raise back pain than a low mood. The research shows, however, that when managers enter into dialogue with affected employees, and even - which would be a step further - work together with family doctors and therapists, it is considerably more likely that employees can be retained and reintegrated.
So you clearly recommend communication and working on the situation together. Many thanks Mrs Lüdi for giving us such a good insight into this important topic!
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