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Friday, March 29, 2024

Burned out

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The World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases has a new entry: Burnout.

It is defined as a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.

The decision to include burnout in the catalog will help end long-standing debates on the issue, what it is and how to deal with it.

The WHO says burnout is characterized by feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to it, and reduced professional efficacy. “It refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life.”

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The ICD is used as a benchmark for diagnosis and insurance purposes. The latest edition will take effect January 2022.

The description does not come with a qualifier as to what kind of job someone does when one suffers burnout, so it is conceivable workers from all levels feel this at some point.

From the standpoint of Filipino workers, however, especially those who toil every day for minimum or below-minimum wages, burnout is all too real. They may feel exhausted, their energy depleted, or feel negatively about their jobs for various reasons and as a result become less productive and effective.

Of course a big factor driving workplace stress is the difficulty to get from their homes to the workplaces, given the deplorable state of public transportation and of traffic. Or labor laws that look good on paper but are not followed to the letter by employers who should know better. Or a system that gives no incentive to seeking redress for simple workplace violations, such that it is so much easier to grin and bear an unpleasant situation rather than file complaints and expect a fair and speedy resolution.

Even if such workers feel burned out, they cannot do anything about it, cannot even afford to take the time off to get their thoughts together or have a much-needed break. However they feel about their jobs, however spent they feel when they turn in at night, they have to wake up the following morning and follow the same routine all over again.

Burnout was only recognized as a health condition by global health authorities this week, but it’s been with us for a long time. It’s a real and compelling condition­—the solution to which is, itself, a luxury.

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