Over the last year, we’ve seen drastic transformations to the workforce – businesses and individuals were made to shift from the traditional office or serviced office kl setting to makeshift work-from-home offices. This ended up essentially blurring the lines between working from home and living at work, with work hours extended, enforced pay cuts, and even getting laid off.
It’s unsurprising to see that according to a survey on Malaysia’s Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality, it found that half of the Malaysian workforce is stressed out and not getting enough sleep, and about one out of 10 Malaysian employees is either anxious or depressed, with most of them being millennials.
As we move into 2024, the post-COVID normalization is forcing many employees back into the office. This shift back to traditional workspaces after years of remote work has brought its own set of challenges. Employees are finding it difficult to readjust to commuting, rigid work hours, and the office environment. The sudden transition has exacerbated feelings of burnout, as many struggle to balance the demands of office life with the flexibility they had grown accustomed to during remote work.
If you’re among the many that suffer from work burnout, here are strategies for identifying, preventing, and recovering from burnout.
How can you tell if you’re burned out – or on the brink of burning out? It’s important to familiarise yourself with these symptoms of burnout to give you the perspective to assess the amount of stress in your life and find ways to take control of your mental health, once again.
The classic symptoms of burnout include:
When dealing with burnout, it’s often hard to identify the behaviours or patterns that contribute to it, especially when you’re caught up in it. Take an honest look at the things that are tipping the scale towards exhaustion and identify the ways you can alleviate its impact on your life.
One simple way to identifying these patterns is by creating a list of activities that may be contributing to work burnout. These could include:
When you’re feeling burnt out, it’s vital to interrupt the humdrum of life by making time for personal resting and recharging. It could be a simple as reading a book, meditating, or getting some fresh air in your system by going on a walk.
These activities can help you better connect your mind and body. In fact, reading can give your mind the break it needs by escaping from the usual demands of life – focus on a story and let your imagination go wild; and meditating can give you the space you need to focus on your breathing while reconnecting to your inner self.
It doesn’t necessarily need to take much time out of your day, just set aside 15 to 20 minutes to make a difference in your daily routine.
If you’re not getting external validation, it’s important to find ways to acknowledge the efforts you’ve taken to tackle workplace burnout. If you need something more concrete, make a list of the efforts you’ve taken and reaffirm the progress you’ve made so far. Doing this also helps you understand your workload well so you can handle the stress that comes alongside it better.
It’s important to note that dealing with difficult or complex situations is a part and parcel of life – we just need to learn and practice new coping strategies to get better and create healthier versions of ourselves. If you’re trying to break away from workplace burnout, how about starting afresh in a low working location?
Make the shift and evolve your workplace strategy to incorporate one that involves health, safety, employee happiness, and productivity! At Colony, we provide flexible workspaces that are available to scale on-demand, giving your business the agile edge it needs. In fact, take advantage of our latest promotion!
You can now enjoy an exclusive rate of only RM900/month (normal price: RM1,200+/month) for our office at our flagship location, Colony at The MET, Mont Kiara. Hurry up because this offer is only valid until 30 September 2024!
Start planning your next best workplace by reaching out to us via our email at ask@colony.work or at +60 12-817 7828 to learn more about our Serviced Office KL.