Just in time for summer vacation season, the World Health Organization has revisited its definition of “burnout.”
The agency updated its handbook of diseases to call burnout a “syndrome” rather than a “state of vital exhaustion,” its previous definition. It’s a small distinction. Burnout is still not an official medical condition, but the agency now considers it more than a sense of fatigue.
“Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed,” the new definition reads. The term refers only to the phenomenon in the workplace, and it’s characterized by exhaustion, mental distance, or cynicism, and “reduced professional efficacy.”
Alison Brunier, a communications officer for the agency, says the definition for the widely used term is now more detailed. “The new definition is consistent with a substantial body of research,” Brunier said in an email.
As employees look for ways to avoid burnout, it’s important to consider how sources of the syndrome have recently changed. “People are able to blend life and work in ways that were not possible before,” productivity expert Laura Vanderkam said. “And I think because of that, people have some difficulties creating boundaries, but that’s a skill that we just need to learn.”
Whereas a 9-to-5 job used to be more common, employees can now take video calls from home and reply to work emails in the car. If you can do work at any point, why not do it? Because real leisure, and a diversity of interests, are essential to avoiding total exhaustion.
There are several ways for employees to prevent burnout, according to Vanderkam. The author of several books on time management, Vanderkam says employers won’t always know whether their employees are working too hard.
“You have to stand up for yourself,” she said. “For instance, if you have a certain amount of paid time off, you should probably take it. Your employer is probably not going to hand it to you on a silver platter.”
In a related anecdote from Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, Sandberg learned that her fellow employees were quitting their management consulting firm because they felt burned out. But they had a chance to avoid overworking: They hadn’t used all of their vacation time.
Oddly enough, people with families tend to be the best at setting workplace boundaries, according to Vanderkam. They know they only have so much time for work after they’ve dedicated energy to their spouses and children, and the sense of purpose outside their careers helps them avoid the low energy, cynicism, and inefficiency that characterize burnout.
Each person finds a different solution, but everyone needs to rest from time to time.
“Your brain needs a break, and if you don’t give it a real break, it’s going to take a fake break,” Vanderkam said. “So it’s much better to give it a real break because then you can feel rejuvenated.”
