Work pressure in various sectors is increasing further due to the shortage of personnel and rising absenteeism due to illness. Companies are not yet able to turn the tide. This means that more and more employees drop out with a burnout.
“Work pressure and related complaints, such as burnout symptoms, have been measured since the mid-1990s,” Toon Taris, professor of work and organizational psychology at Utrecht University, told NU.nl. “Over the past 25 years, those complaints and the workload have increased little by little. It’s almost impossible to go outside for five minutes for a cigarette or a chat at the coffee machine.”
In 2021, almost 1.3 million employees in our country had burnout complaints. That is slightly more than in the corona year 2020 (1.2 million), but just as many as in 2019, according to figures from research agency TNO.
More than four in ten employees indicated that it is necessary to take measures against work stress. 37 percent of employees said that work pressure or work stress is the reason for their work-related absenteeism.
The trade union FNV has been warning for some time about the increased workload in sectors such as healthcare, regional transport and childcare. Vice-chairman Kitty Jong emphasizes that burnouts are currently the number one occupational disease. Employees in various sectors no longer accept it and take actions or stop working for better working conditions.
According to TNO, four out of ten employers regard work pressure as one of the most important occupational risks. Agreements have been made in various collective labor agreements about a better division between work and private life and the schedules have been examined. But so far there has been no change.
‘Saying no to assignments more often is not possible’
According to Professor Taris, companies can do three things to tackle the workload: hire more people, do less work or work smarter. “New people are hard to find in this tight labor market, so that becomes difficult. Saying no more often to assignments is also not possible: that is at the expense of a company’s market share, turnover, position and reputation.”
That leaves the last option: working smarter. “Then you, as an employer, have to look at whether you can cut back on bureaucracy and fewer rules. Do we have to check everything three times, for example?”
Moreover, it is wise to take a closer look at the entire work process, says Taris. “All kinds of tasks are added and nothing is being reduced. As a company, therefore, focus on the basics: what is important now, what are we going to do and what are we not going to do?”
However, an employee can also prevent a lot of misery by entering into a conversation if the work becomes too much. “It cannot be the case that you work overtime every day or that you are also busy on weekends. The only risk is that your boss can start to doubt your loyalty. And that can ultimately be at the expense of your career.”
