Is this burnout?

When Brian Chu, a current CPA candidate working on his practical experience, realized his increased stress and loss of motivation early in the COVID-19 pandemic might actually be burnout, he knew he had to take action.

“If I’m honest, I would never have considered myself burnt out before the pandemic,” he says. “But once it was really amplified, I realized it had been there the whole time…. Once you realize it’s there, you really have to step up in a way and take it head on.”

For Brian, one of the steps he took was leaving the firm life behind for Hopewell Residential, an Alberta home builder and community developer. He realized he wanted to find a balance between work and his personal life and decided to prioritize his happiness and wellness over career growth at this point in his life.

Now, even with working at home during the pandemic, he tries to create a clear separation between work and his personal time, much like leaving work in the office. “I didn’t think this would be important, but I have a separate station for working,” says Brian. “When I’m not working, I just separate myself from that work. I just leave it behind.”

Megan Babienko CPA, CA also had a moment when she realized she needed to prioritize self-care a little bit more. “I had a bit of time to reflect on how I was feeling and started to realize, ‘I don’t think I’m doing so well,’” she says.

Coincidentally, Megan, a partner at KPMG, already had a check-in scheduled with her office’s Managing Partner. The regular check-ins are intended to be a mental health check, so she was “brutally honest,” she says. “I opened up about where I was at, and the struggles I was going through. I think, inherently, we all might be a little nervous opening up to our boss about that stuff, but he was so supportive and validated everything I was going through. He connected me with our Chief Mental Health Officer [CMHO] and encouraged me to give myself permission to take a break.”

KPMG’s CMHO was the first of its kind in the country, and the role is intended to break the mental health stigma and open up doors. At KPMG, mental health is health.

And while it’s termed an “occupational phenomenon,” burnout is certainly related to mental health. Coined by psychologist Herbert Freudenberger in the 1970s, burnout can be the consequence of severe stress and high ideals. Most often, this is attributed to the workplace, but high stress in other situations can also contribute—attending post-secondary, caring for a family member, or living through a global health pandemic, for example.

Signs and symptoms can vary widely, but someone with burnout often feels overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and exhausted. People can feel helpless, hopeless, cynical, resentful, unappreciated, unmotivated—and these can spill over into every area of a person’s life.

Betty Thompson FCPA, FCGA says: “If you’re burnt out, you can’t function in a way that you should; then it accumulates and accumulates over time, and it affects your mental health.”

Though Betty is retired, she still does a lot of work in the community, and is a recent past Chair of CPA Assist. CPA Assist is the profession’s health and wellness program, which provides free, confidential counselling services for burnout and other issues to Alberta and Saskatchewan CPAs, candidates, and their families.

As trusted advisors and business leaders, Alberta CPAs provide invaluable services to people around the province. Supporting the mental health of CPAs and future CPAs is a priority in the profession, and throughout the years, the CPA Assist program has provided countless CPAs and candidates with the support and resources they need to best serve the communities and causes they’re passionate about. 

Having received her designation in 1989, Betty has seen the profession come a long way when it comes to mental health. “Even talking about mental health was not a thing,” she says. “We just didn’t do that.”

She has observed a lot more compassion in the profession in the last number of years, and she hopes the understanding many employers gained when the world turned upside down in early 2020 continues in a post-pandemic world. “I’m hoping we have some kinder thinking around work, particularly since we’ve learned employees can work from home [and be productive],” says Betty.   

There is a case to be made for employers to take mental health, including burnout, seriously. According to a 2019 study from the Co-operators Group, an employee suffering from mental illness is approximately half as productive as a healthy employee. But Christina Maslach, a social psychologist, stresses in an article from the Harvard Business Review that this isn’t just a personal issue. It’s also an organizational one.

She points to a 2018 survey from Gallup that found the five main causes of employee burnout are:

• Unfair treatment at work
• Unmanageable workload
• Lack of role clarity
• Lack of communication and support from manager
• Unreasonable time pressure

Christina says this list clearly demonstrates the root causes of burnout are organizational, but the good news is they can be averted with some prevention strategies.

So how do you ensure your workplace (or future workplace) prioritizes mental health and ensures its employees have the resources to combat burnout?

• Check out their executive structure. KPMG’s creation of the CMHO role represents an increasing emphasis on positive mental health in the accounting profession and is one of the many ways CPA employers and the profession support the physical and mental health of CPAs.
• Evaluate the benefits package. Mental health benefits, such as funds for psychology and/or access to an employee and family assistance program (EFAP), and mental health days are just two things you can look out for.
• Ask about the workplace culture. Look for an employer known and acknowledged for taking the extra step of reminding employees of their value. “[At KPMG], reminding our people of the purpose of their work really helps them feel good about what they are doing,” says Megan. “They know [their work] is meaningful and valuable…. They’re not just a widget in a widget factory.”

“I think the approach to burnout should reflect the workplace culture,” adds Brian. “It’s important to be patient with employees and also provide them with what they need to succeed in the workplace environment.”

When it comes to being a student and either combatting school-related stress or preparing to avoid future job-related burnout, Megan brings up the idea of investing in your mental health toolbox, something she learned from KPMG’s CMHO. “Your toolbox is this collection of knowledge, positive habits, and the resources you can invest in to support your mental health now and in the future,” says Megan. “As a student, those habits and resources and tools in your toolkit are going to help you identify signs that you’re struggling, and they’re going to help you find strategies and actions you can take when you’re facing those setbacks.”

One of Betty’s tools in her toolbox has long been socialization. “It’s usually friends, family, or even work friends,” she says. “A good bottle of wine and a couple of friends can go a long way to talk yourself up.”

She also encourages anyone to seek help, especially if they don’t have a support system. CPA Assist is an option for those in the profession, but other resources include support systems on campus for post-secondary students, EFAPs, therapists, or even a family doctor. As a student, it’s especially important to watch for signs of burnout and curb them at the onset.

“Burnout experience in university is just as valid, just as real,” says Brian. “I think it’s very important to work toward identifying and addressing burnout in university. I think if I’d picked up some of those habits in university, it definitely would have helped in the workplace.”

There’s no shame in seeking help for burnout or other mental health issues.

If you’re an Alberta student who needs immediate support, the Alberta Health Services (AHS) toll-free Mental Help Line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to all Albertans at 1-877-303-2642. For more help in tough times, visit AHS’s website.

If you’re a CPA candidate or CPA, we encourage you to reach out to CPA Assist, which provides confidential 24/7 crisis support on issues such as depression, anxiety, or time management. Visit cpa-assist.ca for more information.