In late February, MP Ockje van Tellegen collapsed in the House of Representatives building. She writes candidly:
"The lights went out, everything jammed. I could no longer move forward or backward. Once home, I thought with a week of good sleep, healthy eating and my phone on silent I would recover quickly, but it was disappointing. It turned out there was a lot more going on. My symptoms were getting more severe. The battery was completely dead. Even the red charging light we all know from our cell phone no longer lit up. Although my head kept screaming what I had to do, my body simply did not follow. Burnout. I had often read about it, heard a lot about it, but did this happen to me now myself?"
Ockje van Tellegen is not the only one. In 2020, Minister Bruno Bruins became unwell during the parliamentary debate on dealing with the corona crisis, Minister Van 't Wout had to resign due to burnout, and Pieter Omtzigt and Esther Ouwehand also recently temporarily withdrew from the House of Representatives due to a high workload.
"The lights went out, everything jammed. I could no longer move forward or backward. Once home, I thought with a week of good sleep, healthy eating and my phone on silent I would recover quickly, but it was disappointing. It turned out there was a lot more going on. My symptoms were getting more severe. The battery was completely dead. Even the red charging light we all know from our cell phone no longer lit up. Although my head kept screaming what I had to do, my body simply did not follow. Burnout. I had often read about it, heard a lot about it, but did this happen to me now myself?"
Ockje van Tellegen is not the only one. In 2020, Minister Bruno Bruins became unwell during the parliamentary debate on dealing with the corona crisis, Minister Van 't Wout had to resign due to burnout, and Pieter Omtzigt and Esther Ouwehand also recently temporarily withdrew from the House of Representatives due to a high workload.
Risk of burnout often not seen by high performers
It is more common for people with self-confidence who are successful, work hard and demand a lot of themselves to run into burnout completely unexpectedly. What lessons can we learn from the woeful examples mentioned above. It is apparently hard for people who are confident and positive in life to believe that they are at risk of burnout.
All the more important is to recognize the first warning signs and do something about them. Among the commonly known first symptoms are fatigue, lack of concentration and energy, being easily irritated or frustrated, being less interested, being less productive.
All the more important is to recognize the first warning signs and do something about them. Among the commonly known first symptoms are fatigue, lack of concentration and energy, being easily irritated or frustrated, being less interested, being less productive.
Risk to person and risk to organization
This is important for you as an individual but it is also important as an organization to know if your employees are at increased risk of burnout. An employee who drops out due to burnout has a huge impact on the organization and leads to a substantial loss. Timely identification of whether there is an increased risk of burnout within the organization is therefore important.
Fill out the Happiness meter now!
Because the symptoms, especially for high performers, are not always easy to recognize themselves, the World Health Organization has developed a simple questionnaire with just five questions about your general well-being. The score based on the answers gives a first indication of whether or not you are at increased risk of burnout.
Are you at risk for burnout?
Fill out the Happiness meter now!
Feeddex has validated models for early detection of the risk of burnout. Would you like to know the risk of burnout symptoms in your organization and which department/branch/business unit has the highest risk so that you can take countermeasures? Then contact our Client Service Manager: Claire Schmitz. Claire will gladly advise your organization on what model is most suitable in your situation.
