And what can we actually do about it? No meditation apps, wellness panels, or yoga sessions required
According to a recent study run by the TNO institute, one in five employees in the Netherlands is suffering from burnout.
As someone who’s had a 12+ year career in the tech industry (7 of those years spent in the Netherlands), I’ve watched more colleagues than I can count cycle from ambitious corporate ladder-climber to brain-fogged couch prisoner one too many times.
Myself included - I suffered from a severe burnout in 2020 that took me 3 years to recover from.
And despite a more normalized dialogue around our capitalist-inflicted mental health struggles in recent years, it still feels like the solutions we are being offered by our companies are highly individualized -
Despite a more normalized dialogue around our capitalist-inflicted mental health struggles in recent years, it still feels like the solutions we are being offered by our companies are highly individualized -
Download the free meditation app!
Attend our wellness panel!
Manage your workplace stress!
Try our virtual yoga session!
While all of these things are helpful to individuals trying to improve their wellness, they still don’t address the systemic, root causes of burnout.
No matter how many hours you meditate on the company-sponsored wellness app, if a small-homogenous group of people (i.e. executives, leadership teams, board members.) are making all of the decisions about how you work, where and when you work, and how you’re rewarded for all of that work, then there’s always going to be a burnout problem.
To truly solve the burnout epidemic, we need to introduce more democracy into our workplaces.
Because when employees co-author the decisions that affect their working conditions, wages, and how the actions of their companies align with their values for social change, only then can we truly address the root-cause driving this mental health crisis.
Because when employees co-author the decisions that affect their working conditions, wages, and how the actions of their companies align with their values for social change, only then can we truly address the root-cause driving this mental health crisis.
And when I say more workplace democracy, I don’t mean those annual surveys leadership runs to ask you a series of questions about your “sense of belonging”...
I mean real workplace democracy - led by the employees, backed by the legal framework.
Lucky for those of you based in The Netherlands (and many other European countries!), there are already existing structures to bring more democracy into your workplace.
You probably just don’t know about them yet…
So in this series of articles, I’m going to be walking you through:
You Are More Protected Than You Think...
Clue: It’s Not You, It’s Late-Stage Capitalism
What Actually Prevents Burnout? 🛑 Works Councils and workplace democracy
Read Next:
Works Councils and workplace democracy
Want to Learn More? 💬
Let’s keep these good vibes going!
Are you a Works Council member in a Dutch company who’s curious to learn how to strengthen your WoCo to a point where it can make big, impactful change (that will also prevent workplace burnout)? Then come to our masterclass!
Written by Kelly Mullins
Kelly Mullins is an experienced worker organizer with a track record for building strategic campaigns that facilitate effective, employee-led change at large, multinational companies. In 2020, she led the Works Council committee that negotiated the biggest restructuring in Booking.com history - saving hundreds of jobs, implementing a competitive voluntary leave scheme, and the company’s first-ever social plan. Her 10+ year career in the tech industry has laid the foundation for her to effectively empathize with employees, equip them with information, and inspire them to take action. She is passionate about the opportunity she sees for workplace democracy to intersect with important topics such as burnout prevention, climate justice, job security, and DE&I. In her free time, Kelly likes to write and runs an online poetry magazine. She is currently based in Amsterdam.