Poles are among the longest working societies in Europe, which also translates into a high percentage of people feeling tired at work. The most common symptoms of this are boredom and lack of motivation, which may seem insignificant at first, but in the long run can lead to burnout. While the mental health of workers is best cared for by the workers themselves, employers also have a role to play here. However, four out of 10 do not recognize this problem.
Professional activity occupies a significant part of everyday life. According to Eurostat data for 2023, the average Pole spends an average of 39.3 hours per week on work duties. As a result, Poles are among the longest working in Europe. Only Greeks (39.8 hours) and Romanians (39.5 hours) work more than Poles. On the other hand, the shortest work week occurred in the Netherlands (32.2 hours), then in Austria (33.6 hours) and in Germany (34 hours).
“The mental health of employees is very important and at the same time it is a major challenge for both the employee and the entire organization, for all managers. We are dealing with big emotions and at the moment they are on the forefront. We are in a period of pandemic, war outbreak, and high inflation, so these external factors greatly affect what is happening in the organization, how we communicate, how we receive messages and what relationships we build. This is what every manager has to face in today’s world,” says Magda Pietkiewicz, President of the Management Board of Zmotywowani.pl.
The report of the Safe at Work Coalition Association “Occupational Safety in Poland 2024. Tired like a Pole at work: causes, effects, and consequences” indicates that every age group experiences fatigue at work, but it most often affects young workers, aged 25–34 (53% feel mental fatigue and 49% physical fatigue). The 55+ research group feels the least mental (36%) and physical fatigue (35%). The most common symptoms are monotony and boredom at work (45%) and lack of motivation (41%).
“The mental health of employees negatively or positively affects the company’s profit. When employees are overwhelmed, tired, frustrated, and stressed, they are also less creative, less innovative, less friendly to customers, which reduces the quality of service. But when everything works well, when the organization tries to work with these emotions that all of us struggle with, it may turn out that not only will employees be satisfied with their work, they will also feel high satisfaction, but they will also be more engaged and more innovative. In today’s world for an organization, this is one of the most important factors, because, in the long run, the organization’s profits will be higher,” says Magda Pietkiewicz.
Some employers implement initiatives aimed at supporting the mental health of employees. According to the Manpower report “Moods of the Polish labor market – candidate perspective 2024”, 27% of respondents can count on the company in crisis situations, using, for example, health leave or additional days off. 19% indicated that their employer organizes training, webinars, and workshops on mental health, stress management, as well as relaxation techniques. Meanwhile, 18% of respondents said they can count on free or paid psychological consultations. However, still, 43% of employers do not take any action aimed at supporting employees’ mental health.
“Burnout is currently a very serious problem, which some managers are not fully aware of. It often turns out that a super employee who until now was always present at work, did not take any sick leaves, worked excellently and was very efficient, suddenly is on sick leave, for example, for six months due to burnout. We do not pay attention to the fact that excessive commitment, lack of holidays lead to burnout. We also often do not notice that excessive routine or boredom at work also leads to burnout. The problem is huge, especially now, when we are all incredibly stimulated, burnout is ubiquitous,” says the President of the Management Board of Zmotywowani.pl.
The first symptoms of burnout are chronic fatigue, decreased motivation, concentration problems, or decreased efficiency. A red flag should go up when the employee withdraws from team relations, from work discussions, but also does not care about healthy relaxation and relaxation, which also affects his physical health.
“Just look at how our statistics related to sick leave from psychiatrists change – there are more of them year after year. When we look at the engagement of employees, we see a decrease over the last few years. This also shows that occupational burnout accompanies us strongly. These emotions that accompany it, unfortunately, do not contribute to building a healthy organizational culture,” says Magda Pietkiewicz.
According to the Social Security Institution (ZUS) data, in 2023 the number of sick leave issued due to mental and behavioral disorders was 8.7% higher than in 2022. Doctors issued 1.4 million certificates of such diseases, which resulted in 26 million days of sick absence. The year before, it was 23.8 million days. Most often, these leave of absence were issued due to reactions to severe stress and adjustment disorders, as well as depressive episodes.
“We must be aware that this responsibility lies within us, in employees, but it is also a huge responsibility of managers and managers to ensure that there are no unnecessary overtime, that people actually feel the sense of their work and know why and why they work, and why this work they do is important to the company,” emphasizes the expert.
In the Manpower survey, employees spoke about how, in their opinion, employers can prevent occupational burnout. 36% indicated that providing flexibility in terms of time and place of work would be helpful, and 35% – offering additional days off. For 33%, it would be important in this aspect to ensure that the company offers interesting non-pay benefits. The same percentage of respondents indicated work teams diversity in terms of age, while 32% believe that it would be important to set realistic goals and expectations, so that employees do not feel overwhelmed by too many duties.
In turn, the report of the Association of the Safe at Work Coalition indicates that for some workers it would be important to have access to psychological services. This is especially important for the youngest groups of workers.
“Of course, the employer is not able to organize the entire life of the employee and should not because the employee should have a family, friends, a place where he can get away from the stress he experiences at work every day. On the other hand, the employer’s obligation is to create a work environment that is supportive, and this includes the mental health and emotions of the employee,” says Magda Pietkiewicz. – “It is important for employers to be aware that they need to take care of reducing stress in the organization, unnecessary, negative stress, to take care of positive communication, to appreciate at work so that employees can take care of themselves after work.”
