"Don't hire someone who tells you they're burned out during the interview." IT specialists discuss the causes and consequences of burnout at work

Ksenia Larina

If someone on your team comes to you and tells you that they are burned out and want to take a break/go on a sabbatical/reduce their workload, the best thing you can do for that person is to talk to them about the prospect of being fired.

And be mentally prepared for the fact that even if you have agreed on a rest/break, you should expect the person to never be able to return to work motivated.

In most cases, it all ends with dismissal.

Sviatoslav Bordovskyi, Senior QA Automation Engineer

Interesting point: if I were your employee and reading this now, the first thing I would understand is that no one would support me and help me if I burned out precisely because of the projects of this company. Such consequences for people are a SHARED RESPONSIBILITY, and not just the problem of the person who encountered it. However, your position is the position of an ostrich who has removed himself from the problem.

This means that in the long run, good people will leave you because of the very attitude towards them, because if this is how they are treated in burnout, then what to speak of other issues at work, the attitude may be similar or even worse from such management.

I’m not criticizing you, although you may perceive it that way, I’m explaining to you why you can lead your company to tragic consequences with such decisions.

PS And this is not true in the long term, I came out of such burnout twice literally in 3-4 weeks, but the attitude towards me was as you voiced.

Mykhailo Kurdiukov, QA Engineer

I went on a sabbatical for a month because I was really tired at the time, I didn’t want to do work and wanted to do something else, and it seemed like work was getting in the way and taking all my energy, which didn’t give me enough motivation to do anything else.

After that, doing work became much easier, as did the desire to work, because I realized that it wasn’t work that prevented me from living life or doing anything else, but rather the lack of desire to do something different from my usual routine.

Therefore, I am convinced that a sabbatical can greatly help a person who finds it difficult to continue working, perhaps just needs time to stop, look around, analyze, and continue.

Andrii Gerashchenko, Android developer

There’s a trend towards burnout now, just like ten years ago, «I’m depressed.» Then we figured out what it is, and now you rarely hear anyone say that about themselves.

But burnout came))

If you google it, there will be symptoms much more terrible than those we imagine. We can get tired, bored, lose motivation and efficiency. But in my opinion, if a person performs 80% of the tasks at work, then burnout is still far away. Sleep, sports, nutrition, warm relationships in the family and with friends, the end of the war and the person is again «horse — fire»)) And if this person often changes jobs — and this is still stress, here you need concentration, memory and the ability to show yourself — then this is not burnout, but other problems.

Mariya C, Data Engineer

Those who think they haven’t burned out simply don’t know what it looks like to notice it in themselves.

Anyone who has been in IT for more than 5 years has definitely burned out, and most likely more than once.

Not to mention that a person who knows what burnout is most likely understands how to prevent it. In other words, it is those who talk about it who are worth hiring.

Valentyn Tishchenko, Software Engineer

From experience, I can say that about 80% of people who go to such lefties do not return.

Stanislav S., Senior Android Developer

«Burnout» is viewed as a black box, without going into the essence, the causes, or the details.

In fact, what is called burnout is simply the deprioritization of work tasks by the performer.

Why is this happening?

For example, the performer is deprived of the right to choose the method of implementation.

This is the biggest demotivator in today’s IT world, with its monstrous projects and huge teams working with a common code base. Such projects are designed in such a way that anyone who knows the basics of programming and is familiar with technology can solve the tasks on them. Think prohibited on such projects.

Konstantin Burlai, Senior Software Engineer

I can only sign this with both hands, because I experienced it myself about 5 years ago. And so, the process of getting out of this state took me personally more than a year. Of course, I could do something, and I didn’t quit, but with an active professional life. it had little in common.