Helping EHS Professionals Deal with Burnout

While EHS professionals focus on assisting employees with dealing with stress, are they taking care of themselves?

In a recent AASP President's letter, Linda M. Tapp said her organization tried something interesting during its Safety 2025 closing keynote. Attendees were asked to anonymously share something nobody else knows. It was placed into a word cloud on the screen.

"It quickly became apparent that many of our colleagues are experiencing mental health challenges," said Tapp in her column.  

"This is not surprising, as many of our members are being asked to do more with less and work in volatile environments. This stress can not only lead to less productivity but also have detrimental effects on the health of EHS professionals themselves." 

She offered a solution to her audience. "A sense of community can help. Research has shown that a sense of community is associated with reduced symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress.  Your ASSP network can provide this community. With platforms like Zoom, building and maintaining relationships is easier than ever, extending beyond local chapters to more than 36,000 members. These relationships can have a significant impact on both your career and your mental health."

A report, Recommendations for Employers Addressing Employee Mental Health and Distress, from the National Safety Council, lays out specific circumstances that can lead to mental distress. 

• Workload (both excessive and insufficient work)
• Lack of participation and control in the workplace
• Monotonous or unpleasant tasks
• Role ambiguity or conflict
• Lack of recognition at work
• Inequity
• Poor interpersonal relationships
• Poor working conditions
• Poor leadership and communication
• Conflicting home and work demands
• Uncomfortable physical working conditions (extreme temperatures, lack of
ergonomic best practices, poor scheduling, and infrequent breaks)

Are EHS professionals paying attention to these in their own jobs?

Helping EHS professionals deal with the burnout of their staff, Subena Colligan, a principal of EHS Transformation Consultants, and a long-time safety professional, offers this advice in a LinkedIn post, entitled "Preventing Burnout: Strategies for EHS professionals to Thrive". 

"As leaders, it's our responsibility to exemplify the behaviors that reduce burnout, recognize the signs of burnout, and take action before our team members become overwhelmed. This means revisiting our strategies to mitigate burnout and updating our plans to reengage the solutions that worked before."

Here are a few of her strategies.

One strategy to re-engage solutions is to schedule regular check-ins with team members to discuss their workload and stress levels. It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks and lose sight of the bigger picture. Are there any tasks that can be delegated? Are there any unnecessary tasks that can be eliminated? Adjust as needed to ensure that the workload is manageable. These conversations can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of our strategies and help us identify areas where we need to make adjustments.

Not all work can be a marathon. Sure, that capital project may take two years to implement, but completing the work can happen in a series of sprints. Between sprints, planned recovery can be. This means that an adequate project plan should be developed that includes milestones for completion. Always having a clear picture of “why” will help to prioritize your work and keep people engaged.

Lead by example. If we're experiencing burnout ourselves, it's important to take time to recharge and prioritize self-care. When our team members see us making time for ourselves, they'll be more likely to do the same.