Burnout and Recovery in the Nonprofit Sector
Today’s hustle culture glamorizes the grind, pushing people to work harder, go faster, and accomplish more. When we look at the high level of burnout in the nonprofit labor sectors maybe we ought to look at the obvious, like what we call it. We name it non profit, without profit, which often means living at or below the poverty line but somehow proud that you’re passionate about the work you do for no pay. Passion does not pay rent bills or pay for health insurance - and humans are not machines. When pushed to unsustainable levels of improperly resourced work, we can face burnout and its wearying consequences on our lifestyle and health.
Here’s a better look at some causes for burnout and how we can beat it before it begins.
What Is Burnout?
Burnout is a physiological state of emotional, physical, spiritual and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged, unrewarding, and excessive stress. It is a feeling of being over or underwhelmed, drained, disinterested, and unable to meet the pressured demands of daily life, work, or relationships. Burnout can have a significant impact on a person's health and well-being, so it’s important to be able to identify burnout, take steps to prevent it, and understand how to relieve burnout. Burnout can be expressed in many ways. Fatigue and quickening irritation with co-workers and work expectations can be symptoms, in addition to autoimmune disorders, nerve pain, digestive dysregulation, insomnia and sleep disorders, and relationship/attachment issues.
What Does Burnout Feel Like?
Signs and symptoms can vary from person to person, but some common signs of burnout include:
Feeling tired and drained most of the time
Lowered immunity, frequent illnesses
Feeling helpless, trapped, and defeated
Increasingly cynical and negative outlook
Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment
Isolating from others
Nonprofit Burnout
In what has been known as the nonprofit sector burnout can be especially prevalent and is one of the more insidious challenges to overcome. The nature of community-driven and independent work, which often involves long hours, limited resources, and emotionally taxing tasks, can lead to burnout among laborers, contractors, technicians, designers, staff and volunteers.
Burnout can be particularly problematic for nonprofits because it can lead to high turnover rates and can damage organizations’ ability to support crucial causes. Because of the very human nature and significant impact of nonprofit work, it’s vital for leaders, staff, and volunteers to know what to do when burned out and how to heal from burnout. When you’re equipped to face burnout, you can be healthy, happy, and better able to make a positive impact in your community and world.
Toxic Capitalism
First-world capitalism has us believing that a person’s value lies in their productivity. Poor and working class folks are considered incompetent and undeserving of basic living necessities.
In discussing the impact of first-world capitalism on societal perceptions, it's important to consider how capitalism inherently values productivity and efficiency. Adam Smith, often regarded as the father of modern capitalism, posited that self-interest and competition are central to wealth creation. This principle has deeply influenced the way we perceive value in individuals, often correlating a person's worth with their productivity. Consequently, this has led to perceptions where those in lower economic classes, who may not have the same opportunities to demonstrate overt productivity, are unfairly deemed less competent or undeserving of basic living necessities.
Capitalism also profoundly shapes our psychology and societal behaviors. It promotes ideologies of individualism, materialism, and competition. This focus on individual achievement and material success can often overshadow the recognition of collective well-being. Societies with market economies tend to become more individualistic over time, fostering inequality and influencing how individuals perceive themselves and others. In this framework, lower economic status can be mistakenly interpreted as a lack of personal initiative or capability.
The challenge, then, is to acknowledge and address these inherent biases in capitalist societies. Recognizing that the value of an individual extends beyond their economic productivity is crucial. This shift in perspective is necessary to foster a more inclusive and equitable society, where all individuals are valued not just for their economic output but for their inherent worth as human beings. The assembly line to rebuild systems of unequal wealth and prosperity causes burnout in the majority of the working population.
How To Avoid and Recover from Burnout
Directors, Jannet and Karina, planning a breakout session for the Western Arts Alliance Conference.
Knowing how to prevent burnout is a key way to protect your mental and spiritual health. You might often hear strategies that include, self-care, mindfulness, adequate rest, therapy, and even we at CONTRA-TIEMPO preach the practice of radical joy! However, beyond what we can do as individuals in order to shift the culture of toxic capitalism there is tremendous value in liberated work.
Healing from and prevention of burnout can most efficiently happen if we address the real causes. How many of you feel that your work is not compensated fairly? That the passion that you pour into your jobs is returned back to you with indifference and apathy? Lack of reciprocity is often the cause of depletion.
Liberated work is a new approach to work that emphasizes autonomy, flexibility, and purpose. It's about creating a work environment where you feel empowered to do your best work, on your own terms. This means having more control over your schedule, your workload, and how you get things done. It also means having a clear sense of purpose in your work, and feeling like you're making a difference.
CONTRA-TIEMPO staff share homemade pozole at the office
So how can liberated work help prevent burnout? For one, it gives you more control over your stress levels. When you're not constantly firefighting or putting in long hours, you have more time and energy to take care of yourself. You can also set your own boundaries and say no to work that will overload you.
But liberated work is about more than just reducing stress. It's about creating a work environment that you're actually excited about. When you have a sense of purpose in your work, you're more likely to be engaged and motivated. You're also less likely to feel like you're just going through the motions.
In addition, our work places and work contracts need to reflect health and personal wellbeing as a part of the contractual agreements for labor exchange beyond employer-based assistance with cost of healthcare premiums. Employers can get creative about offering paid resources for rest, recovery and repair of our body. CONTRA-TIEMPO is very fortunate to have holly johnston, of Responsive Body, on staff as our Human Systems Ecologist. In addition to regular bodywork and physical training to ensure dancers are able to perform to their best ability, holly also works with artists and staff in regulating stress, maintaining immune systems, and improving overall wellness. This prioritization of care and well-being has created a culture where CONTRA-TIEMPO artists and staff feel more connected within and outside of the organization.
If you're feeling burned out at your job, it's time to start thinking about how you can create a more liberated work experience.
Talk to your manager about flexible work arrangements
Find ways to connect with your colleagues and build a sense of community
Find work that you're passionate about
Celebrate your colleagues, and yourself, for their professional and personal accomplishments
Creating horizontal or circular organizational structures
Ongoing vitality is sustained by activities and relationships that produce oxytocin...love. Liberated work is not just a dream; it's a reality that's within reach for all of us. By making a few changes, we can create workplaces that are more sustainable, more fulfilling, and less likely to lead to burnout. Remember that the purpose of reducing burnout is not just so that we can work more and for longer - that just reinforces the toxic capitalism that we hope to escape. Reducing burnout is so that we can live liberated lives connected to each other and seeing the humanity in one another. Let’s get free!
Here at CONTRA-TIEMPO, we create meaningful art through performative dance. Our physically intense and politically astute performance work moves audiences to imagine what’s possible. As a Los-Angeles-based activist dance company, we awaken people to a sense of themselves as artists and social change agents who move through the world with compassion and confidence. We wield the power of art to influence social change, live out our values, and teach others to engage in art activism! Support our movement by donating today!
CONTRA-TIEMPO teaches a workshop and performed excerpts of joyUS justUS at the Carnegie Summit 2023 in San Diego, CA.
Bibliography:
Ibrisevic, I. (2022, December 16). Nonprofit burnout: How to recognize and manage it [updated 2022]. Donorbox. Retrieved April 15, 2023, from https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/nonprofit-burnout#2
Moyer, M. W. (2022, February 15). Your body knows you're burned out. The New York Times. Retrieved April 15, 2023, from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/well/live/burnout-work-stress.html
Raypole, C. (2021, October 21). Burnout recovery: 11 strategies to help you reset. Healthline. Retrieved April 15, 2023, from https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/burnout-recovery
Smith, M., Segal, J., & Robinson, L. (2023, February 24). Burnout Prevention and Treatment. HelpGuide.org. Retrieved April 15, 2023, from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/burnout-prevention-and-recovery.htm
“Autonomy in the Workplace: Why Its so Important.” Edited by Karen Wasserman, Lyra Health, 11 May 2023, www.lyrahealth.com/blog/autonomy-in-the-workplace/.
Bellen, Vanita. “Is a Liberated Workplace Possible? - Training Industry.” Training Industry, GPStrategies, 27 Dec. 2019, trainingindustry.com/articles/performance-management/is-a-liberated-workplace-possible/.