<img width="1024" height="576" src="https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/RTR4DR0U-e1558965509759.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=1024" class="attachment-medium_10 size-medium_10 wp-post-image" alt="An umbrella is seen in a trash can after a rainy night in Seville" srcset="https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/RTR4DR0U-e1558965509759.jpg 2700w, https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/RTR4DR0U-e1558965509759.jpg?resize=768,432 768w, https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/RTR4DR0U-e1558965509759.jpg?resize=50,28 50w, https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/RTR4DR0U-e1558965509759.jpg?resize=160,90 160w, https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/RTR4DR0U-e1558965509759.jpg?resize=320,180 320w, https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/RTR4DR0U-e1558965509759.jpg?resize=640,360 640w, https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/RTR4DR0U-e1558965509759.jpg?resize=940,529 940w, https://cms.qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/RTR4DR0U-e1558965509759.jpg?resize=1600,900 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><p>&#8220;Burnout&#8221; is big this year. The term has been applied to everything from being tired at the weekend to the malaise of <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/millennials-burnout-generation-debt-work">an entire generation</a>.</p>
<p>Now the World Health Organization, an international body to which many others look for guidance, is giving burnout victims legitimacy by including what it calls &#8220;burn-out&#8221; in the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/25-05-2019-world-health-assembly-update">latest version</a> of its International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health problems, a <a href="https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en#/http://id.who.int/icd/entity/129180281">handbook</a> for recognized medical conditions. It&#8217;s the first time time burnout has been recognized by the organization, Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesman, <a href="https://www.afp.com/es/noticias/3964/la-oms-incluye-el-desgaste-profesional-o-burn-out-en-su-lista-de-enfermedades-doc-1gz03a2">told reporters</a>.</p>
<p>According to the WHO, &#8220;burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.&#8221; Burnout isn&#8217;t simply a synonym for stress, the definition suggests; it&#8217;s the result of deep, long-term stress that hasn&#8217;t been dealt with, either by the sufferer or their employer.</p>
<p>&#8220;Burn-out refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context,&#8221; the WHO notes, &#8220;and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life.&#8221;</p>
<p>That&#8217;s a good argument for taking the signs of workplace burnout seriously, whether you are experiencing them or observing them in an employee. According to the WHO&#8217;s classification, adopted May 25, burnout has three components:</p>
<blockquote><p>1) Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion,</p>
<p>2) Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one&#8217;s job, or</p>
<p>3) Reduced professional efficacy</p></blockquote>
<p>That trio makes clear why companies should want to address burnout head-on. While personal exhaustion may be the first and perhaps most acknowledged symptom of burnout, the other two suggest that burned-out employees simply can&#8217;t work as effectively.</p>