Marko Rissanen wishes that workplace communities would speak about burnout more openly

In Mehiläisen Pisto podcast’s The New Direction of Occupational Health series, we discuss burnout when Marko Rissanen, DNA's Director of Human Resources, visits Antti Miettinen, Business Director of Mehiläinen's Working Life Services.

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Marko Rissanen was diagnosed with severe burnout in 2009. The process of healing was long, and Marko still carries it with him today.

“For me, saying that I was burned out by work is perhaps wrong, because people are entities that are affected by many things. In my case, my family life, young children, and a large workload all combined to form a bigger picture that certainly contributed to my exhaustion. All the walls started to fall in on me.” Marko says.

The supervisor Marko had back then told him that home is a safe haven. If everything is alright at home, it will support working life - and vice versa.

Unexplained symptoms begin

At first, Marko did not understand his own situation. He developed a variety of symptoms, which led him to seek help from occupational health care, where he was examined. Nothing that explained the symptoms was found, however. Symptoms included lower abdominal pain and problems with his vision. Overall, the different symptoms lasted for almost 9 months.

“One day when we returned to Finland after a holiday, I started to get a headache. The headache would not stop and a week later I went to a doctor. There my history and background were finally examined together. I had too many different symptoms for no concrete reason. After this discussion, I was immediately sent on sick leave for two to three months and I started seeing a psychologist.” Marko recalls.

Marko says that he worked far too long workdays and felt that he was an omnipotent person who could do anything and handle everything. The people around him saw his symptoms and encouraged him to seek help from occupational health care. Even his supervisor said that something was not right.

“Personally, I could not accept this. I felt obligated to get the job done. I just tried to push myself towards the next stage, thinking that when I reach it, things will get easier. For example, I waited for Christmas breaks and summer vacations, that’s when I rested. But the problem is that the purpose of holidays is not to just recover from work, but to rest and to accumulate energy. I was wrong about the purpose of holidays.” Marko says.

Am I still necessary?

One important lesson that burnout taught Marko is that it is important to ensure that you do not get stuck concentrating on just performance. There should also be time and energy left for thinking. Marko’s conscientiousness is further illustrated by the fact that he found it scary to stay off of work, and he wondered if things would work out without him.

“Of course, I also feared whether I would even be a part of the organization anymore after such a long absence. Am I still necessary? I also kept wondering if I would ever recover.” Marko says of his various thoughts at the time.

Marko’s workplace gave him all the time and space he needed to recover, and he was told that now is the time for him to focus on himself. Marko believes it is important that the employer ensures that the employee with burnout understands this. The help of a psychologist can also play an important role in correcting one’s own thought patterns.

“Together with a psychologist, I thought of ways that I could create a new structure for my days. I started each morning with a walk outdoors and focused on myself. I decided to make choices in every aspect of my life that support my happiness.” Marko says.

Work is just a part of life

Marko still uses the things he learned from his burnout at his job. One of the key themes is that work is just a part of life. Humans are not mere machines, so a good work-life balance helps you to cope and to feel better. It also makes us more productive.

“It is important to consider how and when we take breaks. The coronavirus pandemic is a great example of how, in telework, we drifted into a situation where we have one meeting after another. This causes other work to pile up towards the evening.” Marko says.

Every individual has a huge responsibility and, in this world, one of the most important working life skills is self-management. Marko has a concrete tip:

“I have set aside one day a week for me to just think and focus. This way, work does not pile up that much towards the evening. In addition, exercising is really important!”

Marko wishes that we would dare to talk about things and also accept our own situations. According to him, occupational health care is an absolute must, and the work community should be encouraged to talk about things.

“How do we create low-threshold opportunities to bring up things like this? There must be channels through which we can get help and support. For example, virtual services have been useful, which means that there are already many ways to reach out.” Marko says.

As a final piece of advice, Marko reminds us that nobody is superhuman. A supervisor can also drive forward a workplace culture of talking about exhaustion and the risk of burnout in an open manner. Supervisors and colleagues should have the ability to recognize if someone seems exhausted and can no longer be present in the same way as they used to.