The Montreal police (SPVM) brotherhood is the latest organization to note a record number of its employees are resigning, retiring, or quitting due to burnout. Health-care and education unions have also noted the trend, and the issue is widespread, especially among those that were asked to work extra hours during the COVID-19 pandemic and are now being tasked with soldiering on.
Bank tellers, restaurant employees, and others who are not able to work from home are feeling the pain particularly acutely, said author Jennifer Moss, who is updating her 2021 book The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It.
"Right now they're just so exhausted because they have not had time to get any rest," said Moss. "It's been growth at all costs still for the last couple of years, business as usual, and here we are today with a depleted workforce."
Moss said employers need to do more to acknowledge the toll their demands have placed on their employees, which leads to depression, anxiety and other health issues.
"Our employer is responsible for making sure that the work we're putting in is not being detracted," "When we're saying to people that have worked 60 to 70 hours a week, are in shift work where they're working overtime, where they're exhausted, where workloads are unmanageable, or they're dealing with systemic discrimination or lack of justice, we can't say, 'oh we'll solve this by doing some more yoga,' or 'here's a gift certificate to a spa.'"
Employers, Moss said, need to change their attitudes now or face more resignations, early retirements, and quitting.
"It's about employers making real changes right now because we are at a precipice, and this is unsustainable, and we're going to see this come out in worse, more catastrophic impacts on our workforce and individuals if we don't solve it," she said.
Watch Moss's full interview with CTV News anchor Caroline Van Vlaardigan above.
