A new survey reveals nearly half of teachers plan to quit their jobs within the next five years. This decision was mainly down to a heavy workload with 52% of teachers describing it as unmanageable or unmanageable most of the time. 

According to a recent study by Delamere, education is the worst industry for work-life balance. The industry ranked highest on the index with a score of 0.46. The Transport and Storage industry landed in second place on the index, with a score of 0.49, followed by Mining, Energy and Water Supply in third place with a score of 0.51. 

In response to this news, Professor Sir Cary Cooper, advisory board member at Delamere, shares some tips on how to switch off from work and what managers can do to prevent employees from feeling burnout.

Switch off all notifications 

If you have notifications going to your phone consistently throughout the day, including work emails, Slack or Microsoft Teams, make sure to switch the pop-ups off while taking a much-needed break.

The temptation to constantly check emails while off makes it harder to fully disconnect from your work life when trying to catch up with friends and family. If switching off notifications doesn’t work for you, it might be an idea to delete any work-related apps to stop you from checking in on what’s going on while you are off.

Tackle your to-do list 

For those that work full time, the chances are you have a long list of life admin that is patiently waiting in the corner for you until you have time to look at it.

Annual leave can be the perfect time to tackle your to-do list piling up, so start with the most important things that have been sitting for a few more weeks than you like. You will feel like you’ve checked off a few things that you’ve been meaning to do, but you’ll also be able to distract yourself from work.

Draw a line under anything you’ve been working on

Sometimes the best way to forget about work in your time is to draw a line under anything you have been working on. 

This means not leaving any pieces of work half-finished and making sure you are on top of your inbox before you clock off.  Having everything boxed off will reduce anxiety while you are trying to relax and mean you come back to work feeling like it’s manageable.

Set up an out of office

An easy way to switch off from work is to set up an out of office on your email address. This will let managers and anybody who usually tries to contact you know that you won’t be checking your inbox while on annual leave or late into the evening. 

Once this is set up, assure that people will see you out of the office and stick to it, so you don’t feel that you need to keep checking your emails.

Manage expectations

If you are planning on taking annual leave, you must manage the expectations of your managers, clients and staff by telling them as early as possible when you intend to be out of the office.

To fully switch off, it is also important that you manage the expectations of your family and friends and work colleagues that might contribute to your work life. If you find it difficult to take time away from your job, remind loved ones that you are trying to relax, and any work talk might make you stressed.

How to manage to switch off from work and why burnout can affect our health

We asked Professor Sir Cary Cooper, Advisory Board Member at Delamere, how individuals struggling with a commitment to work can deal with the symptoms of work burnout and how to avoid feeling overworked. 

What can you do to switch it off if you struggle to put down your laptop?

Professor Sir Cary Cooper says: ‘If the last 20 months have taught us anything, we should be taking time to relax with our loved ones properly. People are now working harder and longer hours than ever before and should use their time as a way to disconnect from corporate life.’

‘This means if you have emails or messages coming to your phone, switch them off so that you aren’t distracted or thinking about work when you should be relaxing. Having the temptation to look at work emails while off can mean you go back to work feeling drained because you didn’t fully disconnect.’

What can employers do if they are concerned about a burnt-out staff member? 

‘If you are concerned that a member of staff is falling victim to burnout, there are a few telltale symptoms that you can look out for, including acting withdrawn, looking physically exhausted, and over-using substances like alcohol or drugs or drugs using work as a form of escape.’

‘To help keep work burnout to a minimum, managers should not send any email outside of working hours. For those that might struggle with addiction to their job, receiving an email like this could cause the person to start working again when they should be resting.’

‘Countries including France and Portugal have recently brought in legislation that bans managers and employers from doing so, while some companies will choose to shut down the server altogether.’