Whether taken more into account or growing, suffering at work syndromes are increasingly denounced. After the famous burn-out and its corollary, the boron-out, professionals are now focusing on the brown-out, this disengagement disease which is wreaking havoc in the corporate world.
What is brown out?
It was in 2013 that this syndrome was first named by David Graeber, a journalist who became famous for denouncing the concept of "bullshit jobs" in an article published in the journal Strike !. In his analysis, Graeber then evokes these many jobs born of technological progress and whose mission, little necessary, causes in those who exercise them a loss of meaning.
In 2018, François Baumann delves into this phenomenon in a book with an evocative title: "Brown-out, when work no longer makes sense"*. He explains that originally, the term "brown-out", applied to electronic devices (sic), evokes the voluntary or involuntary reduction of the intensity to prevent them from overheating.
Extended to the corporate world, brown-out is a disease that characterizes the gradual disengagement of employees who no longer manage to get enthusiastic about a job that often seems absurd to them. Unlike burn-out, a syndrome born from an overflow of multiplied spots, or boron-out, professional exhaustion from boredom, brown-out is not generated by the quantity of assignments entrusted but by their quality. , or at least the vision of those who exercise them.
"Disease of disengagement at work", the brown-out would affect 40% of American leaders **. In France, 55% of employees believe that the meaning of work has deteriorated, even though they precisely place this criterion among the most important in their professional choice, and particularly Millennials, who are just entering the world of work.
"Perhaps we can speak here of disillusionment more than weariness, but in any case of a lasting and destructive phenomenon for society as a whole", underlines François Baumann in his work. While the recent boom in telework but also the collective awareness of the need for the useful have once again reshuffled the cards of the professional landscape, the brown-out should gain further momentum in the months and years to come .
Brown-out: what are the causes?
Recently, the brown-out phenomenon is intimately linked to the changes in our professional lives, and in particular to the emergence of new technologies. Among the professionals most frequently affected by this pathology, there are many executives exercising professions linked to management, human resources or finance, fields strongly impacted by artificial intelligence.
In addition, the ever greater porosity between our professional lives and our intimate spaces, via emails and other Teams or Zoom always more intrusive, prevents us from properly recharging our batteries, and from returning every morning full of energy. restorative and exciting break.
But the brownout can also occur in other cases, and in the first place an initial error of assessment. If we applied for a job that ultimately did not meet our expectations or our skills, then the demotivation concerning it can occur quickly, without there being any need to look far. In addition, it happens more and more often that the job descriptions evolve. Advancing in the vertical hierarchy of the company frequently includes the gradual integration of management missions, or commercial activities, ultimately not in accordance with our initial desire. Signing for an artistic position and finding yourself 70% of the time filling out evaluation sheets or managing people when you are not a fan can lead to a gradual disinterest in your job, and affect your health.
Finally, and unlike previous generations, the hierarchy today rarely includes more than a few levels from the first echelon to top management, leaving employees with little room for improvement when they reach their thirties. Without new challenges, the brown-out and the exhaustion that accompany it then seem fairly inevitable, unless you change business, or put in place with your hierarchy remedial measures.
What about the symptoms?
The symptoms of brown-out are not necessarily visible from the outside since, when you suffer from it, you nevertheless remain functional. Submitted to a management not necessarily involved or unwilling to address the feelings of the teams, we will not necessarily be saved by a third party (boss, collaborator …), and we can therefore sink for lack of having been heard . From disengagement to exhaustion, and even depression in some cases, there is sometimes only one step. So watch your own signs of sliding into this famous "mental resignation" where lack of interest ultimately makes you sick. For François Baumann, "Reversing becomes, if you are not careful, very difficult if not impossible to do. You have to seize the right moment. The one where we are still aware of the wave of boredom which slowly submerges us and where a positive reaction is still possible. "
In 2015, the Telegraph tried to list these famous professional distress signals by mentioning:
- extreme weariness
- more frequent absenteeism (while we were always on the war footing, we are much more willing to take days off because we feel tired, or physically ill)
- total disinterest in new ideas. We are no longer proactive, we do not (especially) seek to speak in meetings or to propose any change.
- the feeling of a lack of overall recognition.
- a loss of a sense of humor, even aggressive passive behavior.
- a personal life gradually impacted by this professional disengagement, a lack of enthusiasm for the idea of family fun, to communicate with your spouse, in favor of long hours spent in front of the screens barely at your doorstep past.
Which solutions?
When our brown-out is indeed the result of a mission that has appeared over time to be fuzzy, ill-defined, a team atmosphere and a degraded managerial relationship, solutions should be implemented. Sometimes, the simple fact of asking to meet with the top management so that they can explain the business strategy clearly, and integrate the teams into the collective project, may be enough to restore interest to the exhausted employees. On a smaller scale, the N + 1 must think about team building events, in order to give back to the group that feeling of belonging which will make everyone want to bring the team to collective success, as in sport.
On the other hand, if we realize that our disengagement is the result of a much deeper and irremediable feeling, it will then be necessary to ask the right questions in order to consider a reorientation, becoming then the only solution to our healing .
François Baumann offers some self-assessment avenues that can form the basis of a broader reflection on his professional future:
- What do I like to do?
- What can I do ?
- What can I do?
- What type of activity still has meaning for me?
For exemple :
- Host meetings? Do I still have a taste for this type of activity?
- Am I still competent to solve the technical problems that arise in my work?
- Am I still attracted to negotiations?
- Does contact with others always make sense to me?
- Do I still have real skills to transmit knowledge, to teach?
From these reflections, carried out alone or with the help of a professional (coach, skills assessment, etc.), the solution can often emerge. Today we see a huge number of employees from all fields (and often the most distant) attracted to the crafts. The outcome can vary from a simple readjustment to a change of position to a total professional retraining, often life-saving. Today, it is rare to stay in the same position throughout your career, and it is better.
"It is important to put work where it belongs in our lives, without giving it more importance than it has, and without minimizing its centralizing and considerable role", rightly underlines François Baumann. The brown-out is an alarm signal that must be listened to because very often it is the first step for a new start, professional but also personal.
* "Brown-out, when work no longer makes sense", François Baumann, Josette Lyon, 2018.
** Corporate Balance Concepts, 2013.