Feel appreciated at work and prevent burnout

Feeling unappreciated and unrecognised for your efforts at work can be a major cause of burnout. Being rewarded and recognised for the job you do is an essential part of human motivation and everyone likes to be appreciated. Reward and recognition can present itself in various forms – which of these do you receive?

1. Extrinsic rewards. These consist of money, status, title, praise, awards, perks, appreciation or acknowledgment that you receive for your contribution on the job. Do you receive any of these or are they lacking from your job? Perhaps you feel you shouldn’t need them, but in all honesty, it can be hard to keep going on without being recognised in some way for the work you do.

2. Intrinsic rewards. Here you are rewarded through challenge, stimulation and opportunities to utilise your valued skills and when you do you can feel energised and on fire! When was the last time you felt like your brain had a neuron boost and you had really created or achieved something new and worthwhile?

3. Appreciation is a fundamental human need, and we respond to appreciation expressed through recognition of our good work because it confirms our work is valued by others. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t necessarily need someone to stand on a soapbox and tell the whole world what an exceptional employee you are – but it is great to be acknowledged by a personalised email from the boss or a knowing nod, thumbs up or a ‘nice one!’ being directed your way.   When people are valued, their satisfaction and productivity rise, and they are motivated to maintain or improve their good work.

4. Feeling seen and heard. When you feel invisible in the workplace you can feel like just another cog in the wheel, it’s demotivating and a direct route to burnout.

If none of these appear to be happening to you within your workplace, here is what you can do to take back some semblance of control:

• Be realistic. Has your work been worth rewarding? Are you functioning well and at your best? Does your work continue to feel relevant to you, does it still have meaning for you? Maybe you have outgrown your job? If you feel like you have lost your sparkle and are underperforming, then it might be time to check out your values and see even if you received some praise would it make any difference to how you feel.

• Check your environment. Has your manager or this company ever really voiced their appreciation of anyone’s work. If the answer to this last question is ‘no’ then really consider whether this in an environment in which you want to work because your expectations may never be met. If you know that the organisation used to recognise achievements but that has stopped, then arrange an appraisal with your manager or Human Resource department to air your views and start a narrative around the work that you do. If this doesn’t lead anywhere, really consider why you would stay on a job when your contribution is not valued.

• Self-validation. At the end of the day, we can only really rely on ourselves as people and circumstances change. Ensure that even if others don’t appreciate your efforts, you can look yourself in the mirror and know that you did a good job. Be aware of your own internal dialogue, continue to do good work and use a positive and self-compassionate internal dialogue to tell yourself that the quality of your work is good, and you are continuing to go that extra mile. Waiting for external validation might be a long wait. Make time at the end of your working week to reflect on the good work that you have done – to make this easier, keep a diary of the quality work you have completed as you go through your week to make reflection easier.