More Of Us In India Face Burnout With Work From Home, And Too Much Communication Is One Reason

There was a fear this would happen. Workers in India are facing the rather uncomfortable situation of burnout while working from home. The primary reason? The lack of separation between work and personal life. Added to that, the fear of catching the Coronavirus. This observation comes from Microsoft’s latest Work Trend Index report, which suggests that as many as one third of workers in India have cited increased rates of burnout over the past six months. Microsoft Work Trend Index report surveyed as many as 6,000 workers across eight countries, including India, Singapore, Australia and Japan and also deciphered the Microsoft Teams video meeting app usage trends. India, among the countries surveyed, has the second highest percentage of workers facing increased burnout.

The Microsoft Work Trend Index report says that more than 41% of the workforce in India is dealing with increased stress levels because of the blurred lines between work and personal life. That has impacted their wellbeing. The blurring of lines is as a result of increased communication with colleagues and fewer boundaries with regards to time, and longer workdays. Workers in India, as many as 23% as per the survey, also say that too many meetings and not enough focus time are also contributing to the stress while working from home. For this, Microsoft also suggests that the Teams data indicates people are now involved in many more meetings on a daily basis and official chats between 5pm and 9pm (time otherwise usually considered personal time) have also increased.

The Microsoft Work Trend Index report also indicates that the workday for workers in India has increased by an average of 1 hour since work from home started. “In the last six months, we have seen how COVID-19 has created an era of remote anywhere. It has led to the evolution of a new workplace – from a physical space to one residing in a virtual world. As businesses adapt to a new way of working, it is important to examine the multifaceted impact that the new working conditions are having on employees. This is helping us provide relevant and timely solutions to all our customers and users,” says Samik Roy, Country Head, Modern Work, Microsoft India.

What helps, apparently, is a bit of meditation. Try that, folks!