Tamara Klink On Struggling With Working From Home Burnout

Tamara Klink struggled with working from home burnout: now she’s helping others overcome it.

It doesn’t matter how ‘tough’ or ‘strong’ you are, working from home burnout can happen to anyone. I know, because it happened to me.

I’ve always considered myself a high performer. Currently, I balance working my dream job in tech with running my own business. This side hustle is FIIT Collective; a platform that inspires and educates women in tech to have a more purposeful career and life.

I also exercise regularly, eat a plant based diet, and build mediation and mindfulness into each day. On paper it would look like I was burnout-proof, but, this certainly wasn’t the case.

It’s not as simple as just pushing through it either. I tried that. I put on a brave face and kept at it, but all it did was prolong my suffering.

Below, I share my experience with working from home burnout and what I’m doing to overcome it.

The Subtle Creep of Working From Home Burnout 

It started subtly.

A few checks of my work emails on the weekend. A few late nights. The occasional difficulty focussing. Nothing to be concerned about, right?

That’s what I thought. So I kept pushing forward, kept working harder.

I ignored it when weekdays and weekends blurred into one. I ignored it when my self-care routine flew out the window. I ignored it when I couldn’t stop thinking about work. Once I finally realised what was happening, it was too late.

See, what I had been ignoring were actually the warning signs of burnout.

With no idea how to overcome it, I decided to share how I was feeling on instagram. I never expected what came next. 

Turns Out it Wasn’t Just Me

Overnight I was flooded with comments and private messages. Some were from women. Some were from men. All of them were from people who were feeling anxious, exhausted and unable to separate their work and personal lives.

Turns out working from home burnout is a widespread problem.

I wanted to know more. So, with the help of the FIIT Collective team, I put together a research group. We assembled 8 successful women and asked them about the current challenges they faced. 

The Extent of the Problem

As I had anticipated we received a diverse array of answers. However, there was a common thread: all the women were struggling with some form of burnout brought on by working from home.

Broader research supports this. A recent poll found that 69% of employees are currently experiencing burnout symptoms while working from home¹. Research also shows women experience greater stress and anxiety working from home than men do².

By this point I had begun to feel strongly about combating burnout and learning how to work from home efficiently. It was clear burnout was a collective problem. So, I decided it needed a collective solution.

What Can We Do?

That was my motivation for putting together REIGNITE: Overcoming Working from Home Burnout. REIGNITE is a 4 hour virtual event that presents a holistic approach to combating burnout with practical tips designed to return balance and passion to your life.

But, REIGNITE is more than just a digital workshop. It’s an opportunity for us to relax and reset. A time to take inventory of our lives so we can address our burnout, forge new healthy habits and discard the habits no longer serving us.

I’ve handpicked 9 truly incredible speakers, all coming from different backgrounds and areas of expertise. These include: 

• Sean Hall: the CEO and founder Energx. He assists organisations and individuals to work at their energised best, increasing collective productivity and creativity.
• Dr Amy Imms: a medical doctor and founder of The Burnout Project
• James Chapman: a high performance coach and former olympic rower. He specialises in overcoming adversity and developing resilience.
• Laurel Farrer: an Internationally renowned remote work expert and consultant.
• And, Chibs Okereke: a meditation, resilience and burnout specialist

¹Source: Poll, Monster (July 21, 2020)

²Source: Worker Confidence Index, LinkedIn (September 9, 2020)

About Tamara Klink: Tamara is the founder of FIIT Collective, a platform that inspires and educates women in tech to have a more purposeful career and life. She is also the host of The Females in Tech Show Podcast. The show covers personal stories of successful women in tech, as well as how to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of women to optimise their productivity and effectiveness.