OP-ED: Resisting the sprint

A third of non-profit workers say they are often or always burnt out. 

Last year, I was invited to a panel conversation, full of threads that we are continuously tugging at Evenings and Weekends, like resisting urgency culture, generative conflict, ingraining rest in work, and fostering accountability and centring worker well-being.

Among so many in my orbit, I noticed a similar trend at the end of last year: the sprint. It’s the perception that if we make it to the holidays, we’re home free, so push a little further. Over those holidays, we will all be made right again by food, sleep, and so much snow you might not even feel pressure to go outside. 

We’ll be rested and renewed for January. 

But what if that return didn’t mean pretending the overwhelm would fade without making changes?

The necessary changes are bigger than any one of us. They demand challenging how our work is resourced, how productivity is defined, and how capitalism influences our self-worth. They need ongoing interruption and collective advocacy.

We can bring shifts to our teams and model what a less extractive, less exhausting work culture can look like while we work to shift a broader system. 

Flexibility 

People are capable of great work, and it doesn’t need to look like 9-5 at an office desk (in fact, that’s not how many of us thrive). We saw the clear potential for people to work without surveillance during the pandemic, and for many, the requirements of returning to the office mean you are getting a lot less done or facing exacerbated work inequities. 

But take what’s possible in environments with more responsive structures. For example, I work with team members who are aware of what they need and request adjusted hours to take advantage of daylight hours, or another who knows their ergonomic setup at home is more enabling for their work output. If the work is still delivered and people are happier, it is hard to justify mandating in-person work or a regimented 9-5 schedule.

Trust  + Recognition of Experiences

I have been both an employee navigating accommodation needs and a manager supporting them. I’ve noticed that, by focusing on individual needs, we often overlook shared solutions and the systemic barriers affecting those needs.

While following documented policies is important, it is worth asking whether there are accommodations that can be explored without contravening policy. 

At a former organization, a team member told me they were struggling to meet work demands as a result of their ADHD. As a new manager, I reached out to HR seeking resources on how I could be supportive. Instead, I was directed to require medical documentation and provided a walkthrough of the process for putting someone on a performance plan. 

To start with, a performance plan felt like a punitive measure rather than a curiosity of possibilities for support. Meanwhile, it missed understanding the reality that ADHD diagnoses can take years, and there are also gendered and financial barriers to having your condition recognized.

Culture Building

In working with organizations to identify their shared values, a common realization is that there isn’t a shared understanding of what these values look like in practice. 

“Accountability” is widely valued, but are we creating opportunities to practice it across power dynamics? How do our feedback channels and forums support it? How are we building it into our skills so it becomes a shared practice, rather than something we expect only from others? 

Fostering a healthy workplace culture is an ongoing practice. It should evolve because we are all growing, learning individuals whose needs shift. 

We can backslide or miss challenges, so without intentional forums, we rely on individuals to raise them (which can be harmful or daunting), or we end up with our values being an intellectual exercise irrelevant to our actual ways of working. 

Rest and Balance

For me, burnout in the past has often been related to a fear of saying no. The stress of a probationary period or seeking to make a good first impression often meant stretching myself to impress. But that good impression became a new baseline. 

Once I set expectations for my abilities, there wasn’t always room to scale back. This is especially a risk in work environments where individuals often cover multiple job functions and their commitment to the urgency of an organizational mission makes it feel impossible to scale back.

When I was on the brink of tears, a former manager said to me, “I will always keep assigning you items until you tell me it’s too much. I need you to speak up.” 

It was meant as an invitation and a reassurance. 

But that overlooks how a broad set of responsibilities keeps landing on one person and reshaping expectations for the role, and so the fear of repeatedly saying you can’t handle it – perhaps especially for those with anxiety or neurodivergence – feels like admitting you cannot do the job.

Asking for help can be a short-term solution amid a structural problem, and it can also fail to recognize the intimidation behind saying no to your boss, and the guilt you feel if the broader team is also delivering at an untenable pace.

One practice I appreciate from my team is that every week begins with a meeting in which we rate our workload intensity from 1 to 5. In this way, managers have ongoing visibility to workload, and the team has a space to ask for support, offer help, or convey what can be put on the back burner.

In assigning new projects, I ask about capacity rather than pass down a decision, and I appreciate team members’ transparency when they say they cannot take on another project. That kind of clarity mitigates the risk of missed deadlines or, worse, team members burning out.

We don’t always get it right, but by ingraining tools and opportunities to see and hear one another’s needs, we have fostered greater space and opportunity for collaboration, clarity, and wellbeing. 

Identifying such opportunities and sharing learnings from our past experiences can be critical to building solutions to confront burnout – work that’s pivotal to what comes next.

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