Romania could introduce paid leave for burnout, which would offer employees a period of professional recovery without the need for a medical justification.
Through a bill initiated by Irineu Darău, the new Minister of Economy, and supported by Cynthia Păun, vice-president of the Commission for Work, Family and Social Protection in the Senate, employees in Romania could benefit from paid leave for burnout.
The document, submitted on the last day of the parliamentary session, aims to prevent professional burnout and create a legal framework for granting a “professional recovery” leave, without requiring employees to present medical justifications.
The new draft law comes in the context in which the World Health Organization recognized professional burnout as an occupational phenomenon, not as a disease, and defined burnout by three clear dimensions: persistent exhaustion, distance from work and decreased professional efficiency, all generated by chronic stress at work, managed ineffectively.
In Romania, statistical data show that 67% of employees declare that they feel at risk of professional burnout, which places the country in second place in Europe, surpassed only by Poland, in the context where, at the level of the European Union, 23% of cases of depression and 8% of cardiovascular diseases are directly attributed to chronic stress at work.
For their part, psychologists explain that the phenomenon of burnout is not reduced to a simple state of fatigue, but represents a persistent exhaustion felt both physically, emotionally and cognitively, which deeply affects the person’s efficiency at work and can also be noticed by colleagues or employers.
As burnout sets in, the individual tends to distance himself from professional responsibilities, not out of lack of will or laziness, but because his emotional and cognitive resources no longer cope with the demands at work, a phenomenon that occurs more frequently in people who are involved and dedicated to their work:
“It is important to understand that burnout is not only a state of prolonged fatigue, but it means a state of persistent exhaustion, both physically, but also emotionally and cognitively. Then, the person feels that their efficiency and feeling of being able to do, to act at work decreases a lot. So, it starts to become visible to colleagues or the employer, and it usually appears in such people and a distancing from work, from the tasks at work, because practically, the man feels that he has nowhere to give what is asked of him at work, even if he wants to.
So it’s not a matter of willpower, it’s not a matter of laziness. Just usually, burnout occurs in people who are very involved and dedicated to work”, explained the psychologist Anca Matei, during a program on Antena 3 CNN.
How to treat burnout
The psychologist also pointed out that the treatment and prevention of burnout does not only concern the affected person, but also involves the analysis and adjustment of working conditions, so as to prevent situations that lead to chronic stress.
According to the specialists, an extended weekend or a few additional days of leave are not enough for recovery, as a clinical assessment, counseling and psychological support for the individual are required, but also the creation of an organizational framework in which the workload, time pressure, unclear responsibilities and objectives do not lead to professional burnout.
“It’s very important to understand that it’s not just that person’s problem. It’s not going to be solved with a long weekend or a few extra days off. On the one hand, that person may need a clinical assessment and then an intervention plan, psychological support or counseling, but that’s not enough.
It is very important to analyze the workplace environment, because very often burnout occurs when certain conditions are met, i.e. a much too high volume of work constantly, without moments of recovery, when the person works under very high time pressure or when he has a high responsibility, when he has unclear objectives set.
So, it is very important to establish this framework through which to prevent those conditions at the workplace that can lead people to a state of this kind”, emphasized Anca Matei.
