Burnout affects all categories of workers: manual workers, employees and civil servants; yet very little is said about burnout amongst the self-employed, SME owners or sole traders. Yet they are by no means spared, even though they are often blamed by other categories of workers for being responsible for their own burnout.
Burnout particularly affects people who are highly motivated, committed, responsible and, all too often, perfectionists. These characteristics are almost universal amongst the self-employed and SME owners, making them a group particularly vulnerable to burnout, as they very often work more than 8 hours a day, in the evenings and at weekends, with very little time for leisure or recharging, their lives all too often revolving around their businesses.
The National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance (INAMI) estimates that 28,000 people are unable to work due to burnout. However, it is very difficult to know how many of these 28,000 people are self-employed; they are thought to be in the minority, whilst a study by the Independent Health Insurance Funds (Mutualités Libres) reveals that nearly one in five self-employed people are suffering from advanced exhaustion.
Even if they are aware of their burnout, self-employed people very rarely stop working to look after themselves. And for good reason: they cannot afford to neglect their business at the risk of losing part of their client base, which would result in a drop in turnover or even bankruptcy. Very few self-employed people - one in four - take out guaranteed income insurance.
Just as with employees, it is all the more important for a self-employed person suffering from burnout to seek support - not only to recover from burnout but also to ensure the long-term viability of their business whilst honouring their commitments and responsibilities towards their staff, clients and suppliers.
As a self-employed IT specialist, I have suffered from burnout twice in the space of ten years; as I also explain in this Facebook Live session, I maintain that burnout is a genuine societal problem, it is high time we took action and really tackled this issue head-on, starting with prevention, for the well-being of everyone, whether employees or the self-employed.
Believe in yourself, believe in change, believe that anything is possible, believe in resilience!
Whether you’re self-employed or an employee, solutions do exist; please feel free to share your comments or questions on the page: Un Autre Moi