The psychologist pointed out the futility of additional vacation during burnout

The possible introduction of an additional 7-day paid leave in Russia for employees with burnout syndrome will not be effective. On June 4, Olga Gnatenko, a psychologist, logotherapist, and head of the Svoye Oposy branding agency, shared this opinion with Izvestia.

"Emotional burnout is a complex mental, physical and emotional exhaustion. A short-term vacation lasting only seven days is not able to solve the problem. A full recovery requires much more time and an individual approach to rest," the specialist explained.

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Gnatenko stressed that active rest is necessary for knowledge workers, while employees with high physical activity, on the contrary, are shown complete rest. However, the main problem, according to the psychologist, lies in the mechanism of diagnosis of burnout.

"Who will determine the presence of the syndrome and how? To do this, each company must employ a professional psychologist who will be able to conduct regular testing. Personnel specialists without special education will not be able to cope with this task," the psychologist clarified.

She also warned about the risk of abuse: employees may perceive such a measure simply as an additional vacation. As an alternative, Gnatenko suggests a more flexible approach — the opportunity to take an extra day off during a period of increased stress.

"In my practice, there was a successful experience when the company introduced "pillow days" for overworked employees. This is a day of complete peace without any obligations. Only such a rest, combining mental and physical relaxation, really helps to recover," the specialist shared.

The initiative to introduce additional leave for burnout employees has already been sent to the Ministry of Labor. In 2019, WHO officially recognized burnout syndrome as a disease, however, according to experts, more comprehensive solutions than short-term vacations are needed to combat it.

Earlier, on May 12, it was reported that in Russia, every second company is ready to raise wages and review the workload in order to retain an employee. Experts have found that 93% of employers attempt to retain an employee if he wants to quit.