Life in Bermuda is beautiful — but it’s not cheap.
Rising costs are putting people under pressure, and many of those fortunate to have jobs are working longer hours just to stay afloat.
While the financial benefit of a side hustle or second job is real, it’s not sustainable unless meaningful time can also be carved out with family, friends or community.
It’s an imbalance Latisha Lister-Burgess has struggled with in her own life — and witnessed often in her work as executive director of the Employee Assistance Programme of Bermuda.
“We are meant to have that time to decompress, to step back. I think it’s really critical during these times to look at what really matters,” she said.
Having a strong focus can work for employees with a clear goal, like a promotion or getting through “busy season”, because there’s an end in sight. But for people working just to survive, it’s far more difficult.
“If you don’t have a good balance, you’re going to burn out. It’s literally that simple,” Ms Lister-Burgess said.
“You can work past burnout. The problem with habitual burnout is you don’t even realise that you’re in a place — in your career and your mental health — that’s really draining, where you have nothing left to give.”
Make a plan
When people keep pushing in the hope of catching up, their health eventually pays the price.
“The reality is, there’s always more to get done. You never quite catch up. And so you put yourself in a vicious cycle… chasing after a deadline that seems to keep moving every year.”
For parents especially, it can be tough. Ms Lister-Burgess cited her own struggles in fulfilling work obligations and meeting the expectations of two small children.
“My role as a parent is to put them first. My role as an employee is to put that as a priority as well,” she said. “But they don’t have to be competing priorities.”
During one particularly demanding time, she made a plan: she spent her evenings with her children, and once they were in bed, used that time for work.
“In order to succeed, you have a plan for your career, with your finances. For your friends, for your family, you also have to have a plan. Work-life balance does not magically happen. It comes from sitting down and deciding what your plan is going to be.”
Employers must take responsibility
Fortunately, the responsibility doesn’t fall on individuals alone. Employers also play a role in making sure staff aren’t overburdened.
“I think it’s every person’s responsibility to look at what is possible, but I also think its every corporation’s responsibility to figure out whether they’re giving people access to do what is possible,” she said.
“Are we able to have those kinds of conversations with stakeholders? We’re past capacity, are we having conversations that look at proper staffing? Are we having conversations that look at the risk of burnout? What would you do to mitigate burnout? Are we having conversations that look at employee engagement? Are we thinking about work-life balance and the things that we put in place for it?”
Safety nets, she said, include proper management training, allowing mental health days, ensuring adequate sick leave, and making sure people take their vacation time.
“We put a lot of focus on people sometimes, to figure it out for themselves, but there are two parts to that equation.”
Help is available
The pandemic, unexpectedly, helped make mental health support more accessible. Virtual meetings are now common, and employers are increasingly looking at staff needs in a more holistic way.
“Those that learnt what was working during the pandemic and then ran with that, those teams are doing better. I have seen people really respond to feeling heard and supported and cared for by their companies, and seen how they blossom underneath that.”
When people find the work-life balance that works for them, they’re better able to “pour back” into their families, communities, and their organisations.
For people who don’t have a full-time job or work for a company that does not have an EAP programme, the burden is heavier.
“In that piece, it definitely falls more on the individual. And I think it’s really important, especially in that situation, to look at what your village is able to wrap around you.”
Shame, she added, often holds people back from asking for help.
“A lot of the time, we see that as a failing — somehow we don’t have it all together. There’s this myth: we’re supposed to be strong, we’re supposed to have everything together. The reality is, pretty much at no point in history has it functioned that way. Things were only possible because of the extended village that wraps around people.”
Wellness Wednesday
Too often, she said, people assume things will sort themselves out.
“In all things, we need resources. Sometimes the resources are provided by our company. Many times they come from our community or our village. Sometimes there isn’t enough education around what resources exist.”
Through her work, she discovered just how much support is available — and how many people don’t know it’s there.
EAP’s Wellness Wednesday Webinar series was launched in response to that. In partnership with Argus Bermuda, the programme offers about 40 free expert-led classes each year that cover topics ranging from finances to toxic workplaces to the impact of trauma on children.
“Part of our goal with EAP is to give people access to information to have better options in their plan,” Ms Lister-Burgess said.
The classes are virtual, which means they’re open to everyone who has access to a computer, and they are recorded so they can be watched at any time.
“Even though everyone can’t come to us for counselling, everyone can be part of our webinar series. And that’s really important, because a lot of people struggle with where to start and what’s available.”
