INSIGHT
BEYOND
THE BURNOUT
Edward Ihre describes his personal experience of burnout and offers some insights into how operators
can protect their employees from exhaustion
IF YOU’D ASKED ME 12 months ago
what I thought about someone suffering
from exhaustion, I would have probably
said they were just lazy or couldn’t handle
the fast-paced nature of the industry.
But skip forward to today and I have
a very different opinion on the matter.
Exhaustion, stress, burnout, whatever you
want to call it, is a very real thing that
blindsides you and changes your work
and personal life forever.
I am writing this after several months
away from the office having succumbed to
exhaustion. I crumbled under the weight
of launching an online casino brand,
Codeta, and all the pressure that brings,
as well as changes to my personal life
including going through a divorce.
becoming multimillion-pound behemoths
overnight and of operators acquiring their
rivals in record-breaking deals.
It gives the impression that success is
all but guaranteed, immediate and easy to
achieve. What I discovered in launching
Codeta is that it is simply not the case.
This is a tough industry to crack.
Personally, I had very high expectations
of myself and the success Codeta should
have, as well as the speed at which it
should have come.
Moving forward
I looked to my peers and wanted to achieve
what they had. But back in December 2016
it became apparent that my projections
for success would be much slower than
“Exhaustion, stress, burnout, whatever you want to call it,
is a very real thing that blindsides you and changes
your work and personal life forever”
The online casino industry is awash
with success stories; there is no shortage
of stories in the industry of start-ups
planned, and that additional funding
would be required to keep the business
moving forward.
This pressure was compounded by
the global nature of the business. As
operators, we make our products available
to consumers in markets around the world,
many of whom wager after office hours.
That makes running an online casino
a 24/7, 365-days-a-year task. Given the
competitive nature of the market, you
also feel like you must react and respond
instantly – if you don’t, your players will
go elsewhere.
I made the mistake of associating my
self-worth with the success of Codeta;
if I failed to deliver on the latter, I also
failed as a human being.
That’s not to say Codeta wasn’t doing
well because for a new brand in a fiercely
competitive market, it was. But what I
was seeing on paper didn’t align with
the expectations I had imprinted firmly
in my mind.
From that moment on, my descent
into darkness began. We decided to
launch a funding round, but again
this took more time and effort than
planned – four months instead of
three weeks.
iGB Affiliate Issue 68 APR/MAY 2018
59