Burnout is Still Taking its Toll on Employees
In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared burnout to be an occupational health issue (4). This includes mental and physical health effects.The issue has been put center stage after the COVID pandemic and the 18 months of Zoom meetings, work has invaded our home space more than ever. WHO defines burnout as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed." It states that there are 3 dimensions: (a) energy depletion or exhaustion, (b) increased mental distance from one's job or feelings of negativism or cynicism about the job, and reduced professional efficacy. Currently, Sweden is the only country that recognizes burnout as a medical condition, where in 2018 stress-related illness caused the most work absences (10).
The first burnout research was introduced around 1980, and the first measure proposed in 1981 (2, 3). Burnout was originally inspired from stressful high-contact work--nursing, psychotherapy, and social work. Though research originally conceptualized Type A personality as strongly related to burnout, research now shows that it is actually only related to personal accomplishments (8). Negative correlations are with traits that include: self-esteem, locus of control, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, positive affectivity, optimism, proactive personality, and hardiness.
The major causes of burnout are the workplace, and the manager plays the biggest role (4). The average person is asked how they are feeling, they says they are 'fine' 14 times a week and are lying 19% of the time (7).
Gallup (4) reported "When people feel inspired, motivated and supported in their work, they do more work -- and that work is significantly less stressful on their overall health and wellbeing." Their statistics show clearly that it is the manager who can make the most difference for an employee facing burnout (or preventing it). Managers support employees who may experience burnout, and bad management can cause burnout. The organization can be a cause, as well. Managers may not have training to understand the causes of burnout and how to prevent them, or they themselves may be burned out.
Gallup reported five main causes of burnout from their study: unfair treatment at work, unmanageable workload, unclear management communication, lack of support from manager, and unreasonable time pressure.
What are companies doing? Nike closed its corporate offices for one week to address the problem of burnout. Other companies such as LinkedIn and Bumble are doing the same (2, 9). The problem won't go away soon, so companies that want to combat the effects of burnout must strategize preventions and solutions.
Topics
Burnout, Stress, Strain
Student Discussion/Assignment Questions
Find companies that have tried to combat burnout.
Strategize solutions and ask how do they combat burnout if they work and go to school at the same time?
Investigate management training online and mention of techniques and education for combating burnout in employees.
Sources
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/23/the-future-of-work-is-here-employee-burnout-needs-to-go.html
Maslach C, Jackson SE. The measurement of experienced burnout. J Occupat Behav 1981;2:99‐113.
Freudenberger HJ, Richelson G. Burn‐out: the high cost of high achievement. Garden City: Doubleday, 1980.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/31/nike-gives-head-office-workers-a-week-off-to-destress.html
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/288539/employee-burnout-biggest-myth.aspx
Moss, J. (2021). The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It. Harvard Business Review Press.
Gene Alarcon, Kevin J. Eschleman & Nathan A. Bowling (2009) Relationships between personality variables and burnout: A meta-analysis, Work & Stress, 23:3, 244-263,
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190719-why-is-burnout-rising-in-the-land-of-work-life-balance