Burnout has long been a familiar concept at the workplace. While some are fortunate enough to only know it in theory, many have witnessed or experienced the effects of burnout themselves. As such, this regrettable phenomenon has been studied extensively. In a report published by workday in 2023, the risk of employee burnout was inspected, assessed, and tackled. Perhaps not so known is the formal definition of the term “burnout”. The WHO classifies it as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”. The experience is characterized by three dimensions: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from or cynicism towards one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy. Furthermore, they highlight that it only describes occurrences in an occupational setting, thus excluding any other areas of life.
Burnout and employee-engagement are two tightly interwoven dimensions of the same event – if one increases, the latter decreases.
Burnout-risk
In the aforementioned report, the focus lies in breaking down the relationship between the two. Here, burnout-risk was evaluated using a slew of indicators based on experiences in and around the work-environment. Three main factors were derived from the WHO conceptualization and used in a survey given to employees:
- Energy level: determined by workload, work-life-balance, etc.
- Solidarity: based on the quality of work-relationships, i.e., reciprocity, being given a sense of belonging
- Professional fulfillment: developed from feelings of success and the possibility of pursuing challenging tasks.
Using these components, the general burnout-risk were measured, whereby the values of each indicator could differ from one another. For example, an employee may have a low energy level and low feeling of solidarity yet experience a high level of professional fulfillment.
Status-quo and where to go from here
The surveys were conducted in a plethora of industries – one of them being the healthcare and education department. High levels of professional fulfillment were found, which can offset the low values in the energy level and solidarity dimensions.
Concerningly, a decrease in energy levels could also be found in other industries. Out of the 10 industries that were included, 7 have shown an equal or increased burnout-risk between the years 2021 and 2022. France, New Zealand, and Great Britain delivered below average values in all three dimensions, Germany followed a similar pattern, albeit buffered by higher energy level values.
This emphasizes the necessity for companies to not only consider the psychological and physical health of their employees, but also to ensure higher flexibility for as much as possible. Employees might be able to manage their workload more effectively this way, resulting in a beneficial and healthier work-life-balance.
Recent events can offer reasons for these findings: From global supply-chain interferences to an unstable economic climate, many challenges can be traced back to the COVID-19 pandemic. Higher workloads, difficulties recruiting talents for job-vacancies as well as the constant transformation and development of corporate cultures are contributing elements that elevate burnout-risk.
It’s up to the companies to understand these factors and counteract burnout-risk in their employees. Considering that studies have shown individual interventions were less effective than organizational interventions, employers should contemplate implementing change on a broader scale. Empathy should be integrated into corporate culture; executives should be encouraged to actively partake in solving the problem.
However as of 2023, the burnout-risk has already declined compared to the years before. Australia, Germany, and Sweden have shown improvements in their burnout-risk factors. Higher levels of energy, solidarity and professional fulfillment could already be found – possibly because employees can finally return to the office and government restrictions have been relaxed considerably.
Even with this seemingly favorable prognosis, burnout has been and will be a topic that must be closely examined in today’s age of New Work. Companies should keep a watchful eye on their employees psychological and physical wellbeing. Proper monitoring will allow them to catch signs early and enable proper action before risks get out of hand. A strategy should be kept in place to counteract possible effects of burnout in the short and long term.
