The Top Factors That Contribute to Employee Burnout

In my previous post, we discussed the various negative impacts of psychological burnout. If not properly dealt with in a timely manner, these negative consequences can lead to great damage to the well-being of both the individual and the organization.

Today, let’s take a look at the culprits of employee burnout.

When asked about the reasons of why we are burnt-out, the first thing comes to our mind might be:  “Too much work!”

Indeed, the too-much-to-handle workload has been found to be one of the most obvious reasons that leads to workplace burnout. However, it is only a small part of the whole story.

Too much work may make you feel tired or exhausted, but that doesn’t necessarily lead to burnout. As we previously mentioned, when burnt-out, it is hard for people to find the energy to go relax, enjoy leisure activities and socialize with others — taking a break can no longer solve their problems. It is because the deeper structure of one’s work role and job characteristics are the lingering problems that cannot be resolved by simply taking some time off work.

Such roles and jobs are often characterized by the lack of role clarity, emotional and resource support from others, and other intrinsically motivating elements. These factors coupling with a large work demand (both physical and emotional) have been found to be the main causes of burnout.¹, ²

Let’s take a closer look at these factors.

Role clarity refers to whether or not your role at work is clear and without conflicts. Those who have low role clarity are given ambiguous goals and requirements at work and receive no clear instructions on how to complete the tasks at hand. Sometimes, requirements from different people may even clash with each other. This lack of clarity can cause high levels of job stress and will eventually lead to burnout if prolonged.

Support from the organization and the leaders not only refers to providing employees with reasonable pay and appropriate work equipment/resources, it is also about supporting employees’ career development, personal goals and emotional needs. If the lack of resources can make it hard for employees to perform their jobs, then the lack of other supports can make the job feel dreadful and hopeless. These work environments will only produce unengaged, unhappy and unsatisfied employees. These employees are more prone to burnout when heavy workloads are thrown at them at the same time.

Intrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from within (read THIS for more on intrinsic motivation). Intrinsically motivated employees perform the job because they enjoy the work. Intrinsically motivating jobs:

1. Let individuals have confidence in their capabilities (competence)
2. Make people feel their jobs are purposeful and meaningful (meaning)
3. Gives them control over how they complete their tasks (autonomy)
4. Let people see their impacts on the strategy, administration and the results of their work (impact).

When most of these elements are missing from one’s work, it is not hard to understand why they no longer feel motivated and may feel burnt out eventually. 

Examples of these factors can often be seen everywhere in the service industry: long work hours, high stress, high physical and emotional demands, narrow career path, low autonomy and, most of the time, not enough pay. That’s also why symptoms of burnout were first discovered in nurses, social workers and teachers.

A few decades of burnout research gave us a lot of insights on how to prevent burnout and design interventions for the burnt-outs.

We will look at these solutions in my next post. Stay tuned to Lead Read Today to learn more. After all, this can affect you and your colleagues in very impactful, emotional ways.  

References

1. Alarcon, G.M. (2011). A meta-analysis of burnout with job demands, resources, and attitudes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 79, 549-562.
2. Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual review of psychology, 52, 397-422.