Why knowing which components of burnout are affecting your employees is critical for providing effective solutions

Did you know that whilst burnout itself comprises of 3 components, knowing which component is most affecting your workforce will help you to tailor your approach to tackle burnout culture?

Burnout syndrome occurs after a period of prolonged workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, and has 3 components: depersonalisation (cynicism, apathy), emotional exhaustion and reduced self efficacy/performance at work.

In burnout employees show negative scores on exhaustion, cynicism and self efficacy.

However, there are also other ways to interpret burnout data and scores in a meaningful way to help with interventions.

The overextended workforce has strong negative scores on exhaustion only.

The ineffective workforce has strong negative scores on professional efficacy only.

The disengaged workforce has strong negative scores on cynicism only.

The workforce that are overextended, ineffective or disengaged might not yet be burnt out, but they are certainly on their way. As we know in burnout, early intervention is far more effective and less complex than waiting until there is a crisis.

You need to know where your employees sit, as the interventions to improve things need to be specifically targeted.

There is only one thing that causes overextension in isolation (without affecting cynicism and self efficacy), and not unsurprisingly the key problem is workload. Specifically it’s high demands and low resources that are problematic. The employees that tend to report exhaustion are typically full time, less likely to be management, and are normally aged 30-49.

Disengaged and ineffective workforces typically report issues to do with fairness in the workplace, or social rewards or recognition. In burnt out workforces, multiple problems across multiple domains need to be tackled.

So, as you can see, it is essential to know which components of burnout are directly affecting your workforce, in order to tailor an appropriate and effective response to it. Burnout culture does not have a one-size fits all solution.

References:

Karlson B, Jönsson P, Österberg K. Long-term stability of return to work after a workplace-oriented intervention for patients on sick leave for burnout. BMC Public Health. 2014 Aug 9;14:821. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-821.

Leiter, M, Mashlach, C. Areas of Worklife: A Structured Approach to Organizational Predictors of Job Burnout. Research in Occupational Stress and Well-being. 2004/01/01 DOI - 10.1016/S1479-3555(03)03003-8