{"id":4636,"date":"2022-11-28T08:44:07","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T12:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humannet.cl\/?p=4636"},"modified":"2022-12-20T10:28:43","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T14:28:43","slug":"the-6-workplace-conditions-that-drive-burnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humannet.cl\/the-6-workplace-conditions-that-drive-burnout\/","title":{"rendered":"The 6 workplace conditions that drive burnout"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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S<\/span>ome 43% of US knowledge workers report they\u2019re burned out, according to\u00a0an August survey by Future Forum. That was a 16% increase from just three months earlier.<\/p>\n

A lot of organizations\u2019 understanding of this crisis and their responses to it are lacking. So it\u2019s especially welcome that two psychologists behind pioneering work on burnout and the 1997 book\u00a0The Truth About Burnout<\/em>\u2014Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter\u2014are back with a timely sequel in\u00a0The Burnout Challenge<\/em>, out this week.<\/p>\n

The term \u201cburnout\u201d is often used without precision about what this occupational phenomenon entails. People with burnout experience \u201ccrushing exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and alienation, and a sense of ineffectiveness,\u201d the authors write, echoing\u00a0the World Health Organization definition. Burnout \u201coccurs when people experience combined crises on all three of these dimensions, most of the time.\u201d (p. 3)<\/p>\n

Their strong contention is that burnout is too frequently viewed as a problem of the individual experiencing it, when the workplace environment is often responsible. As a result, \u201ccoping strategies are good, but they are not enough,\u201d Maslach and Leiter write. \u201cWe also need to focus on prevention strategies if we want to truly lower the risk of burnout. And that means changing the way we think about people in the workplace.\u201d (p. 59)<\/p>\n

Their view is that burnout is caused by a mismatch between an employee and a workplace. Maslach and Leiter identify six forms of mismatch:<\/p>\n

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  • Work overload.\u00a0<\/strong>This is when \u201cthe job demands are too many, the hours are too long, and the resources to handle them are too few.\u201d (p. 87) Work overload can be remedied by recovering from hard work stretches with breaks and adequate sleep, more resources to meet the demands, and clearer boundaries between work and personal life.<\/li>\n
  • Lack of control.\u00a0<\/strong>Worker frustration when they don\u2019t have autonomy or flexibility in their work \u201cis often a more serious issue for workers than workload per se,\u201d Maslach and Leiter write. (p. 104) That\u2019s partly because without control, people have a harder time navigating other mismatches as well. \u201cWith the capacity to participate in decisions or to make choices, people can adjust to whatever comes their way.\u201d (p. 116)\u00a0<\/strong>Supervisors play a crucial role in giving the appropriate range of control to the workers they manage.<\/li>\n
  • Insufficient rewards.\u00a0<\/strong>Rewards can take the form of compensation, signs of appreciation from managers or colleagues, and intrinsic considerations like feelings of autonomy, belonging, and competence. When rewards are considered fair, or when the completion of daily work tasks is rewarding in itself, a mismatch is less likely.<\/li>\n
  • Breakdown of community.<\/strong>\u00a0When asked what the best thing would be to help them avoid burnout, an \u201coverwhelming majority\u201d of people cited \u201cone or more persons whom they could trust as a confidential confidante and to whom they could turn for advice or help when they needed it,\u201d Maslach and Leiter write. (p. 139) They recommend that organizations trying to combat burnout start by focusing on reducing incivility in the workplace. \u201cDisrespectful behavior has no benefits at work. And improving civility and respect in workplace cultures has a real benefit in itself, even beyond the risk of burnout.\u201d (p. 18)<\/li>\n
  • Absence of fairness.\u00a0<\/strong>When this is present, \u201cdecisions are viewed as unjust, people are not treated with respect, and various processes and outcomes are biased and discriminatory,\u201d Maslach and Leiter write. (p. 22) They recount instances where employee awards were determined by favoritism or other arbitrary factors, creating major issues among the staff.<\/li>\n
  • Value conflicts.\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cMost employees do their best work when they believe in what they are doing and their daily work nourishes their integrity, pride, and self-respect,\u201d Maslach and Leiter write. (p. 26.) When people feel that their organizations\u2019 values are in conflict with their own, they\u2019re more likely to experience burnout.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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    So how to best prevent and remedy burnout? One possible starting place is to survey workers about where they experience mismatches, or to create opportunities during regular meetings for them to raise such concerns.\u00a0The Burnout Challenge\u00a0<\/em>helpfully includes a short survey that you can use to assess your own relationship with work. It also proposes using a social-science-research procedure called \u201cthe critical incident technique,\u201d which involves asking people to share anecdotes of a time when a phenomenon such as fairness was especially supported or thwarted and then using that information to generate specific ideas for improvement.<\/p>\n