Introduction
According to the text, An Experiential Approach to OrganizationDevelopment by Donald Brown, job burnout refers to “the emotionalexhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced accomplishment” (Brown,2011). Burnout is usually felt among employees who mostly workdirectly with people as well as individuals “who have high levelsof demands placed upon them” (Brown, 2011). The text states how oneof the major sources of stress at work directly come from Jobburnout. Some of the professions in which people are most likely toexperience job burnout include “managers, accountants, lawyers,nurses, police officers, and social workers” (Brown, 2011). Manytimes, people are subject to job burnout because they setunattainable goals or try to act like perfectionists, which cause adetrimental impact to their career.
When an employee is forced to face job burnout, the individualis no longer able to handle the difficulties and stress of the joband become less willing to put effort into their work. According tothe text, “the costs of job burnout, both to the organizationmember suffering from this syndrome and the organization, can behigh” (Brown, 2011). Not only does job burnout affect anindividual, it also adversely impacts an entire organization. Thepotential effects of job burnout are disengagement of employeesfrom the organization, and minimal contribution to theorganization.
It is important that an organization understands the many causesof job burnout to mitigate the adverse effects of this. There arealso several indications for detecting job burnout to help catch itbefore it becomes detrimental to the organization’s success. It isalso important for management to understand the several strategiesfor prevention to keep job burnout from happening. Since workplacestress is one of the main causes of job burnout, it is vital tonote the several available techniques to help individuals cope withstress.
According to the text, a stress management intervention is “anyactivity or program that attempts to reduce the cause ofwork-related stresses or helps individuals to cope with thenegative outcomes of exposure to stress” (Brown, 2011). Theseprograms strive to help organizations eliminate harmful stressorswhich cause job burnout. Besides from intervention, wellnessprograms help contribute to lowering job burnout, “evidence to dateshows a strong positive relationship between fit employees andincreased productivity, higher morale, reduced absenteeism, lessturnover, fewer worksite accidents, and reduced health care coststo the employer” (Brown, 2011). These are a few of the many ways tohelp minimize job burnout in organizations. All causes, indicatorsand prevention strategies will be further explained in the nextsections.
Causes
Job burnout is the biggest challenge facing today’s organizationsand Human Resource departments in creating a cohesive and familiarworkforce. Employee burnout is nearly 50% of the cause of allorganization turnover. In a survey conducted by KronosIncorporated, the results discovered that the top three causes foremployee burnout are unfair compensation (41%), unreasonableworkload (32%), and too much overtime/after hours work (32%)(Kronos, 2017). In an ideal world, every employee loves what theydo and works for the enjoyment of the job and not for compensation;however, we do not live in a perfect world and for the most partemployees work to simply make money to cover bills, etc. Employeemotivation and performance can be highly influenced by compensationand a 2017 Engagement Report by TinyPulse found that nearly 25% ofemployees would take a job somewhere else for a 10% raise(Reynolds, 2017). Employees are also feeling very overwhelmed withthe workload that is expected of them. “Nearly 70% of all workersfeel as though they are unable to get all of their work done eachweek” (Reynolds, 2017). Lastly, excessive overtime and after-hourwork expectations are causing more and more employees to disruptand negatively affect their work-life balance which furthers theincrease in employee burnout.
According to Kronos Incorporated, “too much work and too little payare problematic, but many issues fueling burnout are in HR’scontrol” (Kronos, 2017). Some of the causes of employee burnoutthat are in HR’s control include poor management, unclear employeerole responsibility within the organization, a negative workingenvironment/culture, and insufficient or outdated technology inorder to help employees complete their jobs. Nearly 85% of HRmanagers listed improving employee retention as a crucial focus;however, there is high competition for use of organizational fundsin other issues (Kronos, 2017). Unfortunately, companies areincreasing budgets and revenues to focus on new talent acquisitioninstead of focusing on retaining the talent already in theorganization. The focus on simply hiring new employees instead oftaking care of current employees causes current employees to losetrust and involvement with their present organization. Employeesbegin to develop a “If the organization doesn’t care about me, whyshould I care about the organization” mentality which furtherincreases a negative and depressing work environment/culture.
Signs and Indicators of Burnout
The causes of burnout generate distinct signs and indicatorsamong employees. These indicators suggest that employees havereached a level of dissatisfaction with their work and arebeginning to resemble liabilities of a business rather than assets.While some indicators are more pronounced than others, the overallconcern is that employees have lost their sense of motivation. Bypinpointing the signs of employee burnout, both managers andemployees can implement solutions to reduce its negative effects.The signs and indicators of employee burnout take many shapes, mostof which manifest as either physical, psychological or social. Intoday’s business environment, managers are taking more proactivesteps to both identify and control employee burnout. In a WallStreet Journal article entitled, “What Worker Burnout FeelsLike” the author points out key factors that help identify employeeburnout. These factors include emotional and physical exhaustion aswell as self-doubt and cynicism (Feinzeig, 2017). The followingsection will outline the major signs and indicators of burnout, asmentioned in both the article and text.
Exhaustion can be exhibited both physically and emotionally, asstated by Rachel Feintzeig, author of “What Worker Burnout FeelsLike” (Feinzeig, 2017). Quite often, exhaustion can be the triggerfor absenteeism, tardiness and decreased productivity. Thesetriggers represent the most immediate and devastating threats to anemployer. Therefore, it is vital that employers pay close attentionto their subordinate’s emotional and physical states. Increasedfatigue, chronic sadness and anxiety are indicators that employeesmay be suffering from some form of exhaustion (Lukis, 2016). Whenemployees display these behaviors, productivity is diminished,additional costs associated with burnout are incurred and theinnovativeness of employees is suppressed.
Self-doubt and cynicism may be somewhat hard for employers togauge, however they represent similar threats when compared tophysical and emotional exhaustion. Self-doubt and cynicism dealmore with the employee’s attitude concerning their workenvironment. This attitude can be triggered by many of the sameenvironmental factors seen with exhaustion. Self-doubt relates toan employee’s pride, or lack thereof, regarding his or her work.Employees that exhibit self-doubt can potentially stifleopportunities with new clients, new business lines and innovationthat could expand the business (Mohr, 2015). The indicators ofcynicism include “low or no trust, blame, criticism, divisiveness,either-or thinking, pessimism, negativity, sarcasm” (Altman, 2010)and can potentially cause internal complications within anorganization.
Ultimately, the factors surrounding burnout are employee andindustry specific, however if any of the elements previouslymentioned can be detected early, a reduction in the undesirableeffects associated with burnout can be seen. As outlined in thefollowing section, through the identification of these signs andindicators, preventative measures can be put into place that allowemployees to generate solutions that aid in coping withburnout.
Prevention/Strategies
Employee burnout is a huge problem for organizations today andpreventing it is a difficult but necessary task to complete fororganizational success. A great way to combat this issue is byimplementing a reward system for employees based on their jobperformance. By putting a system like this in place, employees willbe recognized for their work and will have an idea of what theyshould be doing, “thus eliminating the comment, "If you don't hearanything, you must be doing okay."” (Schuler, Jackson, 1983). Thereare many different types of reward systems that can be used andmany are effective. First, one must decide if the rewards you wantto give are intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic rewards areintangible and give employees a sense of accomplishment whileextrinsic rewards are tangible items like money or stock optionswithin the company. By giving these types of rewards to employees,morale will be increased and burnout will be less likely tooccur.
Although reward systems are the main way to prevent employeeburnout there are three other main strategies that organizationscan use. One of them is used for new employees while the other twoare used for current employees. The first strategy, called ananticipatory socialization program is used for new employees. Thisprogram is basically orientation for new employees and it is wherethey learn the organization's goals and values. The goal of thisprogram is to familiarize the new employees with the organizationand its current employees so it is easier to interact andaccomplish the organization goals, “anticipatory socialization canbe an effective method for decreasing the severity of the realityshock experience on the job.” (Schuler, Jackson, 1983). In the endanticipatory socialization decreases turnover and absenteeism.
The second program that organizations use is increasingparticipation work. Participation work is when as a supervisor orupper management asks for their employees’ input and to get themmore involved in their work. When using participation work thereare two key factors that need to be taken into consideration. Thefirst factor to consider is that employees’ input will work bestwhen it impacts their actual day to day activities. The second isthat it is better to not ask for an employee’s input than to askfor it and end up ignoring it. Participation work strives toprevent employee burnout because it gives employees the opportunityto give input into decisions that they encounter daily.
The last program or strategy that organizations use to preventemployee burnout is increasing feedback about performance. Manytimes, in jobs, employees only hear about what they have done wrongand rarely hear about their good performance. Organizations need togive their employees the positive feedback for a job well done ortheir morale and thoughts on the organization will be negative.This can be used for all employees, supervisors, and managers toindicate their job performance. The easiest ways for organizationsto show job performance is a client survey because it comesstraight from the customer to the employee. Also for managers andsupervisors subordinate surveys will show them their performance aswell. It is wise to get feedback from many different sources tomake sure it gives an accurate assessment of one’s performance.This information will let employees know they are doing a great joband will keep their morale high.
Conclusion
Job burnout refers to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization,and reduced accomplishment. Employees who feel these burnouts areusually employees that work directly with people or employees whohave such high demands or high pedestals placed upon them. Itcauses stress and anxiety on the employees that have a high demandplaced upon them. This means that they have special standards toaccomplishment and anything less is considered mediocre. Due tohigh stress workplaces, it is understood why many employee’sburnout over time. These individuals usually set their own goals,and fathom the unattainable goals. They are perfectionists at theircraft and are their own worst critic at criticizing their work andthinking less of themselves. When job burnout occurs, the employeewill no longer be able to face the stress of a job and/orenvironment. This causes the employee to not fulfil the willingnessto put effort into the work. These individuals stop caring and dothe bare minimum to advance.
Employee burnout is almost nearly the cause of 50% of allorganizational turnover. Not everyone enjoys working at theircurrent organization. Many people continue to work in thesestressful environments to pay for bills and other necessities. Someindividuals must work paycheck to paycheck even to live thelifestyle that best suits them. By offering compensation orincentives, it may positively influence an employee’s performance.If Human Resources tries to connect with their employees more,performance will increase. Individuals who do not have a work-lifebalance are more prone to burnout. The excessive amount of overtimethat some employees face is infatuating. Unfortunately, noteveryone is paid for their overtime. It becomes a burden and causesthe employee to become tired and miserable.
There are specific signs and indicators for burnouts. Some signsand indicators reflect within the dissatisfaction of their work.Some indicators show the loss of motivation. If managers and HumanResource staff can indicate these signs early on, they will be ableto reduce the negative effects. Not every sign is the same. Theycan many shapes and forms. Recently, managers are taking reasonablesteps to help identify and control the burnouts. With lessexhaustion and the demand of employee standards, there should beless employee burnouts.
Implementing incentives or reward systems for employees based ontheir job performance, contribute to a decrease in burnout. Whenimplementing incentives or reward systems, the employer mustunderstand whether it will be an intrinsic or extrinsic reward.Increasing feedback about an employee’s performance helps preventburnouts from occurring. Sadly, most people hear about what theyare doing wrong and not what they are doing right. Some employeesjust want to hear an acknowledgement coming from a manager. Ifmanagers stop referring to negative actions and acknowledge thepositives more, there will be less burnouts. It is vital for allindividuals to understand the severity of burnouts. They adverselyaffect individual and organizational success. If organizationsplace an emphasis on reducing burnouts from occurring, the chancesof a successful work environment are high, resulting in a positiveworkplace culture.
team 8 answet this questions
1-What are 4 key things you learned about the topic from readingtheir paper?
2-How does the topic relate to you and your current or pastjob?
3-Critique the paper in terms of the organization andquality.
