The Burnout Tale

UNDERLINING THE DANGER OF JOB BURNOUT, A NEW STUDY OF MORE THAN 1,000 US WORKERS FINDS THAT MANY EMPLOYEES WHO ARE HIGHLY ENGAGED IN THEIR WORK ARE ALSO EXHAUSTED AND READY TO LEAVE THEIR ORGANISATIONS

Whereas lack of engagement is commonly seen as leading to employee turnover due to boredom and disaffection, the study finds that companies, in fact, risk losing some of their most motivated and hard-working employees due to high stress and burnout – a symptom of the “darker side” of workplace engagement.

It is concerning, concludes the study by academics working in the UK, US and Germany, that many engaged employees suffer from stress and burnout symptoms, which may be the beginning of a pathway leading into disengagement.

“Nearly half of all employees were moderately to highly engaged in their work but also exhausted and ready to leave their organisations,” said co-author Dr Jochen Menges from the University of Cambridge. “This should give managers a lot to think about.”

The study, published in the journal Career Development International, examined multiple workplace factors that divide employees into various engagement-burnout profiles. These include low engagement-low burnout (“apathetic”), low engagement-high burnout (“burned-out”), high engagement-low burnout (“engaged”), “moderately engaged-exhausted”; and “highly engaged-exhausted”.