Doreen MacAulay
We have all heard the term burnout, but how much time have you taken to think about what it is and what experiencing it means for you and your colleagues? This article will look at what burnout is, how we can see the signs before someone does burnout as well as consider how we can develop environments that can reduce the chances of people being burnt out, and tips to prevent it.
Burnout is not a new topic, but it is one that is getting a lot of attention (Maslach & Leiter, 2021). The events of the last 2 years have led to increased stress, anxiety, depression, and fear (Kloutsiniotis, Mihail, Mylonas, & Pateli, 2022), and as such the concern for understanding preventing burnout is important. Burnout, as defined by the World Health Organization is a: Syndrome is conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that had not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:
- Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
- Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job
- Reduced professional efficacy (WH0, 2019)
Maslach and Leiter (2016), scholars in this area, define burnout as “a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job” (p.351). Their work highlights how burnout can impact both one’s personal and social functioning. And if we look to their earlier work (2005) we can find valuable insights to help understand burnout. They surveyed 10,000 people from different industries and countries and found six areas of burnout:
