Managing burnout

Burnout can be described as a psychological response to prolonged, chronic work-related stress. Research has shown that workers who are exposed to risk factors of emotionally demanding work, low support and low control, are particularly susceptible to developing burnout.

While people commonly refer to being ‘burnt out’ as a result of a variety of personal and work-related situations, burnout is recognised in the research literature and by the World Health Organization as a purely work-related phenomenon. Research on burnout shows that burnout consists of three elements:

• feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
• increased mental distance from one’s job, or negative or cynical feelings
• reduced professional efficacy or productivity.

Emotional exhaustion – Noticeable when a person feels that they have little left to give others.

Negative feelings and behaviours – Feelings include helplessness, hopelessness, anger, impatience and irritability. It can also be characterised by increased tension and conflict with others as well as decreased friendliness, considerateness and courteousness.

Depersonalisation – Characterised by a sense of alienation from others. Observable when others are viewed in a negative light and even those people who were previously cared for or worked with, are disliked.

Physical changes – Signs include low energy, persistent fatigue, weakness, weariness, increased susceptibility to illness, frequent headaches, nausea, muscle tension, back pain and sleep disturbances.

Like any other hazard, burnout can be managed by applying the risk management process. By identifying and assessing the risk factors of burnout, organisations can implement controls to reduce the risk of harm to health to workers. The six risk factors associated with burnout are:

• high, sustained work demands (including work pressure and emotional demands) with insufficient time for rest and recovery
• low control/decision-making
• lack of rewards and recognition for efforts
• poor sense of community, including inadequate support from supervisors and co-workers
• real or perceived organisational injustice
• incongruent personal and organisational values.

When conducting a risk assessment for burnout, it is important to consider that some risk factors are always present, and others occasionally present.

Examples of controls for the risk factors associated with burnout include:

• applying principles of good job design (e.g. designing jobs which provide workers with tolerable work demands, adequate support and control)
• clearly defining job roles, reporting structures and activities
• promoting a workplace culture that is inclusive, destigmatises mental ill health and encourages help-seeking assistance
• establish achievable workloads and performance targets specific to the workplace’s current number of workers and skills mix
• adjusting workloads
• rotating jobs for repetitive or highly demanding tasks
• educating the workforce on identifying the early signs of distress and what to do
• educating workers on healthy coping strategies and the provision of supporting resources.

Fatigue and burnout are terms that are sometimes confused. However, they refer to different things. While there is a place to discuss both, in order to manage each of them correctly, organisations need to understand how to distinguish them.

Burnout is solely a psychosocial work-related hazard, whereas fatigue can be both work and non-work-related. The risk factors and symptoms of burnout differ to the risk factors and symptoms of fatigue. Therefore, understanding the risk factors and the associated symptoms for each hazard is important for conducting an effective risk assessment.