By Melissa Goodman
Workplace employee burnout is a well-known concept, but do we really know what it means? The basic concept can be explained by using an analogy of a cup of well-being. We can fill our cup with elements that give us joy, pleasure, fluffy bunnies and all sorts of other positive things. But that same cup, if not tended to properly, can crack, spill and empty to the point of critical harm, stress, isolation, and other negative conditions.
Workplace burnout refers to the matter of when work is the main contributing factor as to why one’s cup is empty. Schaufeli, Taris and Rhenen (2008) help us understand workplace well-being and those contributing factors that can fill or empty your cup, by distinguishing three elements of workplace performance:
Workaholism
Perpetual work centred around an obsessive, persistent, excessive need to work. Often to the extent of neglecting commitments and relationships outside of work and noticeable feelings of guilt while not working.
Engagement
Perpetual work centred around the internal motivation or drive to work. Although work levels can be excessive and above levels of expected performance, the work does not necessarily negatively impact external life factors. Engaged employees are energised, dedicated, and focused.
Burnout
Perpetual work centred around how one perceives work and the feelings that one must work. Characterised by exhaustion, depletion of resources, cynicism (relating to an overall pessimistic outlook), and feelings of poor work-related self-esteem.
Alongside these three elements there are five other factors enmeshed in the experience of workplace wellness:
· hours of work (long, short, stable, variable)
· job characteristics (autonomy, control, resourcing, low control)
· work outcomes (recognition, career pathways, satisfaction)
· quality of social relationships (social support, coaching, mentoring)
· perceived health of the worker (pessimistic, optimistic, resilience)
It is the outcome of how these five factors interact with the other three elements above that will provide key determinates of workplace wellness.
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