Key Points:
- Burnout and job stress are caught in a two-way cycle—job stress can lead to burnout, but burnout can also increase job stress, creating a vicious loop.
- Emotional exhaustion is the core symptom linking burnout and job stress, while cynicism and depersonalization show weaker connections.
- Job resources like support and control can help break the cycle, highlighting the need for better workplace interventions and stress management strategies.
Introduction
Burnout is a growing problem worldwide, with serious effects on people’s health and job performance (see Burning the Midnight Oil for a review of burnout linked to job performance). It’s been officially recognized by the World Health Organization (2019) as a workplace issue. Burnout happens when people feel mentally and physically drained, lose interest in their work, and doubt their abilities. It can lead to mental and physical illness, lower job performance, and even long-term absence from work.
Many studies have looked at what causes burnout. Job stress—like heavy workloads, inefficient work processes, and conflicting job demands—are often culprits. However, researchers have also noticed that burnout itself might increase job stress over time, creating a vicious cycle.
Guthier, Dormann, and Voelkle (2020) analyzed data from 48 unique studies (N = 26,319) that tracked workers over time to understand the back-and-forth relationship between job stress and burnout. Specifically, researchers sought to answer the following questions:
- Are job stressors and burnout reciprocally related over time?
- Do job stressors have a stronger effect on burnout than burnout has on job stressors?
- Do job resources lessen the effects of job stressors on burnout and, in turn, the effects of burnout on job stressors?
- Are there differences in how job stressors and burnout interact when comparing emotional exhaustion to general exhaustion, and depersonalization to cynicism?
As part of their analysis, they also tested for publication bias in terms of small sample bias and hypothesising after the results are known (or HARKing). The results of publication bias tests concluded that the primary studies included large enough sample sizes for results to be reliable. Further, there was also no major publication bias, which means the results weren’t skewed because of unpublished studies showing different outcomes.
The Job Stressor – Burnout Cycle
The main finding of this study is that job stress and burnout influence each other. Job stress makes burnout worse (called the “stressor-effect”). Likewise, burnout also increases job stress (called the “strain-effect”). Surprisingly, the strain-effect is stronger than the stressor-effect. In other words, when people experience burnout, it tends to make their job stress even worse, which can create a harmful cycle.
Emotional Exhaustion Plays A Stronger Role
Researchers examined the three symptoms of burnout. They found that emotional exhaustion—feeling worn out and depleted of energy—is strongly linked to job stress. However, cynicism or depersonalization (i.e., feeling disconnected or negative about your work), wasn’t as closely tied to job stress. This suggests that emotional exhaustion plays a bigger role in the cycle of stress and burnout.
Job Resources Help Fight the Cycle
Perhaps, unsurprisingly, job resources (e.g., support from coworkers and having control over your work) had an effect on the relationship between job stress and burnout. Specifically, in countries and workplaces where employees felt they had more job control and support showed, there was a weaker link between burnout and job stress. This means that good job resources can buffer, or protect, employees from falling into a burnout-stress cycle. Further, not only can they protect from burnout but they can also just improve their overall wellbeing and motivation. (For more job resources and support check out our articles on support and job insecurity).
While this study focused on job control and support, there are a variety of job resources that can be useful in helping mitigating job stress as well as combating burnout. Others can include career opportunities, coaching from a manager, mentoring, and role-clarity. Organizations can look beyond just job control and support to help employees. A job resource is any physical, psychological, social, or organizational aspect of a job that: helps in achieving work goals, reduces job demands and the associated physiological and psychological cost; or stimulates personal growth, learning, and development (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007).
Summary
It’s clear that burnout and job stress feed into each other, creating a harmful cycle that can be difficult to break. But there is hope! Having good social and other job support as well as helping employees have more control in their work can help interrupt this pattern. Being aware of the symptoms of burnout is a first step, especially monitoring emotional exhaustion as that is a key warning sign. Quick action here can have a significant impact.
Key Points for Practice
Focus on the Signals. Since emotional exhaustion is the key burnout symptom linked to job stress, workplaces should focus on spotting and reducing it early. Many workplaces have employee surveys or listening strategies that assess a myriad of employee experiences – stress, their energy, levels of engagement, connection and relationships, having tools and resources to accomplish work, and so much more. Used strategically, these insights are key to early detection of potential burnout and quick intervention can be taken.
Break the Vicious Cycle. If early detection or ongoing monitoring indicates that employees are showing signs of burnout, or your burnout risk is running high in your organization, intervene fast! It’s not enough to just assess and measure. Most of the issues that lead to burnout and additional job stress are within the control of the organization, leaders and / or managers. For example, imbalanced workload, inefficient processes, lack of clarity in decision-making, lacking the necessary tools, training or support to adapt to new changes or workflows, etc. are all classic job demands that are more heavily influenced by leaders. To alleviate these types of challenges and optimize ways of working, it’s essential for leaders to turn those early insights into action. Help to resolve issues, fast, to reduce job stress.
Leverage Interventions That Target Both Ends. Programs aimed at reducing job stress should also address existing burnout symptoms. For example, mental health support services, mindfulness programs, and stress management workshops can help employees deal with burnout while also lowering their job stress. (For additional reading on interventions to fight burnout see Fighting Burnout)
Trustworthiness score:
The trustworthiness of the study is high (90%) as it’s based on a meta-analysis comprised of non-randomzied-controlled and/or before-after studies. This means there is a 10% chance that alternative explanations for the effects found are possible.
Learn how we critically appraise studies to assign them a Trustworthiness Score
We aim to provide you only the best available scientific evidence to inform your decisions.
Did you like this article? share it with your network by clicking on the buttons below!
Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and subscribe to our newsletter to receive all the quality of scientific research in less than 1500 words!
References
World Health Organization. (2019). Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases. https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases
Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2007). The job demands-resources model: State of the art. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22, 309–328. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02683940710733115
You can find the original article here!
