DECREASE STRESS AND BURNOUT AMONG EMPLOYEES
Damaris Rodriguez
Rasmussen Colleges
Decrease stress and burnout among employees
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DECREASE STRESS AND BURNOUT AMONG EMPLOYEES
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Introduction
In the contemporary workplace environment, burnout and stress are major causes of job
withdrawal, lower productivity, ineffectiveness, and decreased job satisfaction. Burnout and
stress mainly occur as a result of work overload, lack of social support, role ambiguity, role
conflict, and overwhelming job demands. With the negative effects, the burnout has on the
organization and employees, utilizing solutions such as employee’s participation, schedule
breaks, granting autonomy, and embracing diversity are important. To ensure that the
aforementioned solutions are embraced by the target audiences, leveraging on collaboration,
teamwork, and respect to diversity are important.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to unearth the sources of burnout and stress by examining the
existing literature reviews and to offer well-researched solutions to avert burnout and stress. In
other words, the paper is structured to decipher the imminent triggers of burnout and to provide
the alternative solutions to end the negative effects of burnout and stress (Yu et al, 2015). The
topic on burnout and stress is important because it offers best solutions job withdrawals and low
performance.
Problem
Stress and burnout are major triggers that contribute to employees quitting their job and
underperforming at the workplace. According to various studies that have been conducted to
examine the correlation between burnout and rising absenteeism in the workplace, it has been
established that burn-out and stress make employees develop a negative attitude towards their
job and in turn triggers the quitting (Yu et al, 2015). As a result of quitting, many organizations
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experience scarcity of staff. The scarcity of staff normally culminates into inefficiency and
ineffectiveness of the organization. This, in turn, results in poor productivity and limited
profitability.
According to a meta-analysis study conducted by American Institute of Stress, it was
established that workplace stress and burnout cost more than $300 billion each year in the
healthcare sector (Hayes et al, 2014). With the rising cost associated with stress and burnout, it is
beyond reasonable doubt that the stress and burnout are a major inhibiting factor to general
growth and development. Studies have directly linked work-related factors such role conflict, job
demands, role ambiguity, lack of adequate resources, lack of feedback, and lack of social support
as major triggers of burnout and stress in the workplace. The studies have also concluded that
personal factors such low levels of hardiness and lack of external locus of control as major
triggers of burnout and stress.
After the first two scientific articles published in 1974 about burnout syndrome by
Herbert Freudenberger and another by Sigmund Ginsburg, the subsequent studies have
established that burnout prevalence rates among teachers is about 30%, 31% in medical students,
and between 45% and 68% in medical oncologists (Hayes et al, 2014). With the rising
prevalence rates, it is undeniably that burnout and stress need to be researched to establish causes
and immediate solutions to solve these menaces. According to various surveys, 46% of HR
leaders believe that employee burnout and stress are responsible for to 50% of the annual
workplace turnout. Almost 10% of HR leaders blame employees for causing more than 50% of
workplace turnover every year (Khamisa et al, 2015).
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Solution
To resolve burnout and stress, it is important for an employer to identify the sources of
stress by encouraging employees to communicate their issues. In a study conducted by the CDC,
more than 40% of the employees noted that their job was highly stressful regardless of the nature
of the industry (Hayes et al, 2014). Therefore, employers need to properly delegate job
responsibilities and task in order to minimize work overload. Creating a lean working
environment where employees are at liberty to disseminate their grievances to the top
management is an alternative solution to the problem. Since lack of job security, hard task,
workload mismatch, and lack of social rewards trigger burnout, it is important for the
management of the organization to develop a reward system that equally rewards employees for
their job performance (Maslach & Leiter, 2014). Some of the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards that
are appropriate include job promotion, salary increment, and paid vacations.
Granting more autonomy to employees is also an effective solution to mitigate upon
burnout and stress. It is important to understand that when employees feel that they are closely
monitored and controlled by their employer, they are more likely to become burned out.
Therefore, allowing the employees to execute their duties with minimal interference from their
supervisors help to minimize burnout (Sonnentag, 2015). In the contemporary society of
millennial generation, majority of the employee consider workplace environment when they are
searching for jobs. Giving employees’ voice to express their ideas and grievances in the
decision-making process is also an effective way to minimize the burnout. Furthermore,
recognizing success, being fair and lending listening ears are also effective.
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To get to the solutions, some of the steps that can be utilized include researching,
encouraging teamwork, collaboration, and embracing diversity. It is important to research first
on the triggers of burnout. After researching, it is important to rank the problems depending on
the magnitude it has on the employees (Maslach & Leiter, 2014). Collaboration and teamwork
between management and employees are important because it brings all important stakeholders
together towards solving the issues.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is beyond reasonable doubt that burnout and stress among the employees
are majorly triggered by environmental and personal factors. The rising cases of burnout and
stress are majorly caused by factors such as harsh working conditions, congestion, role
ambiguity, job demands, lack of appropriate resources, work overload, and lack of appropriate
awards. The major effects of stress and burnout in the workplace include job withdrawal, lower
productivity, ineffectiveness, a decrease in job satisfaction, and greater personal conflicts with
coworkers. To prevent burnout, employee engagement, flexible work, schedule breaks, defining
concrete roles, and offering adequate resources are important solutions.
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References
Hayes, B., Douglas, C., & Bonner, A. (2015). Work environment, job satisfaction, stress and
burnout among haemodialysis nurses. Journal of nursing management, 23(5), 588-598.
Khamisa, N., Oldenburg, B., Peltzer, K., & Ilic, D. (2015). Work related stress, burnout, job
satisfaction and general health of nurses. International journal of environmental research
and public health, 12(1), 652-666.
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2014, June). 10 Burnout in the workplace. In Psychology Serving
Humanity: Proceedings of the 30th International Congress of Psychology: Volume 2:
Western Psychology (Vol. 2, p. 116). Psychology Press.
Sonnentag, S. (2015). Wellbeing and burnout in the workplace: Organizational causes and
consequences. International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 537540.
Yu, X., Wang, P., Zhai, X., Dai, H., & Yang, Q. (2015). The effect of work stress on job burnout
among teachers: The mediating role of self-efficacy. Social Indicators Research, 122(3),
701-708.
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