Stress

Many factors may contribute to a stressful workplace environment. But it is staff who suffer the effects and symptoms of stress.

• Incompetent managers can be a major cause of stress.
• Poor working conditions and too much or too little work can also result in stress.
• Unrealistic performance objectives and deadlines, and poor workplace relationships can all lead to people feeling stressed out.
• Poor job design is another cause.
• Change can lead to stress.

Stress can cause mistakes, omissions and accidents. People can fall ill. They may have to take extended sick leave. Low morale, low productivity, and high turnover can be other outcomes.

You are probably familiar with a range of methods for managing and coping with stress. Most include techniques to assist relaxation. These methods can be very helpful, but they tend to focus on the symptoms of stress. Often, it may be more effective to do something about the causes.

Activity

Think of some stressful situations that you have encountered in the workplace. Make up a table like the one below and fill it with information about those situations.

How many actions were treating the symptoms? How many were treating the causes? Which type of action is easier to implement? Why?

Burnout

Burnout is a syndrome that results from prolonged exposure to stress. It can consist of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and/or reduced personal accomplishment.

Emotional exhaustion

Emotional exhaustion is a chronic state of physical and emotional depletion. People who suffer from it feel drained, fatigued, and no longer able to cope with the demands of their jobs.

Depersonalisation

Depersonalisation involves the development of callous and cynical attitudes about your career and work. People who develop these attitudes may feel that nothing they do has any meaning or value - and that others feel this way, too.

Reduced personal accomplishment

Reduced personal accomplishment refers to a tendency to evaluate yourself negatively in terms of your accomplishments at work. People experiencing this reaction feel they have not accomplished much in the past - and that they will not succeed in the future, either.

Causes of burnout

One key factor in the development of burnout, and especially in emotional exhaustion, is the perception by individuals that they have experienced the loss of valuable resources (or are about to do so), or that they will be unable to cope with work demands. The resources that people most fear losing are social support, participation in decision making, autonomy, and opportunities for job enhancement.

Other variables may also play a role. For example, burnout has been linked to job conditions that suggest one's efforts are useless, ineffective, or unappreciated. Under these conditions, individuals develop feelings of low personal accomplishment. These are an important part of burnout. Similarly, poor opportunities for promotion and inflexible rules and procedures can lead employees to feel they are trapped in an unfair system and contribute to negative views of their jobs.

Another important factor is the leadership style used by employees' supervisors. The less consideration a supervisor shows (that is, the less they are concerned with employees' welfare or with maintaining good relations with them), the higher their employees' level of burnout is likely to be.