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The burdens people experience in their private lives seem to have little impact on burnout. The crises in private life slightly increase the risk of burnout symptoms in situations when the workload is already substantial. Neither is there much link between a person’s diligence and burnout, if the job requirements are reasonable.

These were some of the results presented by Jari Hakanen from the Department of Social Psychology in his doctoral dissertation. The findings are based on an extensive survey and interviews of those who seemed to be the most fatigued among the participants.

“Because the relationship between private life and burnout had not been studied, the issue was open to views, according to which burnout would in fact be due to the individual, not work,” Hakanen says. “However, burnout does reflect on a person’s private life. It may first become manifest in other spheres of life, as people are likely to use the resources needed in running the daily life in the increasingly demanding work.”

Burnout means chronic fatigue, cynical approach to work and low professional self-esteem. “It is fatigue that does not disappear during the weekend or holiday. A person questions the meaningfulness of his or her work, and stops caring, for example, about customer service, how the customer is actually doing,” Hakanen explains.

The second theme of the study was about work engagement, that is, the energy, dedication and absorption one experiences in work. This section of the study involved employees of a large educational organisation. All the occupational groups within the organisation ultimately shared more experiences of work engagement than experiences of stress and fatigue.

“Occupational wellbeing is reached via two paths, personal resources and motivation. Both must be looked after and encouraged. For work to be absorbing it needs to offer experiences of independence, full support of one’s superior and feedback. These are matters of choice, they can be promoted at every workplace, Hakanen concludes.

Text: Liisa Voutilainen
Photo: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
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Translation: Valtasana Oy