New research has revealed that while the rate of burnout experienced in the workforce has fallen since the height of the pandemic, it remains nearly three-times higher than pre-Covid levels.
Job burnout was assessed using four dimensions: emotional exhaustion, mental distancing, cognitive impairment and emotional impairment.
Massey Business School’s Professor Jarrod Haar, who led the research, said: “If you’re waking up and you feel exhausted before your feet have touched the bedroom floor, that’s a good indication you’re exhausted."
"Being exhausted at the end of the work day or the work week is called work. But if you’re tired before we start, that’s called emotional exhaustion.”
According to Harr, the lack of significant drop in burnout experienced is a worry.
“If this is the new normal, then we’d better watch out. This is massively problematic for businesses and their workers as evidence shows us burnt out employees are sick more often, more absent and less likely to perform their job”.
He added: “The burnout risk group are six times more likely to seriously consider quitting their job and six times more likely to engage in poor workplace behaviours such as having a reduced work ethic.”
In terms of the numbers, the highest reported profession experiencing burnout in December 2022 was farmers and farm managers at 71%, followed by farm and forestry workers at 43%.
“Seven months of disastrous weather, they’re outside all the time. Possibly a high level of loneliness in those jobs, so kind of feeling a bit isolated. If you’re going to work and the cows start talking back to you, that probably is a sign that you’ve had too much time, and you need a break.”
General clerical workers are next highest at 38%, and chief executives are at 30%.
Legal, social and welfare professionals were found to be within the average range at 23%, hospitality workers at 19%, and factory process workers at 10%.
But the lowest profession experiencing workplace burnout is machine and plant operators, being the least likely to experience burnout risk at 0%.
“It might be a kind of structured day, and we might suggest a somewhat boring job, but it’s the regularity right, and when 5 o’clock strikes, I go home, and there’s no work, no emails, there’s no time pressure, there’s no CEO sending you something calling you for extra work.”
The data also shows one in five employees (22%) falls within the high burnout risk category. This rate has dropped from November 2021, when the highest rate of burnout was recorded at 43%, but remains higher than the 17.1% rate recorded in May 2020 after the first lockdown.
Haar has been tracking the burnout rate since 2020 through over 1000 representative New Zealand employees, working off an estimated pre-Covid burnout level of 8%.
The risks of being in the high burnout group are higher for managers (27%) than employees (20%), but there’s no difference by sector (private, public or not-for-profit) or gender.
There were no significant risk rate differences by ethnicity, single versus partner status or through the working environment from full-time office or hybrid working.
Across the country, Southland had the worst burnout risk rate at 39% and Tasman the best at 10 per cent.
However, Haar said some risks within a workplace environment are more critical than others.
“High levels of work loneliness are problematic as it can cause the risk of burnout to be five times more likely, while high work demands can cause a 10 times risk rate. For those experiencing workplace bullying on a frequent basis (monthly or more), they are 11.7 times more likely to be burnt out.
"Amongst ethnic minorities, those who experience more frequent discrimination in the workplace are 7.3 times more likely to be in the burnout risk category. Working for an organisation that is highly supportive helps – it can reduce risk by two. But in comparison to bullying, workload, discrimination and loneliness? The negatives weigh heavier.”
Haar reports this year’s results are still unusually high and are likely to represent a "Covid-19 hangover".
“While the burnout risk is down from the heady heights of 2021, it remains stubbornly high and shows the workforce in Aotearoa, New Zealand, has not returned to normality. This is likely exacerbated by rising costs from inflation, as just as it seemed the world was returning to normal and we could enjoy things such as travel again, the cost has since exploded with no sign of mitigation any time soon.”
“Fundamentally, good well-being through lower job burnout benefits both the individual and their employers. The current workforce is still tight, and the ability to attract talent is tough. This means the high burnout risk across the New Zealand workforce not only needs to be acknowledged but greater emphasis on reducing it is vital,” Haar said.
SHARE ME