Job Burnout Posted Wednesday, September 28, 2005 9/28/2005 10:02:00 PM

TheFabricator.com has a three part article on job burnout. It includes help on identifying job burnout and some tips on how to manage it. According to their self-diagnosis test I'm 97 -- "a candidate for job burnout" 4 points shy of "burning out". That is a relief as I thought I was already burnt out! I know shouldn't feel burnt out. I haven't been at this job long enough to feel burnt out. But the feelings of pointlessness and the total disgust for big business attitudes have crept in. How can anyone feel a sense of accomplishment in this big business culture were you are ranked solely on your cost savings for the company rather then the quality of your work. Where every idea for quality improvement needs to be accompanied by a 10 page report on how your proposal saves the company money. I don't think it is my company in particular but big companies in general. One of this articles tips is to get a new job. I really don't think that will make a difference... it will be the same crap with different people.

To me the most reasonable tip for a burnt out employee appears to be detachment... in other words just stop caring. I care about my job because I feel it is a career. If I view it simply as a 9-5 job then I wouldn't care as much and I wouldn't stress as much. You just can't stress out about a job that you don't care about. Is that the best thing for a company? How successful can a company be when all the employees don't care?

Part discusses the need for companies to take greater responsibility for employee job burnout. It mentions that in the current economic environment employee burnout often is considered a relatively insignificant, individual problem that needs to be handled through the employee's assistance programs. And besides there are plenty of employee where he came from. This article calls that type of thinking is

wrong, shortsighted, and ultimately can lead to an organization’s downfall.

I think it is true... as burnt out (or close to) as I think I am I see other employees that are even further down the line. I think asking these already stressed and often overworked employees to take time off to attend a voluntary assistance program and most likely have more work piling up for them when they return is ridiculous. Employee burnout needs to be addressed as a company wide problem and take steps to identify the causes and prevent it in the first place. From the article:

The bottom line is that an organization should care about and take steps to prevent job burnout if it wants a healthy bottom line long-term.

[Via: slashdot.com]