Author:
Claeys M.,Van den Broeck A.,Houkes I.,de Rijk A.
Abstract
Abstract
Purpose
Little is known about whether burnout can be stopped at an emerging stage. To develop this knowledge, we focus on line managers’ perspectives and responses when an employee who seems to be heading for burnout is still at work.
Methods
We interviewed 17 line managers working in the educational and health care sectors, who had been confronted with the sickness absence of at least one employee due to burnout in the past. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed thematically.
Results
During the period that the employee seemed to be developing burnout while still at work, line managers experienced three different, successive phases: picking up signals, role-taking, and re-evaluation. Line managers’ personal frame of reference (e.g., having experience with burnout) seemed to influence whether and how they picked up signals of burnout. Line managers not picking up signals, did not take any action. When picking up the signals, the managers however generally took an active role: they started a conversation, changed work tasks, and - at a later stage - adapted the employee’s job description, sometimes without consulting the employee. The managers felt powerless yet learned from the experience when subsequently re-evaluating the period during which employees developed symptoms of burnout. These re-evaluations resulted in an adapted personal frame of reference.
Conclusion
This study shows that improving line managers’ frame of reference, e.g., by organizing meetings and/or training, may help them to detect early signals of burnout and take action. This is a first step to prevent the further development of early burnout symptoms.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Occupational Therapy,Rehabilitation
Reference35 articles.
1. World Health Organisation. Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases. In: World Health Organization. 2019, May. https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases. Accessed April 2021.
2. American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5. American Psychiatric Association, Washington, DC; 2013.
3. Hadžibajramović E, Schaufeli W, De Witte H. A rasch analysis of the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT). PLoS ONE. 2020;15(11):e0242241.
4. Maslach C, Schaufeli WB, Leiter MP. Job burnout. Annu Rev Psychol. 2001;52:397–422.
5. Golembiewski RT, Munzenrider RF. Phases of burnout: Developments in concepts and applications. Westport: Praeger; 1988.