Family Systems at Work: The Relationship Between Family Coping and Employee Burnout

Abstract

This investigation utilized Maslach's burnout model and Olson's integrated multisystem assessment and health model to assess 220 workers across numerous professions. Specifically, participants' level of emotional exhaustion and coping resources at four life domains (personal, work, couple, and family) were measured. Correlation and regression models were used to determine empirical relationships between the couple and family systems and their variance to employee burnout. This study found significant relationships between couple and family coping resources and emotional exhaustion. In general, this study supports the validity of utilizing a “wide lens” or multisystem (systemic) view to examine employee burnout. The results suggest that multiple system—level interventions for employee stress and burnout would be valuable.