Professional burnout most often concerns professions in which there is close contact with other people, as well as emotional involvement in their problems, e.g.: nurses, doctors, teachers, psychologists. Burnout is a syndrome that results from chronic work-related stress (we wrote about stressful jobs here).

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) clarified the definition of occupational burnout. According to ICD-11, it is the result of experiencing chronic work-related stress, it is a syndrome defined by three dimensions:

• exhaustion and lack of energy, and thus reduced professional effectiveness,
• increased mental distance to work,
• cynical or negative attitude towards work.

In turn, Christina Maslach defines this syndrome as „a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and a reduced sense of personal achievement that can occur in people working with other people in a certain way.”

We can talk about professional burnout when work, colloquially speaking, does not give satisfaction, we observe this phenomenon when an employee:

• is discouraged from work,
• less and less interested in professional matters,
• has reduced activity,
• he is irritable
• feels constant psychophysical tension and somatic pains, e.g. chronic fatigue, frequent headaches, insomnia, has gastric disorders, etc.,
• is indifferent and distanced from the client’s problems, cynical and superficial,
• he is dissatisfied with his achievements at work,
• is convinced of the lack of competence and loss of faith in one’s own abilities,
• feels misunderstood by superiors
• can be aggressive (verbal aggression),
• running away from work (absenteeism).

The reasons for this phenomenon can be found in three aspects: individual, interpersonal and organizational.

• individual factors. Occupational burnout is favored by such features as: passivity, low self-esteem, defensiveness, uncertainty, dependence, high reactivity or strong motivation to work. These people often avoid difficult situations, do not believe in their own abilities, and are often perfectionists, setting high standards for themselves.
• Interpersonal factors. These are primarily employee-client relationships, and burnout develops in professions where there is emotional involvement in other people’s problems. In addition, the sources of interpersonal burnout also include situations resulting from conflicts with superiors and co-workers.
• Organizational factors. These are primarily dos and don’ts that create a set of expectations towards the employee. Often the scope of these expectations exceeds the capabilities of the employee who is already overloaded with duties. Add to this the way they communicate and the employee begins to feel stress. In addition, the employee’s condition is also affected by aspects related to the physical environment, e.g. noise, crowding, poorly selected office equipment, etc.

Source:http://www.psychologia.edu.pl/

Source:https://www.seka.pl/wypaleni-vocational-what-je-causes/

Projekt otrzymał dofinansowanie z Norwegii poprzez Fundusze Norweskie 2014-2021, w ramach programu „Dialog społeczny – godna praca”.