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Burnout is often caused by factors entirely unrelated to work
Several studies show that burnout is more about depressive stress in everyday life than specifically about work.
Everything feels like a chore. Your drive has gone. Headaches, nausea, and dizziness come and go. Some people sleep a lot, others struggle to sleep. The feeling of dragging yourself through the day is overwhelming.
People who have experienced it know exactly what burnout feels like. They also know that it can be hard to pinpoint exactly how they ended up there.
Until now, burnout has been considered a work-related phenomenon.
The World Health Organization defines burnout as a result of chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.
This definition is now being challenged by several studies.
Weak link between work and burnout
One of these studies is from NTNU. Psychologist and associate professor Renzo Bianchi has recently published a study in which only a minority of the participants identified work as the cause of their burnout.
A total of 813 Norwegian employees with burnout were asked to what extent they believed their job was the cause.
Over 70 per cent believed it was not related to their job.
Several other studies show the same results:
- 64 per cent of the participants in a study from the US stated that their job was not the main cause of burnout.
- A study from Switzerland shows similar results.
- A large analysis from 2020, which included 48 studies, also revealed that the connection between work and burnout is much weaker than previously thought.
The term burnout was coined in the 1970s by American psychologist Herbert Freudenberger. He used it to describe the consequences of severe stress and high ideals experienced by people in caregiving professions. The term has since been used to describe people in all types of jobs.
“Even in the 1970s, the connection between burnout and work was poorly grounded in research, yet this perception has persisted as an accepted truth for many years,” says Bianchi.
He has published over a hundred articles on burnout and requires little time to reflect on the causes of burnout.
Personality appears to affect burnout
“People who experience burnout describe stress in their daily lives which leads to a form of depression. You could call it depressive stress in life,” says Bianchi.
He points to stressful problems in the family, with children, or a partner.
Some may have sleep problems, physical illness, or other physical challenges. Not everyone responds to stress in the same way.
“For people with a more anxious personality, worries and stress can drain a lot of energy, without it necessarily being solely about their job. I think it's important to conduct more research on this, and especially on what impact personality has. Constantly worrying about what could go wrong is exhausting,” he says.
Good colleagues and self-determination help
But for some, it actually is the job that is the cause. The NTNU study shows that the higher a person scores on burnout, the more likely it is that their work is the cause.
WHO has a list of factors that can lead to reduced mental health in the workplace:
- underutilisation of skills or lack of skills to do the job
- excessive workload or work pace, understaffing
- long, unsocial, or inflexible work hours
- lack of control over how the job is done or workload
- unsafe or poor physical working conditions
- organisational culture that allows negative behaviours
- limited support from colleagues or authoritarian leadership
- violence, harassment, or bullying
- discrimination and exclusion
- unclear job role
- under- or over-promotion
- job insecurity, inadequate pay, or poor investment in career development
- conflicting demands between work and private life
The NTNU study and other research show that people who experience support from their colleagues, job security, and self-determination are less prone to burnout.
“These are three factors that have a preventative effect. My experience is that working life has improved for many people, with greater focus on mental health,” says Bianchi.
His personal solution to burnout, however, is not on this list.
Love your job
“My solution is that I love my job. I have had periods in my life where I worked 80 hours a week, but it was something I was happy to do. I have worked hard to become an associate professor, and I was lucky enough to achieve my goal. Not everyone is as fortunate to love their job, and as a result, have the capacity tolerate more stress at work. But it's important to find a meaningful job and then put in the work needed to succeed,” says Bianchi.
He believes that fair treatment in the workplace is something that should receive more attention in the discussion about what fosters good mental health at work.
“Lack of fairness is actually a major stressor for many people. It's important that it's the most competent person who actually gets promoted or employed. It's fundamental that people aren’t given a higher salary just because they're a friend of the boss or some in-house politics,” he says.
References:
Bianchi et al. Most people do not attribute their burnout symptoms to work, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, vol. 187, 2024. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2024.111962
Bianchi, R. & Brisson, R. 'Burnout and depression: Causal attributions and construct overlap', Journal of Health Psychology, vol. 24, 2017. DOI: 10.1177/1359105317740415 (Abstract)
Guthier et al. 'Reciprocal effects between job stressors and burnout: A continuous time meta-analysis of longitudinal studies', Psychological Bulletin, vol. 146, 2020. DOI: 10.1037/bul0000304 (Abstract)
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Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no
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