Employee Burnout Occurrence in a Business Organization - Essay Example

Employee burnout is often associated with workers feeling "lethargic, empty, and no longer able to take satisfaction in their jobs (ASTD)." In order to understand this problem more thoroughly, we will turn to the three common symptoms of employee burnout.

Often, the first sign of employee burnout is emotional exhaustion from one's work. This happens when the employee complains of feeling drained up, at the end of the rope, and physical fatigue. Work has become dreadful and every day in the office has become agonizing. Next, the employee copes with the situation by depersonalizing his/her relationship with his/her colleagues. The worker may resort to creating distance between himself/herself with his boss. The last sign is a feeling of low personal accomplishment where the worker feels that he/she is not contributing to the organization or community (Jackson & Schuler 2).

Knowing the general symptoms of employee burnout, we now turn to their various causes. Employee burnout happens within an organization where there are no rewards and control. Emotional exhaustion is largely caused by these factors. An organization that lacks clarity and support may breed depersonalization as the worker avoids interpersonal friction. However, the third symptom, a low level of personal accomplishment is not linked to the organization but to the personal conditions of the individual.

We can see that this happens when a person sets idealistic expectations and personal responsibility. Sometimes, a person sets standards that he is not capable of achieving, thus, he feels extremely depressed and unproductive when he becomes incapable of attaining it. The American Society of Training and Development has prescribed a number of solutions to employee burnout. Among these are: allowing employees to talk freely with one another; reducing personal conflicts on the job; giving employees adequate control over how they do their work; ensuring that staffing and expense budgets are adequate; talking openly with employees; supporting employees' efforts; providing competitive personal leave and vacation benefits; maintaining current levels of employees benefits; and recognizing and rewarding employees for their accomplishments and contributions.

Employee burnout has a lot of consequences for the business organization. We can see that this issue is strongly linked to the problem of motivation. This paper believes that employee burnout in an organization is a visible sign that adequate and proper motivational tools are not in place to stimulate employees. Thus, employee burnout should be addressed by looking at the specific needs of workers and addressing them properly.