On The Other Hand Issue 3

P07P06

ISSUE Nº 3 of 5READERS' DIGEST SPECIAL

All illustrations are done with a non-dominant hand

executive coach of NeXT Corporate Job characteristics that contribute to burnout include workload, time pressure, role conflict, role ambiguity, an absence of resources (especially social support from supervisors and co-workers), and a lack of information, control and autonomy.Maslach, Schaufeli and Leiter (2001) compared the prevalence of burnout for five different occupational sectors in the United States and Holland, and found that teaching was charac-terised by the highest level of exhaustion, with teachers’ cynicism and lack of efficacy being close to population averages.

Research by Dorman (2003) with teachers in Queensland found that role overload was a strong predictor of work pressure, which in turn predicted emotional exhaustion. Work pressure, classroom environment and self-esteem accounted for 69% of the variance in teachers’ emotional exhaustion, and over 46% of the variance in depersonalisation was attributable to school environment, classroom environment, emotional exhaustion and self-esteem.Individual characteristics appear to contribute to burnout, although not to the same degree as situational factors. Individual factors include age,

with the level of burnout being higher among younger employees. However, such interpreta-tions must be taken with caution, as people who burn out early and remove themselves from the profession are no longer part of the sample during later years. Small effects have been found for sex (males - more prone to cynicism), marital status (singles - more prone to burnout), and education (higher education equals higher burnout). However, all of these variables are confounded with other variables, such that definitive statements should not be made.

Personality characteristics are another area for investigation, including low hardiness (involvement in daily activities, sense of control, openness to change), external locus of control (attributing events and achievements to other people or to chance), passive, defensive coping styles, low self-esteem, neuroticism (anxiety, hostility, depression, self-consciousness, vulnerability), type A behaviour (competition, time-pressure, hostility and excessive need for control) and ‘feeling types’ rather than ‘thinking types’.

The six areas of working life that encompass the central relationships with potential burnout are:

1. Workload Excessive overload, wrong kind of work, emotional inconsistency

2. Control Insufficient control over resources, lack of authority, overwhelming responsibility exceeding authority

3. Reward Insufficient financial reward, lack of social recognition, lacks of intrinsic reward (such as pride)

4. Community Loss of positive connection with others in the workplace (shared praise, comfort, happiness, humour, values), workplace conflict

5. Fairness Perceived unfairness (such as pay, cheating, promotions), lack of mutual respect

6. Values Ethics, career aspirations, mission statements and practices.

Whether it's due to the lingering recession, job insecurity, increased workload or other factors entirely, job burnout is on the rise around the world, according to the World Eco-nomic Forum.

Job burnout isn't simply being bored or disenchanted with your work. Rather, it's the result of prolonged work stress and is characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, a lower sense of accomplishment and severely reduced productivity. Burnout can also lead to increases in stress hormones, heart disease, and mental health issues like depression. Studies on the condition have found that there are generally three types of burnout: frenetic, un-der-challenged, and worn-out.

In the latest study published in the journal BMC Psychiatry, researchers from the University of Zaragoza in Spain identify the factors can con-tribute to each type of burnout and suggest possible "cures."

Frenetic burnoutYou work increasingly harder to the point of exhaustion and border on being a workaholic. The more hours you work, the more at risk you are of burnout.

You are extremely involved and ambitious, and overload yourself to fulfill the demands of your job.

You feel guilt about the idea of not achieving your ambitious goals and are often driven by this guilt.

The Fix: Work on understanding the cause of your excessive ambition and your guilt, while reducing your personal involvement in work to sat-isfy personal needs.

Under-challenged burnoutYou have little to motivate you at work, and have to cope with monotonous and unstimulating conditions.

This type of burnout is more common in men than women and in fields like administration and service personnel. You feel indifferent and bored and don't experience any per-sonal development in your job.

You feel cynical, because you've lost interest in their work.

The fix: Understand the disen-chantment caused by feeling trapped in a job that bores you. Look for ways to renew your interest in your per-sonal development at work.

Worn-out burnoutYou have been in the same organiza-tion for many years--the more you're there, the greater your risk, but being in one place more than four years can trigger it. You give up when faced with stress or lack of gratification.

You don't have any control over the results of your work and no rec-ognition, which leads you to neglect your responsibilities.

You have a somewhat passive coping style and may become less productive, which can lead to feel-ings of guilt.

This type of burnout can be buff-ered if you have a college degree, a stable relationship and children.

The Fix: Work through your feelings of despair and your passive coping style, and seek out a social support network at work to help you become more motivated.

By LAURIE TARKAN / MONEYWATCH/ June 29, 2011, 10:33 AM


Maslach, Schaufeli and Leiter (2001) describe job burnout as a psychological syndrome that occurs in response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job. It has three key dimensions.Overwhelming exhaustion, which represents the basic individual stress dimension and includes feelings of being overextended and depleted of one’s emotional and physical resources.

Feelings of cynicism, depersonalisation and detachment from the job, which represents the in-terpersonal, contextual dimension, and includes a negative, callous or excessively detached response to various aspects of the job.

A sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment, which refers to the self-evalu-ation dimension, and includes reduced feelings of efficacy and accomplishment, feelings of incompetence, a lack of achievement and a lack of productivity.Burnout research had its roots in caregiving and service occupations where aid and service to people in need is given and where emotional and interpersonal stressors are evident. Early interviews with human-service workers identified that coping strategies had important implications for people’s professional identity and job behaviour. Importantly, burnout was seen not so much as an individual stress response but in terms of the person’s transactions in the workplace, with attention to emotions and the motives and values underlying the person’s work (p. 400). The rewards and costs of relationships are important.

The concept of burnout received increasing research attention, and was extended from human services to education and other occupations (such as clerical, military and managers), maintaining a focus on the transaction between the person and the organisational environment.Burnout is associated with negative effects on job performance (absenteeism, intention to leave, turnover, lower productivity, lower effectiveness, reduced job satisfaction and reduced commitment) and stress-related physical illnesses (p. 406). The authors write that the relationship between burnout and mental health appears to be complex, with the common assumption being that burnout precipitates anxiety, depression, lowered self-esteem and so on. However, an alternative argument is that people who are already mentally healthy are more able to cope with chronic stressors and are therefore less likely to experience burnout.

Many workers do not recognise they have job burnout, says Dr Elizabeth Nair, lead psychologist and chief executive of Work & Health Psychologists.They think this is how life is, and they just have to keep going to meet expectations - their own as well as their significant others’ expectations of what they need to provide or achieve.’

Burnout is caused by prolonged stress. Those who suffer from it have reported being tired most of the time. They also feel overwhelmed and unproductive. It’s normal to feel this way sometimes but if the feeling persists, it may be a sign of something more serious.

Here are the symptoms of job burnout to look out for, according to Dr Nair.

• Being chronically fatigued;

• Wondering about the meaning of life, specifically the meaning of your own life;

• Difficulty in meeting work targets;

• Difficulty in meeting expectations of family and friends in meaningful engagement;

• Being preoccupied;

• Difficulty in focusing;

• Feeling of wanting to get away from your present life;

• Having sleeping problems, either too little sleep or too much sleep;

• Losing interest in the simple pleasures of life; and

• Losing motivation to learn or achieve mastery in new skills.

• Medication does not address the root of these problems, Dr Nair says. You may also find that you have become critical at work or troubled by unexplained headaches or other physical ailments.

• The key symptom is when you feel like you do not have the urge to do anything at all.

That’s when you know that you are at the tipping point, says Mr Paul Heng, founder/


CORTISOLIN THE BLOODSTREAM, AS WELL AS SEVERAL OTHER HEALTH PROBLEMS). THEY FOUND THAT GREATER LEVELS OF JOB STRESS INCREASED PEOPLE’S CHANCES OF DEVELOPING METABOLIC SYNDROME: THE HIGHER THE STRESS LEVEL, THE GREATER THE CHANCE OF DEVELOPING METABOLIC SYNDROME. MAJOR CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE INCLUDES, ABSENTEEISM, TURNOVER, DIMINISHED PERFORMANCE & PRODUCTIVITY, SUBSTANCE ABUSE, AND INCREASED HEALTH COMPENSATION CLAIMS. RESEARCH INDICATES THAT STRESS ACCOUNTS FOR AS MUCH AS 75% OF ALL TIME LOST FROM WORK OWING TO ILLNESS AND ACCIDENTS. INDICATORS OF STRESS THAT CAN CONTRIBUTE TO LOST PRODUCTIVITY AND NEGATIVELY IMPACT YOUR BOTTOM LINE ALSO INCLUDES PROBLEMS SUCH AS, NERVOUSNESS, WORRYING, ANXIETY, PANIC, IRRITABILITY, DEPRESSION, FORGETFULNESS, MOOD SWINGS, CRYING EASILY, EASILY ANGERED, POOR CONCENTRATION, RESTLESSNESS, INSOMNIA, FATIGUE. WORKERS WHO HAVE HIGHER LEVELS OF JOB STRESS EXPERIENCE A GREATER INCIDENCE OF THE COMMON COLD, AND CALL IN SICK MORE OFTEN. THERE HAS ALSO BEEN A DOCUMENTED LINK BETWEEN HIGH JOB STRESS AND LOWER LEVELS OF MENTAL HEALTH. SOURCES OF JOB STRESS. VARIOUS JOB STRESS SOURCES CAN CONTRIBUTE TO CHRONIC JOB STRESS AND BURNOUT. ESPECIALLY CHALLENGING SOURCES OF JOB STRESS INCLUDE:, JOB STRAIN, LOW DECISION LATITUDE (FEWER CHANCES TO MAKE CHOICES), LOW SOCIAL SUPPORT, HIGH PSYCHOLOGICAL DEMANDS, EFFORT-REWARD IMBALANCE (LOW REWARDS FOR HIGH EFFORTS), AND HIGH JOB INSECURITY PREDICTED COMMON MENTAL DISORDERS IN A REVIEW OF SEVERAL DIFFERENT JOB STRESS STUDIES, PUBLISHED IN THE SCANDANAVIAN JOURNAL OF WORK, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH. SOCIAL FACTORS PLAYED A ROLE AS WELL. THE ARTICLE MENTIONED ABOVE ALSO FOUND THAT LUCKY SUBJECTS WITH HIGHER STATUS JOBS WERE LESS LIKELY TO HAVE JOB STRESS-RELATED METABOLIC SYNDROME, AND THOSE WITH LOWER STATUS JOBS WERE AT A HIGHER RISK.

JOB STRESS IS WIDELY EXPERIENCED, AND SO PERVASIVE THAT IT’S BEEN FOUND TO AFFECT PEOPLE FROM ALL INDUSTRIES, RANKS AND SO-CIO-ECONOMIC STATUS LEVELS. AND, BECAUSE OF A CLOSE LINK BETWEEN JOB STRESS AND CHRON-IC STRESS, JOB STRESS CAN TAKE A SIGNIFICANT TOLL ON OVERALL HEALTH AND WELLNESS. JOB STRESS AND CHRONIC STRESS : THERE ARE SEVERAL TYPES OF STRESS THAT PEOPLE EXPERI-ENCE, AND THEY EACH AFFECT PEOPLE DIFFERENT-LY. THERE’S EUSTRESS, WHICH IS CONSIDERED ‘GOOD STRESS’ FOR A REASON—IT KEEPS US FEELING VITAL, ALIVE, AND EXCITED ABOUT LIVING. THERE IS ALSO ACUTE STRESS, WHICH COMES AND GOES QUICKLY. THESE TYPES OF STRESS AREN’T ESPECIALLY HARM-FUL IN MANAGEABLE DOSES, THOUGH TOO MUCH OF EITHER CAN LEAD TO A GREATER RISK OF EXPE-RIENCING CHRONIC STRESS, WHICH IS THE DAMAG-ING TYPE OF STRESS THAT WE OFTEN HEAR ABOUT WHEN WE HEAR ABOUT THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF STRESS. CHRONIC STRESS COMES FROM SITUATIONS WHERE OUR STRESS RESPONSE IS TRIGGERED AGAIN AND AGAIN, WHEN OUR BODIES DON’T RETURN TO THEIR PRE-STRESSED STATE. THIS TYPE OF STRESS OFTEN COMES FROM CONFLICTED RELATIONSHIPS, BUSY SCHEDULES, AND YES, STRESSFUL JOBS TOO. EFFECTS OF JOB STRESS. WHEN JOB STRESS TURNS CHRONIC, IT CAN REALLY THREATEN OUR PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH. CONSIDER THE FOLLOW-ING JOB STRESS FINDINGS. ONE STUDY THAT ASSESSED OVER 11,000 PEOPLE FOUND THAT EMPLOYEES RE-PORTING HIGH PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL JOB DEMANDS AND LOW JOB CONTROL HAD ELEVATED RISKS OF EMOTIONAL EXHAUSTION, PSYCHOSOMATIC AND PHYSICAL HEALTH COMPLAINTS, AND JOB DIS-SATISFACTION.ACCORDING TO A STUDY BY THE BRIT-ISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, CHRONIC STRESS HAS BEEN LINKED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF HEART DISEASE AND TYPE 2 DIABETES, AS WELL AS OTHER CONDITIONS. THIS IS BECAUSE THEY FOUND A LINK BETWEEN CHRONIC JOB STRESS AND METABOLIC SYNDROME, WHICH IS A GROUP OF FACTORS THAT, TOGETHER, INCREASE THE RISK OF THESE DISEASES, INCLUDING HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, INSULIN RESISTANCE, CENTRAL OBESITY (EXCESSIVE ABDOMINAL FAT, WHICH HAS BEEN LINKED TO INCREASED

Data from another HPB survey also indicates that one in six working adults in Singapore ex-periences a relatively high level of stress com-pared to one in 10 non-working adults. At the same time, 40 per cent of the 1,200 Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises

(SMEs) HPB surveyed expressed an intention to invest in the mental well-being of their employ-ees even though three quarters of them recognise the benefits of supporting and improving staff ’s mental health.

This gap could be due to a few reasons, such as a lack of resources and knowledge, or not enough employees to make conducting workshops and talks viable.

To improve the mental well-being of singa-pore’s workforce and help employers do more to promote mental health at the workplace, HPB is launching a new initiative called the Workplace Mental Health Solution.

The aim is to create a convenient one-stop centre that offers both employees and employers accessible and affordable tools, resources and guid-ance to boost mental health at the workplace.

HPB’s Workplace Mental Health Solution is one of the key initiatives of the newly established Centre of Excellence for Healthy Mind, which seeks to research, develop and specialise in mental well-being and preventive mental health, as well as translate science and research into innovative, functional and relevant solutions for our needs.

This Centre of Excellence will address current chal-lenges facing our population’s mental well-being. At the same time, it will also be forward-looking as we anticipate the kind of work we will need to do in the future. Together with local, regional and inter-national partners, we will build a knowledge base to influence decisions on mental health policies, prac-tice and societal behaviour.

The themes of our work include:Well-being solutions to empower Singapore-

ans to thrive and protect themselves against men-tal health problems.

Population-centric strategies to reduce the risk of mental health conditions such as depres-sion and dementia.

“Effective education and promotion to raise mental health literacy” Said Dr Amy Khor, Minister of State for Health and Manpower

“Nearly 70% of our population are in the workforce, many of whom deal with stress every day as part of a typical fast-paced urban lifestyle. HPB’s Mental Health Solution offers a Three-in-one solution to help employees and employers boost mental health at the workplace through accessible and affordable tools and resources tai-lored separately for employees, managers and or-ganizations as a whole. Mental Health Solution as it supports them in creating effective and targeted programmes for their employees mental well-be-ing. This, in turn, helps create a healthier, happier and invariably more productive workplace.”

Providing solutions at three levels, Employee, Management and Organisational the Workplace Mental Health Solution includes the:

Healthy Mind Hub at the Employee levelAn online employee self assessment tool to meas-ure levels of mental well-being, resilience, stress, depression and anxiety, it also offers post-assess-ment self-help resources. Ensuring that such in-formation is confidential gives employees the peace of mind to share honestly. In addition, the confidential aggregate data collected can guide the focus of a company’s mental health programmes.

Workplace Mental Health Investment Guide and Working Minds Health Curriculum at the Management levelDeveloped by HPB, these are resources to guide managers as well as industry vendors on how to put together workplace mental health programmes that are effective, affordable and accessible.

Workplace Health Grant at the-Organisational levelServing as an interventional enabler, the Work-place Health Grant is now $15,000, with $5,000 exclusively for the promotion of mental health. Employers can use the additional sum to plan or expand mental well-being programmes, such as counsellingservices, talks and workshops.


B esides those depress ing topics about work stress and working hours , the most common cause for work product iv ity decl ine is boredom. B oredom at work is never a va l id problem to the human resource team in your company. It i s a matter that is pushed to your personal issues problem, rather than the issue of your workplace. Ye t i t u n a v o i d e d l y , t r u e l y e x i s t s i n a l l w o r k p l a c e s . T h e r e a s o n f o r t h i s c a n b e a t t r i b u t e d t o t h e a m e n t a l i t y t h a t b o r e d o m i s u s u a l l y a t r a n s i e n t a n d n e g l i g i b l e p h e n o m e n o n . A f t e r a l l , e v e r y o n e g e t s b o r e d f r o m t i m e t o t i m e . B o r e d o m a t w o r k i s t h e r e f o r e l o o k e d a t a s a r o u t i n e p a r t o f p r o f e s s i o n a l l i f e . A n a r t i c l e b y t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l Wo r k p l a c e C o n s u l t i n g S i n g a p o r e s h o w s u s s o m e e x a m p l e s o f p r o b l e m s t h a t i s a r e s u l t o f c a r e e r b o r e d o m .

B o r e d o m L e a d s t o I n e f f e c i e n c y …B o r e d o m a t w o r k i s i m m i n e n t a t s o m e p o i n t w h e n e m p l o y e e s a r e g i v e n t h e s a m e r o u t i n e j o b s o n a f r e q u e n t b a s i s . T h e o c c u r r e n c e o f b o r e d o m i s n o t r a n d o m o r c a s u a l ; i t o c c u r s e v e r y t i m e t h e j o b b e c o m e s m u n d a n e . O v e r t i m e , s u c h b o r e d o m w o u l d l e a d t o a c a s u a l a t t i t u d e t o w a r d s t h e j o b , w h i c h l e a d s t o s i l l y m i s t a k e s a n d o v e r a l l i n e f f i c i e n c y . T h i s k i n d o f a n e f f e c t i s n o t s u d d e n - i t o c c u r s o v e r a l o n g p e r i o d o f t i m e - u s u a l l y a m o n g s e n i o r e m p l o y e e s , a n d a s

s u c h , m i s t a k e s s u r f a c e w i t h o u t p r i o r w a r n i n g .

R e d u c e d J o b S a t i s f a c t i o n …

A s a n y o n e w o u l d a g r e e , b o r e d o m i s u n p l e a s a n t . A n e m p l o y e e w h o g e t s b o r e d w i t h

w o r k f r e q u e n t l y w o u l d b e d i s s a t i s f i e d w i t h t h e w o r k h e / s h e i s p e r f o r m i n g , a n d

w i t h t h e c o m p a n y o v e r a l l . M o s t c o m p a n i e s l o o k i n t o o t h e r n e g a t i v e f a c t o r s t h a t

c a u s e j o b d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n , l i k e a n g e r o r f r u s t r a t i o n t o w a r d s t h e j o b , c o l l e a g u e s ,

o r p e e r s . H o w e v e r , m a n y o f t h e b e s t h u m a n r e s o u r c e s m a n a g e r s f a i l t o l o o k a t

b o r e d o m a s o n e o f t h e f a c t o r s . I n f a c t , i f y o u l o o k a t t h e c r i t e r i a u s e d t o m e a s u r e

o v e r a l l j o b s a t i s f a c t i o n , y o u w o u l d s e e t h a t d e g r e e o f b o r e d o m i s h a r d l y ,

i f e v e r , m e n t i o n e d .

A t t r i t i o n a n d A b s e n t e e i s m …

E m p l o y e e t u r n o v e r i s a s e r i o u s i s s u e , b u t n o t m a n y m a n a g e r s l o o k a t

b o r e d o m a s o n e o f t h e p o s s i b l e c a u s e s o f t h i s p r o b l e m . E m p l o y e e s w h o f i n d

t h e i r w o r k u n c h a l l e n g i n g w o u l d r a t h e r l o o k f o r o t h e r o p t i o n s , e v e n t h o u g h

t h e j o b a t h a n d i s s i m p l e . T h i s i s b e c a u s e e m p l o y e e s n e e d c h a l l e n g e s a n d

m o t i v a t i o n t o s t a y i n t e r e s t e d , a n d a r e w a r d b e c o m e s v e r y t r i v i a l w h e n

t h e t a s k i t s e l f i s s o m u n d a n e . A s a r e s u l t , e m p l o y e e s o f t e n e s c a p e w o r k

b y f e i g n i n g s o m e e x c u s e o r b y j u s t l e a v i n g t h e c o m p a n y i n s e a r c h o f m o r e

r e w a r d i n g o p p o r t u n i t i e s .

Boredom test by Dr T.W Lee

1. Do you often get bored with your work?

2. Is your work monotonous?

3. Would you like to change from your type of work to another from time to time (if the pay were the same)?

4. How well do you like the work you do?

5. Do you often get tired on the job?

6. Do you find the job dull?

7. Does the job go by slowly?

8. Do you become irritable on the job?

9. Do you get apathetic on the job?

10. 10) Do you get mentally sluggish during the day?

11. Do you get drowsy on the job?

12. Does the time seem to go by slowly?

13. Are there long periods of boredom on the job?

14. During the day, do you think about doing another task?



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On The Other Hand Issue 3