Employee burnout is an increasingly prevalent issue in workplaces around the globe, with Singapore being no exception.
Numerous studies show that rates of burnout among employees in Singapore are significantly high (Alanazy & Alruwaili, 2023, Aziz & Ong, 2024, Tan et. al., 2022). Aside from topping the list of the most fatigued cities in the world, a People at Work survey on the top source of stress in Singapore in 2022 found that over 73% of workers experience stress at least once a week, and 16% face stress daily. A 2023 report on how frequently HR professionals experience burnout revealed that 75% experience burnout at least once a month, with only 32% believing that their companies value mental health. Despite the provision of mental health resources, a significant portion of employees remains dissatisfied, indicating that burnout is a sticky and recurring problem that is not being adequately addressed.
Burnout is insidious and often goes unrecognised. It can creep into our lives or the lives of those around us in subtle yet impactful ways. Symptoms like chronic fatigue, irritability, and a sense of detachment can be overlooked as just part of a busy lifestyle. But these could be signs of burnout that, if left unaddressed, can lead to more severe physical and mental health issues. By understanding these symptoms and how they might be affecting us, we can take proactive steps to address them.
Given its pervasive nature, there is also a pressing need to explore more profound and sustainable solutions to mitigate burnout. One such solution lies in fostering a sense of meaning at work, which can potentially transform how employees perceive and engage with their work, leading to improved wellbeing and reduced burnout.
Table of Contents
What is Burnout?
Work burnout, or career burnout, is a syndrome to describe emotional, mental, and/or physical exhaustion specifically in the occupational context. Burnout as conceptualised by the World Health Organization (WHO) is a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.
Burnout can be characterised by three dimensions: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance or pessimism towards one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy (Malasch, 1988). It is associated with chronic rather than episodic stress, which means that burnout is something that develops over time due to long-term workplace culture and practices.
Common symptoms of burnout include chronic fatigue, insomnia, impaired concentration, increased irritability, and a general sense of helplessness. Physically, individuals may experience frequent headaches, muscle pain, sleeplessness, or gastrointestinal issues. Emotionally, burnout can lead to feelings of cynicism, detachment from work, and a pervasive sense of failure or self-doubt.
It is also important to note that there can be serious physical and mental health consequences, as studies have found that burnout is associated with higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and is a significant predictor of depressive symptoms and hospital admissions due to mental disorders (Salvagioni et. al., 2017),
Aside from its effects on employees, burnout carries a heavy toll on organisations in terms of absenteeism, presenteeism, sick leaves, and loss of productivity and revenue, costing the local economy an estimated $16 billion per year as of 2023.
The Multiple Roots of Burnout
Scholars have sought to study occupational diseases since the Industrial Revolution, but the specific term “burnout” was introduced by psychologist Herbert Freudenberger in the 1970s. After his article observing volunteer staff in a free clinic become exhausted from an overwhelming workload (1974), multiple theoretical frameworks have been developed to explore and measure burnout and its causes.
In this article, we use the Positive Organisational Profile (POP) developed by Positran to help us understand the many possible factors that contribute to burnout, and why a sense of meaning can play such a big role in mitigating the effects of burnout.
The POP offers a comprehensive and empirically-tested model of positive functioning at work, meaning it helps us assess the wellbeing of an organisation and its employees. It uses three main performance indices: energy, sustainable performance, and resources.
Energy
How are employees feeling at work – how much enthusiasm, comfort, stress, or apathy do they feel? Burnt out employees would likely score highly in the field of apathy, which is defined as low activations combined with negative emotions.
Sustainable Performance
How are employees feeling towards work – do they tend towards productivity, engagement, satisfaction, relaxation, boredom, aversion, exhaustion, or workaholism? Burnt out employees would likely tend towards exhaustion, aversion, and boredom.
Resources
Does a workplace have high or low amounts of organisational, job role, and individual resources? The POP model suggests that these resources play a pivotal role in shaping how employees feel and perform.
- Organisational Resources are the foundational elements within a workplace that significantly impact employee wellbeing and performance. This encompasses fostering a climate of trust where employees feel secure, providing robust leadership support that guides and encourages, and ensuring competitive pay and benefits that motivate and reward.
- Job Role Resources aid in achieving work goals and personal growth, which include autonomy in task ownership, allowing employees to take initiative and innovate, opportunities for skill mastery to develop expertise and growth, and clear role structures that define responsibilities and align with organizational objectives.
- Individual Resources empower employees through vitality for sustained energy and health, cognitive flexibility to adapt to diverse challenges and opportunities, and emotional agility to navigate stress and maintain resilience in demanding environments.
This list of resources is helpful to understand the factors that interact dynamically to influence employee wellbeing and performance, creating conditions where employees flourish, languish, or burn out. The POP framework is thus a useful tool to point ways towards improving employee wellbeing and reducing levels of burnout.
For example, would the Singapore government’s recent implementation of the Tripartite Guidelines on Flexible Work Arrangement Requests (TG-FWAR) improve how employees feel at work? By establishing clear procedures for employees to request flexible work arrangements and for employers to handle these requests, TG-FWAR promotes better communication and mutual understanding. This can open conversations between employees and their leaders about how to improve work conditions, workplace benefits, and enhance an employee’s sense of autonomy in their work. It is thus a promising shift towards a more engaged, motivated, and satisfied workforce, ultimately benefiting both individuals and organisations.
But aside from structural implementations, there are also deeper, intrinsic factors that play a critical role in enhancing employee wellbeing: Meaning.
The Power of Meaning at Work
Meaning is a core theme in Positive Psychology, and widely regarded as a cornerstone of a “good life” (Steger et al., 2008). Having a “meaningful life” – the experience that one’s life is “comprehensible and significant”, where one is able to use their strengths in the service of something larger than oneself – has been shown to be one of most potent contributors to overall life satisfaction (Heintzelman et al., 2014).
But how does meaning buffer us against burnout?
While there may not be a direct correlation between high levels of meaning and low levels of burnout, meaning has a significant effect on improving a person’s wellbeing, which can buffer against burnout. Research has found that when a person feels connected to their sources of meaning, they are likely to feel energised, more positive emotions, and a sense of belonging (Steger et. al., 2008).
With meaning featuring as a recurring theme across the three categories of the POP’s resource index – the positive mission of an organisation, meaningful work in a job, and the personal meaning that individuals carry with them to work, it becomes evident that meaning acts as a vital protective factor against burnout.
Positive Mission
An organisation with a well-defined mission and values can inspire and motivate employees, and provide a clear sense of direction and purpose. It helps employees understand the broader impact of their daily tasks and how their work fits into the larger goals of the organisation (Carton, 2018). This clarity can transform routine tasks into meaningful activities, as employees see how their contributions help achieve the organisation’s mission.
Conversely, a lack of a clear mission or misalignment with organisational values can lead to disengagement and burnout. According to Leiter and Maslach (2005), when employees perceive a disconnect between their personal values and the organisation’s mission, it can result in a significant strain, contributing to emotional exhaustion and cynicism, which are core components of burnout. This misalignment creates an environment where employees struggle to find personal significance in their roles, leading to decreased motivation and increased turnover intentions (Cable & Edwards, 2004).
Meaning at Work
Meaning at work refers to the sense of purpose and significance employees derive from the tasks, roles, and responsibilities associated with one’s job. This sense of meaningfulness at work can stem from various sources like the nature of tasks, the social impact of the job, and the alignment with personal values and goals.
Research into meaning at work has indicated that individuals who perceive their work as purposeful and contributing to something larger than themselves are significantly less likely to show symptoms of burnout (Rosso et al., 2010; Steger et al., 2013). What are some of the processes that contribute to this?
Firstly, meaningful work has been shown to enhance employees’ intrinsic motivation, which is the drive to perform an activity for its inherent satisfaction rather than for some separable consequence (Deci & Ryan, 2000). When employees find their work meaningful, they are more likely to experience higher levels of intrinsic motivation, leading to greater engagement and a willingness to go above and beyond their formal job duties (Gagné & Deci, 2005). This increased engagement and discretionary effort can significantly enhance organisational effectiveness and employee wellbeing (Bakker & Demerouti, 2008).
Secondly, meaningful work can provide employees with a sense of coherence and direction, contributing to their overall wellbeing and job satisfaction (Wrzesniewski, McCauley, Rozin, & Schwartz, 1997), and buffering against the negative effects of work-related stress (Rosso, Dekas, & Wrzesniewski, 2010).
Thirdly, employees who perceive their work as meaningful are more likely to exhibit prosocial behaviours and contribute positively to the work environment. Prosocial behaviours such as helping colleagues, sharing knowledge, and volunteering for additional responsibilities are crucial for creating a collaborative and supportive work culture, and in turn increases positive relationships as a job role resource.
Some researchers have even suggested that the core factor underlying burnout is existential deficiency – a sense of meaninglessness when a person feels that their work makes “no sense” (Längle, 2003; Arman et al., 2011)., that they have “no choice” and are unable to move towards the desired version of themselves, and that their peers do not recognise or understand them as an individual . Without a sense of alignment with or impact from their job role, employees are likely to feel disengaged and less satisfied with their work. This misalignment can lead to decreased motivation and increased feelings of burnout.
Meaning in Life
Meaning in life encompasses one’s personal values, goals, relationships, and overall life philosophy. According to Steger et al. (2006), meaning in life can be broken down into two primary components: the presence of meaning and the search for meaning. The presence of meaning refers to the degree to which individuals feel their lives are significant and purposeful, while the search for meaning involves actively seeking to understand and enhance this sense of purpose. Both components are crucial for overall wellbeing and satisfaction.
Bringing one’s personal sense of meaning to the professional realm can strongly influence one’s performance at work. This is especially since meaning influences how well individuals cope with life’s challenges and navigate their personal and professional lives (Park, 2010) When individuals can find meaning in adversity, they are more likely to experience post-traumatic growth and less likely to suffer from long-term negative psychological effects.
Research has also found that when individuals perceive their work as an integral part of their broader life purpose, they are more likely to experience higher levels of job satisfaction and engagement (Wrzesniewski, McCauley, Rozin, & Schwartz, 1997). This alignment between personal meaning and professional roles can thus lead to greater enthusiasm in one’s job.
Fostering meaning through a positive mission, meaningful work, and personal life integration is essential for enhancing employee wellbeing and reducing burnout. By creating environments where meaning is cultivated and valued, organisations can support a more engaged, motivated, and resilient workforce.
On a practical level, this can look like:
- Developing and communicating a clear organisational mission
- An organisation offering more opportunities for professional development
- Promoting autonomy by empowering employees to make decisions about their work
- Providing avenues for employees to foster deeper relationships amongst coworkers
- Recognising and valuing employee contributions
Not to be taken for granted, having a sense of meaning is a powerful way to facilitate employees that feel more energised and fulfilled in their job, provided that other resources are adequately provided. It is therefore not surprising that in a POP research study done in France, meaning at work was found to be one of the strongest predictors of employee engagement. Employees who perceived their work as meaningful were more likely to be deeply engaged in their tasks, show higher levels of motivation, and invest more effort in their roles, which translated into better performance outcomes.
Ways to Create Meaning at Work
Building on the understanding that meaning at work can significantly buffer against burnout and enhance engagement, it’s important to recognise that meaning is not a static attribute but a dynamic aspect that can be cultivated. Individuals derive meaning from various sources, including their personal values, relationships, and the nature of their work (Rosso et al., 2010). Research shows that meaning can be actively developed through intentional actions and strategies (Steger et al., 2013).
By creating opportunities for employees to connect their work with their personal values, engage in meaningful tasks, and contribute to a greater cause, organisations can foster a more fulfilling and resilient work environment. In this section, we will offer a brief overview of a few strategies that both managers and employees can explore to build more meaning in their lives and careers.
From a Managerial Perspective
Managers can start by gathering data on employees’ perceptions of their work and the factors that contribute to or detract from their sense of meaning. This can be done through surveys, interviews, and focus groups, ensuring that employees feel safe and encouraged to share their honest opinions. Using an approach like Appreciative Inquiry, managers can identify and leverage the organisation’s strengths by engaging employees in conversations about what works well and what gives them a sense of purpose, co-creating a vision of meaningful work, and implementing strategies to enhance it. Additionally, managers can encourage autonomy by providing clear goals and expectations, offering necessary support and resources, and allowing employees the freedom to determine how best to achieve their objectives. This empowerment fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility, further contributing to their sense of meaning and engagement in their work.
From an Individual Perspective
Job crafting involves proactively modifying one’s job to better align with one’s strengths, values, and interests. This can include changing work tasks, moving to a different department, seeking new challenges, or building stronger relationships with colleagues. Reframing is another powerful strategy where individuals who have started to feel cynical about their job can try to change their perspectives about their tasks and the impact they have on others. For example, instead of viewing each task as monotonous and insignificant, they can see it as an opportunity to help solve a person’s problem, provide relief, and improve someone else’s day.
One can cultivate multiple sources of meaning by dedicating quality time for the various things that bring them a sense of fulfilment, whether relationships, hobbies, volunteer work, and/or personal growth. In a work context, this could take the form of participating in corporate social responsibility initiatives that contribute to the community, or building enjoyable friendships with one’s colleagues.
These may seem like simple strategies, but have been shown to have significant effects in improving workplace wellbeing. Research has shown that employees who actively craft their jobs to fit their strengths and interests, and who reframe their roles in positive ways, tend to experience higher levels of job satisfaction and lower levels of burnout (Tims et al., 2013). Furthermore, by cultivating diverse sources of meaning, employees can create a more resilient foundation for their overall sense of purpose and fulfilment, which is crucial for long-term mental health and professional success.
While meaning is a powerful buffer against burnout, it’s essential to recognise that burnout involves physical and mental exhaustion. Cultivating a stronger sense of meaning does require energy, so it is crucial for burnt-out employees to first prioritise self-care. This can include taking time off from work and engaging in activities that promote relaxation and wellbeing, such as exercise, hobbies, or spending time with loved ones. By focusing on restoring their energy levels through restorative practices, employees can then explore strategies like job crafting, reframing, or building on more sources of meaning.
Conclusion
Burnout remains a significant challenge in workplaces worldwide, particularly in high-stress environments like Singapore. While traditional approaches to managing burnout often focus on reducing job demands and improving working conditions, fostering a sense of meaning at work offers a deeper, more sustainable solution. By understanding the multiple roots of burnout and leveraging the power of meaningful work, both organisations and individuals can create a more resilient and engaged workforce. Meaning does not have to be intrinsic to a job; it can be cultivated through intentional practices and a supportive work environment. As we move towards a future where work-life balance and mental wellbeing are prioritised, the pursuit of meaning at work will play a crucial role in curing burnout and enhancing overall wellbeing.
More data is required in order to understand the context in Singapore and Asia, so that measures to counter burnout can be catered specifically to the work contexts here. In collaboration with Positran, The School of Positive Psychology is helping to use the POP to assess levels of wellbeing locally and in the region, and we are excited to soon announce insights from the preliminary findings. Stay in the loop by signing up for our newsletter where we share exciting updates to learn more about positive, organisational, and coaching psychology, psychotherapy, and more!
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