The Burnout Challenge, Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter
Two pioneering researchers identify key causes of workplace burnout and reveal what people can do about it.
Our research has identified at least six areas in which a bad fit – or mismatch – between the job and the person can increase the risk of burnout. These six mismatches include work overload, lack of control, insufficient rewards, breakdown of community, absence of fairness, and value conflicts.
Any one of these six areas can result in an increasingly bad mismatch between the person and his or her job. The more any or all these six conditions depart from employees’ aspirations or preferred ways of working, the greater their vulnerability to burnout.
In our book, The Burnout Challenge, we detail these six mismatches – what they are, why they have such a toxic effect, and how to fix them and achieve better matches between the job and the person. If mismatches can be corrected or improved, then there are ways to prevent burnout and promote greater engagement with work.
