Academic burnout is a formidable challenge plaguing colleges and universities in the U.S. If left unaddressed, this issue could transform our institutions of higher education into “burnout shops” for faculty and students.
The implications of such a transformation are far-reaching, affecting not only the state of education and the quality of our economy but also the health of our democratic institutions, which rely heavily on an educated society. Furthermore, “burnout shops” in higher education are detrimental to the mental and also physical health and well-being of those learning and working in these organizations.
Experts suggest a simple solution to alleviate burnout: leadership faculty, and staff promoting compassion and belonging in our organizations. In other words, we simply need to be nicer to one another.
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Concern for burnout has grown in recent years. Over the past few decades, especially during and after the pandemic, people have searched Google for information about “burnout” and “work-life balance” at increasing rates.
In 2019, the World Health Organization identified workplace stress associated with burnout as an “occupational phenomenon” that adversely affects individual health. The social isolation of the pandemic, along with its threats to our health and safety and increasing demands from workplaces, accelerated the problem of burnout.
3 aspects of academic burnout
Burnout is comprised of three dimensions: exhaustion, a lack of professional efficacy and growing cynicism about one’s work. This workplace phenomenon is especially prevalent in our institutions of higher learning.
A comprehensive literature review found that college students reported being exhausted, lacking efficacy in their work and experiencing cynicism about their education. Similar research focused on faculty found them to be burned out as well.
In my field of public administration and policy, Sean McCandless, Bruce McDonald and Sara Rinfret have highlighted alarming levels of burnout among faculty. They describe this issue as “a cliff” that we must find a way to move away from. They are absolutely correct, and we in academic leadership know the path away from burnout.
The research on occupation burnout is primarily based on the work conducted by Christina Maslach, starting in the 1970s. Maslach and colleagues, such as Michael Leiter, have extended the early research on burnout to focus on treatment and possible managerial interventions for the problem.
According to these scholars, burnout is a relations problem where employees, their positions and their organizations are mismatched. Through such relational mismatches, employees found themselves with unreasonable demands, a lack of support and little control over their work. Therefore, interventions to decrease burnout involve strategies from the demand-control-support model, as noted by the organizational psychologist Adam Grant.
Encouraging our academic leaders and colleagues to practice civility and promote belonging is a strategy that addresses unreasonable demand, provides support to organizational stakeholders and promotes individual autonomy. However, much work must be done, as many faculty do not feel respected in their organizations. This is not surprising as many colleges and universities rely on contingent employees in the form of adjuncts.
Moreover, bullying is widespread in academia, affecting faculty and students. Leaders who promote belonging, mutual respect and overall civility help abate these issues and, in doing so, fight against burnout. The strategies for belonging fall under the banner of leadership that other researchers and I label “compassionate management.” This approach includes managers in organizations promoting “affection, generosity, caring, and tenderness.”
Research shows that such practices by leadership increase employee performance, decrease stress, and fight against burnout. Additionally, having university leaders sincerely promote “collaboration, customization and commitment” in crucial decision-making processes will advance this compassionate approach and promote belonging in our institutions of higher learning. This will do a lot to fight burnout without much cost, except for being civil to one another.
