The Mayo Clinic further states that job burnout is “a state of physical, emotional or mental exhaustion, combined with doubts about your competence and the value of your work.”
You can see from these definitions that job burnout is more than having a bad week. It is an accumulation of stress over a long period of time that leaves us feeling like we have nothing of value to offer. We are tired, unmotivated, down on ourselves, and see no way out.
Causes of Job Burnout
There are many potential reasons someone might experience job burnout. Following are a few of the more common ones:
Organizational changes.
Changes in your job duties, restructuring, new policies, a new manager — all of these are probably outside your control and can leave you in drastically altered circumstances.
A change in the way you view your job or your employer.
A pivotal event (or several) at work can change your perception of your job and/or your employer. If this change is no longer in line with your values, it creates cognitive dissonance so that you feel uncomfortable working there. For example, you find out that your company is polluting the environment and contributing to the campaign of a politician who will help them get away with it.
Unrealistic expectations about your job.
You usually begin a job with positive expectations about what the work will be like. But if the job turns out to be nothing like you expected, it can leave you feeling frustrated or unfulfilled. A worst case scenario is discovering that you are in the wrong career — that you don't like the nature of the work itself.
Under-utilization of your skills.
If you are not given opportunities to use your knowledge, skills, and training, but rather are shunted into menial tasks, it can quickly sap your motivation.
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