Podcast #2 Is it the job? Is it the work environment? Factors in the work environment play a bigger role in predicting and producing stress and burnout rather than just the individual and the type of person they are. But that doesn’t mean that individuals react to stress in different ways from different work environments. Everybody handles and deals with stress in different ways. For myself, I believe I deal with stress pretty well, but it’s definitely the work environment that affects my stress.
When I was in high school I worked first ship at a corporation called Shape Corp. Shape Corp was a corporation that made parts for Chevrolet cars and trucks. The part of the factory that I worked in handled the bumpers for all the cars and trucks on the market. My shift was from 6:30am to 3:30pm. This job was very rewarding because of the paycheck and the time frame. It allowed me to make good money and allowed me to play summer baseball at nights. But this job caused stress in my life that I thought would never occur. This job also caused me to be burned out at the end of the day that it was an absolute struggle to get up each and every day.
The type of burnout that is caused in my life was exhaustion. The burnout exhaustion, stated from Early Signs of Burnout with Christina Maslach, is an individual stress response that caused from being overly tired mentally and physically. I was so exhausted from going to work for eight hours, and then going and playing a 9 inning baseball game that my body was getting exhausted and my mind was becoming stressful. It was a struggle to be the person I am because of the exhaustion and stress caused from this job. Because of this stress I started smoking cigarettes, which is totally against my beliefs in life. I thought that the drug Nicotine would be a good alternative to deal with this stress, and found out quickly that it wasn’t. The exhaustion from this job caused me to be burned out at the end of the day, and causes me to do things I never thought I’d be doing as an athlete, and as an individual.
The factors that caused my stress and burnout that were discussed in Christina Maslach’s interview was workload and control. The workload demanded for this job was very high. Myself and others had to work in a very hot environment and we had to pack parts that weighed from anywhere to 10lbs to 60lbs. We had to unload these parts very quickly because they were running on a conveyer belt that was moving at a fast pace. This fast work with heavy objects was very tiring and made my body ache every day, which contributed greatly to my burnout.
The other factor that contributed to my stress and burnout was the control we had as employees. Maslach describes this as looking at the amount of authority we have in doing our jobs. The corporation gave us little control on how we could do our jobs. The way we had to pack and inspect the parts was done their way, and their way only. Maslach said that the less control we have the more stress it will create, and she was right. I was always stressed because my group and I didn’t agree with the way we did some things, and thought that we had better alternatives. My supervisor was a good guy but the corporation made sure he was strict on the rules, which caused all of us stress because we always knew we were under a watchful eye.
The model I would use to for Shape Corp to prevent burnout would be the Demand-Control model. For this organization, the control the employees have needs to change. They need to let the employees have control and authority over what they are doing so that the stress levels go down dramatically. The other model I would suggest is the Job-Demand Resource model. The company could reduce demands so that one can achieve personal and organizational goals more easily. Also decreasing the workload and demand can stimulate personal growth and development with the organization. The job demand for the company is just too great to keep someone’s stress level sane. I think those two models are perfect for the company I worked for.
Yes that job was a pain in my ass but it taught me how to deal with stress the wrong and right ways in life. I became a better person working there because it taught me responsibility, hard work, perseverance, and dedication. That job causes stress in my life that really sucked, but I now know how to deal with that kind of stress in my life. That job burned me out, but because of that burnout I am a stronger man physically and mentally today.
Works Cited
Maslach, Christina. "Early Signs of Burnout." 5 Aug. 2008. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.