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Job Burnout, Work Health Management Interference, and Organizational Health Climate Among Employees with Varied Levels of Work Ability

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Abstract

Purpose

The presence of chronic health conditions (CHCs), without sufficient personal and job resources, can impede one’s ability to effectively perform work tasks and manage job demands. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of job burnout and perceptions of work health management interference (WHMI) and organizational health climate (OHC) among employees with varied levels of work ability (WA). We also examined relationships among these variables and with sociodemographic and job-related variables (e.g., age, number of physician-diagnosed conditions).

Methods

A convenience sample of 878 adults living and working in the United States who responded to a recruitment message via professional listservs/email lists and social media participated in a non-experimental, cross-sectional online survey. Participants reported sociodemographic and job-related items, as well as measures to evaluate WA, burnout, WHMI, and OHC.

Results

Statistically significant differences in burnout, WHMI, and OHC were observed across WA groups. Workers with poor WA reported the highest levels of overall burnout, WMHI, and the least supportive OHC. A more supportive OHC was associated with lower burnout. A strong inverse relationship between WA and the number of physician-diagnosed conditions was observed; weak relationships between WA and age, as well as WA and managerial status, were found.

Conclusion

Employees with lower levels of WA tended to report higher levels of burnout and WHMI and lower levels of OHC. Findings provide a foundation for future research to examine causal relationships among these variables and to inform actions to both preserve WA and support worker well-being.

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Data Availability

The dataset generated during and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This project was funded with an internal grant from the University of Minnesota Duluth Department of Psychology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota Duluth, 1207 Ordean Ct., 320 Bohannon Hall, Duluth, MN, 55812-3011, USA

    Julie M. Slowiak & Mariah McDonough

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  1. Julie M. Slowiak
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  2. Mariah McDonough
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Contributions

Both authors contributed to the study conception, design, material preparation, data collection, and funding acquisition. JMS conducted data cleaning and data analysis. The first draft of the manuscript was written by JMS and both authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julie M. Slowiak.

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Competing Interests

Julie M. Slowiak and Mariah McDonough declare that they have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethical Approval

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and/or national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Minnesota, who determined this study met the requirements for exemption (Date: November 7, 2022; No: STUDY00017535).

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Agreement to participate was obtained electronically from all individuals for whom data are included in this study.

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Slowiak, J.M., McDonough, M. Job Burnout, Work Health Management Interference, and Organizational Health Climate Among Employees with Varied Levels of Work Ability. J Occup Rehabil (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-024-10198-8

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