North American study finds fairness major factor in employee success or failure

by William Atkins

Saturday, 16 August 2008

Page 2 of 3 Maslach and Leiter found that being overworked and underpaid are factors to becoming negative (burned out) at work, but unexpectedly found that these two factors are not the primary, or “crucial,” factors. Instead, they found that the largest factor between a positive-feeling (and engaged) employee and a negative-feeling (and burned out) employee is whether they feel they are being treated fairly or unfairly by their employer. Maslach states, "These fairness issues can be huge. Issues around fairness are highly linked to the anger and cynicism that are linked to burnout." [The Washington Post: “Sense of Fairness Affects Outlook, Decisions”] She adds, “You feel you have been treated with disrespect. It generates enormous personal anger for small things because of what it implies." Leiter and Maslach found that these employees, who sense they are being treated unfairly, were twice as likely to burn out as employees who did not. Leiter and Maslach, as reported by the Washington Post, “… were particularly interested in people who showed some risk factors for burnout but not others: people who were enthusiastic but exhausted, for example, or who felt energetic but psychologically disconnected from their jobs.” Leiter stated, "The people who were confident they were working for a fair employer went in a positive direction.” However, he added, “The people who did not have confidence in the employer's fairness tended to go toward burnout." He also stated, "When you are treated unfairly or disrespectfully, the organization is excluding you from being a real member of the community. There is something about that that makes people feel really insecure.” Leiter added, "When loyal employees are treated in a way that is not fair, they feel betrayed in a very deep, emotional way. When you do a lot of work you get tired, but it does not have the same emotional impact as being treated unfairly." Additional informaton about the work by Leiter and Maslach is found on page three. << First page <   1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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