Shorter working weeks have long been advocated as a preventive remedy against burnout. One study by the University of Ghent (UGent) has now indicated this may not lower the risk.
People who have shorter working weeks are not necessarily at a lower risk of suffering from burnout. That is the conclusion of a study carried out by the university's department "UGent @ Work," which investigated the health benefits of working fewer days per week.
"Although part-time employees experience slightly fewer job demands than their full-time colleagues, shorter work regimes are not accompanied by lower burnout risk," the study's authors concluded.
"In fact, part-time employees are equally prone to developing job burnout as their full-time colleagues."
Sustainable implementation
Recent figures, which are believed to be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this health crisis, showed that the number of people off work due to burnout is skyrocketing in Belgium.
The "working less" theme has long been presented as a way to avoid burnout, however, no large-scale scientific studies have yet been published that effectively found a sustainable link between reducing working hours (with pay) and a lower risk of burnout, the researchers pointed out.
The UGent research, therefore, studied the work regimes, work environment and burnout risk of more than 1,000 employees in 22 different job domains in Flanders.
While the researchers found that part-timers' work demands somewhat less from them in terms of, for example, workload and the number of meetings, they are equally at risk of developing burnout, and also show core symptoms of burnout, including exhaustion, mental distancing and cognitive and emotional dysregulation.
A possible explanation is the fact that employees who choose these work regimes often do so to cope with their heavy family responsibilities, meaning it is possible these balance out slightly lower work demands.
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The researchers concluded that the proper implementation of such regimes is crucial and that employers should focus on what is asked of employees (in terms of workload) rather than only considering their working time. Here, they should seek to find a balance between the available time on the one hand and the workload on the other hand.
"If, as an employer, you merely offer shorter working weeks without changing anything about the work demands or the work process, the workload may just increase and encourage a higher burnout risk."
