The impact of individual and job characteristics on 'burnout' among civil engineers in Australia and the implications for employee turnover

A survey was undertaken to explore the experience of ‘burnout’ among engineers working in the Australian construction industry. The most widely recognized model of burnout, comprising emotional exhaustion, cynicism and a diminished sense of personal accomplishment was found to be valid. However, Australian engineers experience a strong sense of the social worth of their professional activity, independently of believing in their own individual competence as engineers. There was also a widespread belief that the rewards enjoyed by engineers as a result of their professional endeavours are not commensurate with their level of skill and responsibility. The results of the study also show that burnout cannot be attributed to a single cause but occurs as a result of a complex interaction of individual characteristics and issues in the work environment. As such, there is no single ‘cure’ for burnout and multiple intervention strategies are probably needed. However, the relative importance of job characteristics compared to personality characteristics in predicting burnout suggests that job re-design may be an effective preventive strategy. Cynicism and emotional exhaustion were strong predictors of engineers' intention to leave their jobs. This suggests that measures to prevent burnout could also help to reduce turnover and its associated costs.

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