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Home Life May Contribute to Burnouts at Work

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Job stress may not be the only cause of burnouts at work, according to a recent study.

Researchers from Concordia University and the University of Montreal found that in addition to impossible deadlines, demanding bosses, abusive colleagues, unpaid overtime, the influence of home life can lead to a burnout.

"To maintain a truly healthy workforce, we need to look outside the office or home in simple terms to combat mental health issues in the workplace," said Alain Marchand, lead author of the study.

For the study, the research team polled nearly 2,000 employees from 63 different organizations to measure factors like parental status, household income, social network, gender, age, physical health and levels of self-esteem. They studied these elements alongside stressors typically seen in the workplace, such as emotional exhaustion, poor use of skills, high psychological demands, job insecurity and lack of authority.

Based on the findings, mental health in the workplace doesn't exist in a vacuum; it's deeply affected by the rest of a person's day-to-day life, and vice versa.

They found that fewer mental health problems are experienced by those living with a partner, in households with young children, higher household incomes, less work-family conflicts and greater access to the support of a social network outside the workplace.

"This is a call to action," Steve Harvey, senior author of the study and professor of management and dean of Concordia's John Molson School of Business, said in a statement. "Researchers need to expand their perspective so that they get a full picture of the complexity of factors that determine individuals' mental health."

Of course, factors within the workplace are still important. Fewer mental health problems are reported when employees are supported at work, when expectations of job recognition are met and when people feel secure in their jobs. A higher level of skill use is also associated with lower levels of depression, pointing to the importance of designing tasks that motivate and challenge workers.

The findings were published in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

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