June 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 14

Front Page
Research Update: Combating Staff Burnout
Strategies to increase employee wellness and civility
By Katherine Broughton, Ph.D., Jarrod Scheunemann, M.S., Chungsup Lee, M.S., and Laura Payne, Ph.D.

s park and recreation professionals navigate through the recession, it
seems like most agencies are pressed to do more with fewer resources, such as maintaining facility and programming levels with a flat or
even reduced budget. These challenging times have also put more strain on
staff who are working more hours, often without directors being able to reward
dedication and productivity with raises. This is the case in Illinois, where the
top trends and issues identified by Illinois Park and Recreation Association
(IPRA) members in their 2012 membership survey were staff burnout and morale issues. In response to the survey results, the University of Illinois Office of
Recreation and Park Resources staff worked with IPRA to develop and publish
a white paper on the subject. Here, we examine the concept of burnout and
describe cutting-edge, evidence-based initiatives that are working to help reduce
staff burnout and improve morale.
What Is Burnout?
Staff burnout is defined as " a condition of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment that can occur among
individuals who work with people in
some capacity " (Maslach et al. 1996:4).
Emotional exhaustion refers to the
energy discharge of emotional resources, which is considered
the keystone of staff
burnout. Secondly,
depersonalization
can be explained
as people behaving with a
" cold " heart or
an indifferent attitude. Finally, reduced
personal accomplishment
is the tendency to devalue one's
work, which leads to a negative
self-assessment (Maslach et al.
1996).
According to researchers, staff
burnout could lead to higher
rates of illness, lower staff morale,

Parks & Recreation

increased use of alcohol and drugs,
lower career satisfaction, high staff

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turnover, reduced quality of service,
and poor customer outcomes (Barnett et al. 1999; Maslach and Jackson
1986; Moore and Cooper 1996). Furthermore, staff burnout can influence
the psychological health of staff. For
example, Hegarty (1987) conducted a
case study on British staff who served
community members with learning
disabilities. One staff member stated
that she needed to leave her work and
enter psychotherapy to treat her own
health because of staff burnout. It is
also important to note that staff burnout does not apply to only one specific
work class (e.g., operations, recreation,
parks, administration, seasonal). Caton et al. (1988) measured the burnout
of four different staff groups (i.e., professional staff, direct-care staff, educational development assistants and support staff), and they found the level of
burnout among all of these groups to
be at moderate or high levels.
Causes of Burnout
There are four
causes of burnout (Borritz
2006). Situational and
personal influences can
lead to burnout,
such as personality,
overcommitment and setting unrealistic job expectations (Beasley et al.
2003). Secondly, burnout may occur
at the interpersonal level. The most
representative example of this is when
employee resources become unbal-

June 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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