Authors: Theodoros Kalandatzis, Alina Hyz

Title: The phenomenon of Job Burnout in the Greek Banking Sector: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

From the 1970s abroad and about two decades later in Greece, the burnout phenomenon began to be discussed and studied. Burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal fulfilment that may occur, to some extent, between people who interact with others during their work. The main feature that appears to have favoured the onset of burnout syndrome is the rapid and profound transformation from the industrial-based economy to the service-based economy that occurred in the last quarter of the 20th century. This social transformation is associated with an increase in the psychological pressure exerted by workers. It is now widely recognised that burnout can also occur in places other than social services, for example in the case of managers and workers. Therefore, the importance of the burnout phenomenon has been expanded to job features such as creativity and problem-solving. According to the broad definition, job burnout can be defined as the state of maximum exhaustion in which the person displays a disgraceful attitude towards the value of his work and doubts his abilities. The effects of job burnout have an impact not only on the worker but also on the organisation and the end-users of the services.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the phenomenon of job burnout in the Greek banking sector. A questionnaire used for the survey contains two main parts. The first part of the questionnaire included demographic questions (age, gender, job, etc.). The second part included the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) based on the research of Maslach, Jackson, and Leiter (2001). The scale measures the three dimensions of burnout: exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal inefficiency. Since the main aim of the survey is to analyse the phenomenon of job burnout as a whole in the banking institutions, no questions related solely to the contact with customers were included. As a result, 13 questions were selected from the MBI questionnaire. Respondents were asked to indicate their agreement level using a 7-point scale ranging from 1 (never) to 7 (daily).

The main findings of the research show that the burnout syndrome has intensified due to daily pressures in a highly competitive environment amid the difficult economic situation the country is experiencing in recent years. According to the results, it is more likely to occur in the case of employees direct customers services and appears to affect more the younger people or those with less than 20 years experiences in the banking sector. It is noteworthy the professional development and promotion do not affect the level of risk that a worker will face the job burnout syndrome.