AUTHOR=Amer Shaimaa A. A. M. , Elotla Sally Fawzy , Ameen Abeer Elsayed , Shah Jaffer , Fouad Ahmed Mahmoud 

TITLE=Occupational Burnout and Productivity Loss: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Academic University Staff

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.861674

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.861674

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Background: Burnout has been endorsed with serious negative health and work-related outcomes. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of burnout and its association with work productivity among academic staff. 
Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 240 academic staff working at a public university in Egypt. Participants were invited to complete a web-based questionnaire involving basic personal, health, and work-related characteristics. Besides, Maslach's Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) was used to assess occupational burnout dimensions (i.e. emotional exhaustion "EE", depersonalization "DP", and personal accomplishment "PA"), while work productivity was assessed with the Health and Work Performance Questionnaire (HPQ).
Results: 28% of respondents scored high in EE (95% CI: 22.5 – 33.8%), 18.3% high in DP (95% CI: 13.8 – 23.6%), and 88.3% scored low in PA (95% CI: 83.8 – 91.9%). Seventy percent of respondents scored high in only one burnout dimension, 21.7% scored high in two dimensions, while 7.1% scored high in all three dimensions. Multivariable analysis showed that EE was the only burnout dimension that showed a statistically significant association with absenteeism and presenteeism rates. Absenteeism rate among respondents with moderate and high EE was 2.1 and 3.3 times the rates among those with low EE, respectively. Likewise, presenteeism rate among respondents with moderate and high EE was 2.4 and 4.7 times the rates among those with low EE, respectively.
Conclusions: Academic staff showed a high prevalence of at least one burnout dimension. Moderate and high EE score was significantly associated with increased productivity loss compared to low EE.