Burnout and work engagement for different age groups : examining group–level differences and predictors

Abstract

Age is often a factor which can have an effect on the well–being levels of employees as well as the profitability of organisations, but it is unfortunately at times overlooked by organisations. Many researchers have found that employees can differ in their experiences of well–being (burnout and work engagement) as a result of age and that there may be differences in the job demands, job resources and personal resources, which predict wellbeing. The objectives of this study were to determine 1) whether there are significant differences between young, middle–aged and older employees with regards to their experiences of burnout and work engagement, and 2) whether the predictors (job demands and job resources, sense of coherence) of burnout and work engagement differ for young, middle age and older employees. The South African Employee Health and Wellness survey (SAEHWS), a selfreport measure, was used to collect data from the junior managers (n = 582) in the banking sector across South Africa. The participants were subsequently divided into three age groups, namely young (18–30 years of age), middle–aged (31–50 years of age) and older employees (51–65 years of age). MANOVA was used to determine if there were any significant differences between well–being and age after which an ANOVA was performed. The results of the ANOVA analysis firstly showed that young and middle–aged employees experienced higher levels of exhaustion than their older colleagues did. Cynicism however, did not differ across the three groups. Even though there did not seem to be overall significant differences between age and work engagement, the post hoc analysis revealed that older employees seemed to experience significantly higher levels of dedication compared to younger employees. There were no differences between the age groups found for vigour. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that different job demands and resources predict wellbeing for the different age group with the exception of emotional load, which predicted exhaustion for all three age groups. However, SOC was consistently significant across all three age groups with regards to predicting their well–being. SOC seemed to increase with age as experience is obtained. These findings contribute to the literature by highlighting the importance of age when considering interventions to keep their employees from burnout and disengagement, especially for South African organisations. Age definitely seems to play a role in the experiences of well–being according to the findings and also aid in the explanation of what different job characteristics employees seemed to value across their ages. Older employees also seemed to use their personal resources more efficiently as they get older in order to build positive well–being. The results of this study can assist organisations in the financial sector to create sufficient interventions for ensuring high levels of well–being, as the findings highlight specific job demands and resources that can assist in that goal. Moreover, there is limited research on the topic within a South African context, therefore the results of this research also serves to encourage South African organisations to act proactively in the promotion of positive wellbeing. Recommendations were made for practice as well as for future research.