Scientists Identified a Hidden Cause of Workplace Burnout—and Most Employees Do It Daily

Sometimes following the unwritten rules and expectations of the office is the least helpful thing to do.

BY BRUCE CRUMLEY @BRUCEC_INC

Illustration: Getty Images

Research with employees, managers, and bosses has revealed a potential remedy for people who feel increasingly tired, disconnected, and dissatisfied on the job as the week advances. Studies found that a likely solution to that condition is for professionals to simply stop forcing emotional reactions they think are expected in workplace situations — and cease feigning perkiness and pep when their batteries are actually running low.

Two different clinical trials conducted by the EM Lyon Business School in France established the draining, at times debilitating effects of what researchers called surface acting. That involves employees and business leaders either adopting emotional responses to what they believe are required of them in workplace settings, or quashing the display of sincere feelings they fear may not be professionally well received. It turns out all that careful adjusting and censorship of internal reactions on the job often proves to be exhausting.“The researchers say that this ‘surface acting’ creates a scientifically proven exhaustion loop that drains the very resources necessary to function well in interpersonal environments,” a summary of the study explained. “As a result, cognitive capacity declines, authenticity erodes, and team trust suffers in ways that makes engaging in leadership more difficult in the future.”

The two experiments involved managers and employees whose energy levels and outlooks were measured throughout the day, then compared to the levels of emotional regulating they reported. The results indicated that participants who engaged in surface acting most suffered from that behavior in two, self-perpetuating ways.

First, they were more prone to starting the day already feeling tired, and continued to suffer burnout out faster throughout the day and workweek compared to people who voiced their genuine emotions. Second, that very weariness decreased suffers’ ability to summon enough energy to stop feigning feelings and reactions, and break the downward cycle of fatigue in doing so.

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As a result, the entire negative process reinforced itself.

“Our findings suggest that the poor get poorer over the week, as we observe a resource loss spiral through surface acting,” the study said.  “Specifically, service employees who face emotional energy losses in the morning will likely enact more detrimental surface acting strategies. As a result, they lose resources and start the next day with fewer resources, further increasing surface acting and perpetuating resource loss over time.”

So how do professionals recognize they’ve fallen into the surface acting trap, and take steps escape from it?  

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