Tough Times Require Tough People: The Benefits of Grit for Reducing Employee Burnout

Abstract

Organizations are facing a serious challenge with employee burnout, which leads to a loss of productivity and employee morale. Despite its importance, there is still a knowledge gap in understanding one of the key features of employee burnout, namely, the personal characteristics of employees. This research aims to determine if grit can alleviate employee burnout in organizations. The study conducted a survey of employees in service companies, and results showed that employee grit was negatively associated with burnout. Moreover, the study revealed that grit does not equally affect all three dimensions of burnout, with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization being the most affected by employee grit. Increasing employee grit is therefore a promising strategy for companies that want to mitigate the risk of employee burnout.