Research shows that millennials are the most stressed out generation ever. Related to this is the unhappiness and uncertainty that millennial women experience towards their profession are leading them to hit career burnout before age 30.
Burnout can be described as a “state of vital exhaustion.” It includes emotional exhaustion or fatigue, depersonalization, isolation and dissatisfaction with one’s level of personal accomplishment.
Burnout is related to chronic stress and often exhibited as cynicism. Over the last several years, much discussion has been focused on whether burnout should be considered a stand-alone illness, but it is not currently recognized on its own as a mental disorder.
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Here are a few career paths to keep an eye on, as they currently lead in female employee burnout:
Journalism
Research has shown that newsrooms are getting less diverse when it comes to gender. More and more women are getting uncertain about a future in their careers or intended to leave journalism.
This trend means that fewer women will continue on this career path, which leads to fewer women in management positions, an increase in “second shift” role overload and a lack of organizational support. Combined, these symptoms indicate that burnout is likely to continue to increase in the future.
Academic STEM Careers
As with journalism, studies have found that women in university science departments experience higher levels of burnout in comparison to their male counterparts. Therefore women tend to leave in favor of careers outside of academia.
Experts feel that women in the STEM are more likely to face the pressure of tokenism, in addition to the isolation and lack of support that is common in job-related burnout. Women who do leave academia are not likely to experience burnout in their new career, their new bosses make them feel fulfilled by their work.
Medicine
Of the three career paths, this is the one that indicated a direct relationship between burnout and maternal discrimination. Surveys and researches have proven that more and more women are facing maternal discrimination in this field of work. Plus, the rate of burnout was determined to be higher with women who experienced maternal discrimination.
As with journalism and academic STEM careers, these problems indicate that an unsupportive social structure, driven by cultural norms, is contributing to burnout.
Managers and human resources departments need to step up and recognize that this is a talent retention problem; when a company improves focus on providing stronger support, employee satisfaction improves.
Companies should work towards new ways to shift cultural norms and improve communication. This would enable a new generation of women to find fulfillment in their jobs.
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