Blackwell Publishing LtdOxford, UKCFSChild and Family Social Work1356-7500© 2006 The Authors; Journal compilation © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd? 2006122182191Original ArticleBurnout and job satisfaction in child welfare service C A Stalker
et al
.
doi:10.1111/j.1365-2206.2006.00472.x
Child welfare workers who are exhausted yet satisfied with
their jobs: how do they do it?
Carol A. Stalker*, Deena Mandell†, Karen M. Frensch‡, Cheryl Harvey§ and Margriet Wright¶
*Professor, †Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Work, ‡Project Manager, Partnerships for Children and Families,
§Associate Professor, School of Business and Economics, ¶PhD Candidate, Research Associate, Wilfrid Laurier University,
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Correspondence:
Carol A. Stalker,
Faculty of Social Work,
Wilfrid Laurier University,
Waterloo, Ontario,
Canada, N2L 3C3
Email: cstalker@wlu.ca
Keywords: burnout, child welfare,
emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction
Accepted for publication: October
2006
Published online: February 2007
A B S T R AC T
In response to a study of Canadian child welfare workers that unexpectedly found participants scoring high on a measure of emotional
exhaustion (burnout) and, at the same time, high on overall job
satisfaction, this paper reviews research that has investigated these
constructs in the social work literature as well as in selected studies
from sociology, social psychology, management and women’s studies.
The review reveals that some previous studies also report the coexistence of high levels of emotional exhaustion and strong job satisfaction in child welfare and social worker samples. Several studies
have suggested that individual characteristics, including finding
reward in helping others, having a commitment to the mandate of
child welfare and believing that one’s labour is ‘making a difference’,
contribute to satisfaction with child welfare work in spite of work
overload and emotional exhaustion. Attributions regarding causes of
exhaustion, coping strategies and goal orientation may also attenuate
the expected negative effects of emotional exhaustion. Considerable
evidence supports the positive influence of variables organizational
managers can control, including job autonomy, supportive supervisors, workload, promotional opportunities and perception of personal safety. The degree to which this phenomenon is associated with
female socialization and the ‘ethic of care’ underlying social work is
discussed. Implications for child welfare research, practice and policy
are offered.
INTRODUCTION
This paper was prompted by unexpected results from
a study assessing burnout1 and job satisfaction (JS)
among direct service workers of four child welfare
agencies. The study was implemented during transitions within child welfare agencies in Ontario, Canada, associated with changes in legislation that
broadened the legal definition of a child in need of
protection, demanded shorter time parameters for
response and increased required documentation. We
hypothesized that levels of emotional exhaustion (EE/
burnout) would be high, and JS would be low,
because of long-standing reports of high turnover and
stressful working conditions in these agencies. The
182
Child and Family Social Work 2007, 12, pp 182–191
study found that, of 220 direct service workers (181
women and 39 men), 44% scored in the high range
on EE (48% of the women and 28% of the men); 32%
scored in the moderate range (30% of the women and
38% of the men); and 24% scored in the low range
(22% of the women and 33% of the men) (χ2(2,
n = 220) = 5.382, P = 0.068).
Of 232 direct service workers (192 women and 40
men), 41% (41% of the women and 40% of the men)
were highly satisfied with their jobs overall; 49% were
moderately satisfied (51% of the women and 45% of
the men); and only 8% of the women and 15% of the
men were low on overall JS. We were surprised by
these high levels of JS, especially in view of the relatively high levels of EE. We were even more surprised
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Burnout and job satisfaction in child welfare service C A Stalker et al.
that 20 participants (9%), of whom 95% were
women, scored high on EE and high on JS
simultaneously.2
The purpose of this paper is to review research
related to the coexistence of burnout and high JS in
child welfare workers, to advance our understanding
of this phenomenon and to consider its implications
for practice, policy and future research. We begin by
reviewing studies of child welfare samples that
assessed both EE and JS, noting those that reported
unexpected relationships between JS and EE. We
highlight several other studies of child welfare samples that reveal that a sense of mission or commitment to the purpose of child welfare and to making
a difference with children seems to contribute to
increased satisfaction in some child welfare workers.
Next, we review the findings from studies that
assessed both EE and JS in social worker samples,
again discussing those relatively few that report unexpected relationships between these two constructs.
We then widen our review to include selected studies
of EE and JS from fields outside of social work,
including sociology, social psychology, management
and women’s studies. We conclude with a summary
of the variables that the literature suggests may contribute to simultaneous experiences of EE and JS in
child welfare workers, and make suggestions for
future research that will enhance our understanding
of this phenomenon.
Our method for reviewing the literature entailed a
search of relevant research databases, including ERIC
(Education Resources Information Centre), Human
Resources Abstracts, Management and Organization
Structures, MEDLINE, Nursing and Health Services, PsychINFO, Social Sciences Abstracts, Social
Services Abstracts and Sociological Abstracts. Keywords included job satisfaction, burnout, emotional
exhaustion, child welfare and social work. Space does
not permit reference to all of the studies reviewed.3
We discuss those that were most relevant to our
question.
Numerous studies of burnout in human service
workers support the intuitive expectation that
employees who score high on EE normally score in
the low range on measures of JS. This negative relationship has been supported in reviews by Cordes &
Dougherty (1993), Leiter & Harvie (1996) and in a
meta-analysis of 61 studies (Lee & Ashforth 1996).
However, a closer look reveals that some studies did
not find the expected relationship between EE and JS
in samples of child protection workers and social
workers.
183
Child and Family Social Work 2007, 12, pp 182–191
S T U D I E S A S S E S S I N G B OT H E E A N D J S I N
C H I L D W E L FA R E S A M P L E S
Six quantitative studies that assessed both JS and EE
in samples of child welfare employees were located.
The research questions guiding these studies vary,
which probably explains why the correlation between
JS and EE was not always reported. JS was measured
in different ways, methodological limitations involving non-validated measures are numerous, and samples are small. In several studies, JS was measured by
only one question and few report the proportion of
the sample who scored high on EE or on JS. Only
one of the six studies reports an unexpected relationship between JS and EE. Silver et al. (1997), examining predictors of JS in supervisors in a public child
welfare agency, noted that participants were ‘relatively more job satisfied than might be expected
given their level of emotional exhaustion’ (p. 17). EE
was negatively correlated with JS (r = −0.41,
P < 0.001), but 47% of the sample was highly satisfied with their jobs. The mean EE score on the
Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) (Maslach & Jackson 1986) was in the high range.
The findings from these six studies suggest that
while personal characteristics may contribute to EE
in some child welfare workers (e.g. value conflict;
Jayaratne & Chess 1984), EE can be predicted best
by organizational variables, including workload, role
conflict, role ambiguity, variables related to agency
change and lack of job challenge (Jayaratne et al.
1991; Bhana & Haffejee 1996). The only clientrelated variable that appears to affect EE is behaviour
that leads the worker to fear physical harm (Jayaratne
et al. 1991). One study found that strong commitment
to remain in child welfare was associated with lower
levels of EE; this was perceived as a surprising finding
because committed workers had often been seen as
more vulnerable to EE (Jayaratne et al. 1991). JS is
also predicted by organizational factors, such as workload, intellectual challenge, satisfaction with promotional opportunities and factors related to agency
change (Jayaratne & Chess 1984). Age and job tenure
may also play a role in JS.
Related studies of child welfare samples
Several other studies of child welfare employees that
did not assess both EE and JS but do report an unexpected relationship between related constructs are
relevant. Anderson (2000) found that 62% of child
protection workers scored in the high range on EE,
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Burnout and job satisfaction in child welfare service C A Stalker et al.
and, at the same time, scored in the moderate range
on sense of personal accomplishment. She concluded
that sense of personal accomplishment for this sample
was higher than would have been expected given the
high EE scores.
Vinokur-Kaplan (1991) noted ‘a relatively high
level of overall job satisfaction’ in a sample of social
workers (77% female) trained in child welfare and
surveyed during ‘a time of considerable turbulence’ in
the early 1980s. Work with clients and feelings of
accomplishment were the factors that contributed
most to JS.
Focusing on the effects of organizational characteristics on client outcomes in a child welfare agency,
Yoo (2002) reported that case managers’ commitment to the families served and to the philosophy of
family preservation were protective factors that
decreased the potential for low satisfaction with pay/
promotion, harsh working conditions and lack of
organizational leadership to negatively affect performance and client outcomes.
Landsman (2001) also supports the notion that
coexistence of high EE with high JS might be
explained by the strength of the worker’s commitment
to the mission of child welfare. The data suggested
that the most important factor related to JS is ‘service
orientation’, defined as the degree to which an individual believes that social work makes a difference in
people’s lives.
The literature includes two qualitative studies
intended to increase understanding of the reasons
some child welfare workers stay in child welfare
despite stressful working conditions. Reagh (1994)
administered the MBI and interviewed experienced
child welfare professionals. They described themselves
as believing a child welfare worker can make a difference in clients’ lives. Some felt ‘called’ to child welfare
and most were committed to making a contribution
to improve the lives of those adversely affected by
social problems. The mean score on the personal
accomplishment scale of the MBI was in the high
range, but the EE score was not reported. Reagh
(1994) concludes,
The participants obviously get something for themselves from
the work they do, yet they must remain ever vigilant less they
lose sight of the meaning and significance of their work and
tip the balance to the other side. For them burning out is just
one small step away from staying. (p. 76)
A second qualitative study by Rycraft (1994)
included interviews with experienced child welfare
workers from which ‘factors’ influencing employee
184
Child and Family Social Work 2007, 12, pp 182–191
retention were derived. They included ‘mission’ (a
belief in the importance of child protection and
a commitment to helping others) and ‘investment’ (a
commitment to public child welfare). Rycraft notes,
‘even the most dedicated and committed employee
experiences periods of decreased energy and drive.
These caseworkers were no exception, and at times
they questioned their sense of mission’ (Rycraft 1994,
p. 77).
In summary, findings from the limited number of
studies of child welfare workers support the hypothesis that a sense of mission or strong commitment to
working in child welfare is an important factor in JS,
employee retention, lower EE and client outcome.
More study is required to better understand how it is
that some child welfare workers can be highly emotionally exhausted and still report high JS.
STUDIES ASSESSING EE AND JS IN SOCIAL
WORK SAMPLES
Looking more broadly at studies of social workers in
general, we found 15 studies that assessed both EE
and JS. Many supported the expectation that high EE
is associated with low JS, but several pointed to a
moderating role for social and organizational support
(Koeske & Kelly 1995; Martin & Schinke 1998; Um
& Harrison 1998; Acker 1999). One study indicated
that coping strategy buffers the relationship between
work stress and EE and also the relationship between
stress and JS (Koeske et al. 1993). Another reported
that internal locus of control had both a direct and
buffering effect on the relationship between EE and
negative job attitudes, intention to quit and overall life
satisfaction (Koeske & Kirk 1995).
Four of these studies reported some unexpected
relationships between EE and JS. Jayaratne & Chess
(1983) reported that in full-time Master’s level social
workers, the correlation between EE and JS was −0.40
(P-value not reported), but satisfaction with promotional process and decisions was the only significant
predictor of low EE; other facets of JS did not predict
EE. They concluded that social workers may report
feeling burned out but still be relatively happy with
their work. Koeske & Kelly (1995) found some support for the hypothesis that social support moderates
the relationship between EE and JS. Specifically,
workers with high EE who also reported high levels
of social support were less likely to be dissatisfied with
their jobs. Similarly, Um & Harrison (1998) reported
that only those employees experiencing both high EE
and low levels of social support from supervisor,
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Burnout and job satisfaction in child welfare service C A Stalker et al.
co-workers, and family or friends were dissatisfied
with their jobs. Support from co-workers particularly
moderated the relationship between EE and JS.
Takeda et al. (2005), in a sample of social workers in
Japan, found that JS had no primary effect on EE
when other job variables were controlled, and that
social support predicted burnout for a subgroup of
their sample.
STUDIES OUTSIDE OF SOCIAL WORK
Because of the limited number of studies involving
social work and child welfare workers, we examined
literature from additional fields of study to expand our
thinking about this phenomenon. Studies were
selected that assessed EE and/or JS and reported findings that appeared to shed light on the question of
how human service workers maintain high JS even as
they experience high work stress or EE. Although we
cannot claim to have reviewed all of the relevant literature in all pertinent fields, we did not exclude from
our review the findings of any article meeting the
above criteria. This section begins with research on
the concept of emotional labour and how it may affect
EE and JS. This is followed by a review of studies that
have examined individual factors that may also affect
these variables.
Emotional labour
Hochschild (1983) introduced the emotional labour
concept. For employees of ‘service sector’ industries,
Hochschild argued that specific ‘feeling rules’ had
become directly connected to work expectations for
many employees. When ‘the management of feeling to
create a publicly observable facial and bodily display’
(p. 7) is directed by employers rather than by the
individual, it becomes emotional labour. Jobs requiring emotional labour have three characteristics: ‘Voice
or facial contact with the public; they require the
worker to produce an emotional state in the client or
customer; and they provide the employer an opportunity to exert some control over the emotional activities
of workers’ (Wharton 1993, p. 208). Hochschild
included social work among occupations involving
significant emotional labour. She emphasized the negative effects on the individual but found that some
employees were less negatively affected than others.
Subsequent studies supported Hochschild’s findings
about the negative effects of performing emotional
labour, at least for some individuals.
From these findings one might assume that the
emotional-labour literature supports the idea that EE
185
Child and Family Social Work 2007, 12, pp 182–191
in social workers is related to the nature of social work
– that burnout is inevitable because of the labour
required to evoke positive emotional states in clients
and to manage one’s own emotions. However, more
recent studies suggest that how emotional labour
affects employees depends on the context in which it
is performed and the characteristics of the individual
performing it. Wharton’s (1993) study of bank and
teaching hospital employees indicated that those individuals who performed emotional labour were no
more likely than other workers to suffer from EE but
were somewhat more likely to be satisfied with their
jobs. ‘[E]motional exhaustion is better explained by
more conventional job and individual characteristics,
such as job tenure, hours worked, and job autonomy.
By contrast, the results for job satisfaction show that
emotional labour has a positive effect on this outcome’ (Wharton 1993, p. 218).
Women were more likely than men to be employed
in jobs requiring emotional labour and women who
performed emotional labour were more satisfied than
men who did the same jobs (Wharton 1993). These
findings support arguments about the gendered structure of the labour market and the socialization of men
and women that supports it. Similarly, Bulan et al.
(1997) investigated differences between men and
women in terms of ‘positive feelings about work’ akin
to personal accomplishment or JS. They found that
the more women perceived themselves as being effective in working with people, the more they felt positive
about their work. The same relationship was not
found for men.
Another study (Wharton & Erickson 1995) found
that among married women working in a hospital,
those who performed greater amounts of ‘family emotion work’ (emotional support to partner and family
members) were more likely to report EE on the job.
EE at work was less likely when women reported that
their partners perform more emotional work at home.
The researchers concluded, ‘Women’s family emotion
work has more negative consequence for their jobrelated well-being than the emotional labour women
perform on the job’ (p. 290), especially when these
efforts are not assisted by partners.
Erickson & Ritter (2001) studied the degree to
which EE is associated with gender and the management of specific emotions (a kind of emotional
labour) among married employees in a variety of
occupations; all participants tried to hide their negative emotional experiences (feelings of helplessness,
sadness, guilt, fear and shame) from others at least
two-thirds of the time. This form of emotional labour
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Burnout and job satisfaction in child welfare service C A Stalker et al.
(managing one’s emotions) was deemed ‘a general
feature of contemporary work life’ (p. 159). Agitation
emotions (anger, irritation and nervousness) were
hidden significantly more often by both men and
women than either positive or negative emotions. Men
experienced more agitation at work than did women,
but women hid these feelings more. The experience
of agitation (not its management) had the strongest
effect on EE levels. Norvell et al. (1993) tested a similar hypothesis in a sample of primarily male child
welfare supervisors and also found that a tendency to
suppress angry feelings was associated with higher
levels of perceived stress and higher numbers of physical symptoms.
This body of research suggests that it is not emotional labour on the job that results in EE. In fact,
emotional labour can increase JS, especially for
women who perceive themselves as working with people effectively. Rather, it is work or work settings that
evoke feelings of anger, irritation and nervousness;
work that the employee believes cannot be done in the
time allotted; and work requiring long hours that are
more likely to contribute to EE than emotional labour
per se. Women who perform large amounts of emotion
work at home are at higher risk of experiencing EE,
but this can be reduced when their partners at home
also perform family emotion work.
Individual factors that may influence JS and
work exhaustion
Burnout and EE have commonly been seen as primarily determined by organizational and job factors.
However, some studies suggest individual characteristics may play a role. In this section, we review
research that reports individual characteristics including causal attribution, coping strategies, goal orientation, the ability to derive satisfaction from helping
others and gender-related job values, all of which may
be associated with the degree to which individuals
experience JS and/or EE (or a similar measure of
work-related stress).
Causal attribution
In addition to the EE and personal accomplishment
(PA) scales to which we have previously referred, the
MBI includes a depersonalization scale. Depersonalization is defined as an ‘unfeeling and impersonal
response to recipients of one’s service’ (Maslach et al.
1996, p. 4). According to Maslach et al., high scores
on both EE and depersonalization and low scores on
186
Child and Family Social Work 2007, 12, pp 182–191
personal accomplishment define a high degree of
burnout. Moore (2000) points out that not all
employees respond to work exhaustion with depersonalization, a diminished sense of personal accomplishment or voluntary turnover. Although these
responses do occur, she argues that some employees
respond with attempts to change the work situation
or themselves. Whether or not they respond in these
ways may depend on whether they cognitively
attribute their exhaustion to internal or external
causes, to whether the cause is controllable versus
uncontrollable and to whether the cause is seen as
stable and unchanging versus likely to change. To our
knowledge, this model has not yet been tested, but it
gives useful direction for researchers looking for new
ways of understanding burnout. Interestingly,
although she sees causal attributions as determining
the development of depersonalization, Moore (2000)
does not hypothesize that JS would be influenced by
causal attribution. Rather, she reiterates that the
hypothesis that EE leads to reduced JS has received
‘consistent empirical support’ (p. 337).
Coping strategies
Anderson’s (2000) previously mentioned study of
experienced child protection workers, of whom twothirds intended to stay in their jobs, and 62% were in
the high range on EE, reported that the workers were
more likely to use active ‘engaged’ coping strategies
and less likely to use ‘disengaged’ coping strategies
than a comparison group of undergraduates. Workers
who used active engaged coping strategies, including
problem solving, cognitive restructuring, seeking
social support and expression of emotions, were less
likely to depersonalize their clients and more likely to
experience a sense of personal accomplishment. However, the relationship between engaged coping and EE
was not significant. Workers who used disengaged
coping strategies, including problem avoidance, wishful thinking, social withdrawal and self-criticism, were
more likely to have high scores on EE and depersonalization and lower scores on the personal accomplishment scale. Anderson (2000) points out that
although engaged coping strategies may moderate
tendencies towards depersonalization and increase
personal accomplishment, they did not protect these
workers from relatively high scores on EE. She concludes that greater use of social support and expression of emotions by child protection workers should
be encouraged; at the same time, in view of the high
levels of EE and depersonalization, she expressed
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Burnout and job satisfaction in child welfare service C A Stalker et al.
concern about potential harmful effects of highly
emotionally exhausted workers on the quality of
service provided to clients and recommended more
research on job performance among long-term child
protection workers.
Koeske et al. (1993) did a comparable study in
which active control coping strategies (similar to
engaged strategies) were found to buffer the relationship between work stress and EE and between EE and
JS. These authors recommended that case managers
working with mentally ill clients be taught active control coping strategies, which could benefit both workers and clients.
experienced heavy job demands in combination with
either low decision authority or low intellectual stimulation were more likely to report distress. However,
when ‘rewards’ experienced from their work were
included in regression models, ‘the rewards of helping
others buffer[ed] the negative impact of [work] overload on psychological distress and physical health’
(Marshall et al. 1991, p. 77).
Dispositional goal orientation
This statement resonates with the findings that precipitated this paper: substantial numbers of people
who work in caregiving occupations seem willing to
accept the fatigue and exhaustion that often accompany this work as long as they believe they are helping
others, or that their labour makes a positive difference
in their clients’ lives. A limitation of Marshall et al.’s
(1991) study is that it involved only women; thus, we
cannot know whether the buffering effect of ‘finding
reward in helping others’ applies in the same way to
men in caregiving occupations or whether feeling
good about helping others may also play a role in
protecting employees from distress and illness in other
occupations. This brings us to the question: How
much is the gender of the majority of workers in child
welfare work associated with the phenomenon of
being able and/or willing to experience high JS at the
same time as they experience high EE?
From the perspective of management research, Van
Yperen & Janssen (2002) studied whether dispositional goal orientation (performance versus mastery
orientation) affects the relationships between job
demands, fatigue and JS in a sample of university
employees. Performance orientation ‘reflects an individual’s having the goal of establishing his or her superiority over others, whereas a mastery orientation
involves the purposes of developing competence,
gaining skill, and doing one’s best’ (Van Yperen &
Janssen 2002, p. 1161). Their findings suggest that job
demands (work overload, which is associated with
fatigue) are negatively related to JS only for employees
with a strong performance orientation and a weak
mastery orientation. They conclude that although
people with either goal orientation work hard when
dealing with heavy workloads, only those with a strong
mastery orientation experience satisfaction from the
effort that is required to meet their own standards.
Mastery-orientated individuals focus on what they
can control, such as improving their skills and doing
their best, and are more able to persist in the face of
difficulties than are performance-orientated individuals who tend to focus more on outcomes.
Finding reward in caregiving occupations
A study of female social workers and practical (nonregistered) nurses found evidence to support the conclusion that for women in caregiving occupations,
finding reward in helping others is a moderator of the
negative effects of job overload (Marshall et al. 1991).
These researchers examined predictors of psychological distress, psychological well-being and physical
health. Like other studies (e.g. Van Yperen & Hagedoorn 2003), Marshall et al. found that women who
187
Child and Family Social Work 2007, 12, pp 182–191
It is as if the heavy demands of caregiving occupations are
tolerable as long as the worker finds the demands of the job
challenging, has the decision authority she needs to do the
best she can, feels her supervisor is doing all that can be done
to make the job a better job, and finds reward in helping
others. (p. 79)
Gender and job values
Numerous studies have demonstrated that men and
women tend to value different types of work-related
rewards, and that these differences are influenced by
the dissimilar values internalized by men and women
in response to societal norms about gender roles
(Marini et al. 1996). In spite of increased female participation in the labour market over the last three
decades, the gender-related differences in occupational values apparently persist. A longitudinal study
of high-school students in the USA between 1976 and
1991 (Marini et al. 1996) found no differences
between males and females on the importance of
extrinsic rewards (e.g. income, prestige and security)
and the valuing of participation in decisions and challenging work. However, females continued to assign
more value to intrinsic [e.g. ‘interest in the work itself,
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Burnout and job satisfaction in child welfare service C A Stalker et al.
using one’s abilities, and the opportunity to be
creative’ (p. 50)], altruistic (‘opportunity to help others and contribute to society’) and social rewards
(‘opportunity to work with people and make friends’).
Gender alone explained more of the variance in many
types of rewards than any other variable examined,
the largest gender difference being the importance
assigned to altruistic rewards.
Economics scholars Badgett & Folbre (2001) noted
that people who choose occupations involving caregiving ‘almost by definition are motivated by intrinsic
concerns that make it difficult for them to withhold
their care’ (p. 334). They identify a ‘gender-biased
system of coercive socialization’ (Folbre and Weisskopf 1998, cited in Badgett & Folbre 2001) that
pressures women to choose occupations involving caring labour often entailing personal, face-to-face services to vulnerable people. The concept includes ‘an
intrinsic motive for performing that work – a sense of
emotional attachment and connection to the persons
being cared for’ (p. 328). Although Badgett & Folbre
report that no differences in overall levels of altruism
have been found between the genders, they identify
differences in the means of its expression. Women are
more likely to express altruism through work intended
to benefit family and community, while men are more
likely to go to war or risk injury for the sake of others.
These differences are, of course, associated with the
induction of males and females into gendered social
and economic structures.
Himle et al. (1987) examined gender differences in
Master’s level social workers and reported that men
and women were not different on EE, depersonalization or personal accomplishment. However, for men,
increased contact with clients was the most important
predictor of high EE, whereas for women the salient
predictors were dissatisfaction with supervisor support, co-worker support and job comfort (including
work-related travel conditions, working hours and
physical surroundings).
We might view today’s child welfare workers as
epitomizing the commitment to an ‘ethic of care’ that
Baines (1998) identifies as a major influence on the
evolution of social work and other women’s professions during the 20th century. She argues ‘maternal
feminism’ was ‘the underlying ideology that spurred
the movement of women into the public sphere’ (p.
23). This ideology rested on the belief that women
had inherent nurturing qualities that required them
to extend their caring role into the public sphere.
Baines (1998) and others have argued that efforts by
many women to uphold an ethic of care at the same
188
Child and Family Social Work 2007, 12, pp 182–191
time as they strive for more autonomy and equality
are inherently contradictory. Perhaps today’s child
welfare worker is the embodiment of that contradiction. On the one hand, in her role as a paid professional she represents increased autonomy and equality
for women; on the other hand, she works long hours,
interacts with people who frequently devalue her and
reject her offers of help, while enduring physical
exhaustion and EE. Despite that her income is lower
than most other professionals, and she has lower status, she maintains that she is very satisfied, even ‘loves’
her work. That work, for many child welfare workers,
represents caring for and making a difference in the
lives of children, which appears to make the depletion
of personal resources acceptable or at least tolerable.
CONCLUSION
For us, this review confirms that child welfare workers
can be, and often are, emotionally exhausted and yet
are still satisfied with their jobs. The unexpected findings we found in our data are not unique to our
sample. The answer to the question about how child
welfare workers accomplish this juxtaposition is more
complex. Studies from diverse fields suggest that one
variable that contributes to the ability of some child
welfare workers to sustain the tension between high
EE and high JS has to do with their ability to find
reward in helping others. This ability may be more
prevalent among women because of their induction
into gendered social and economic roles. Clearly,
many men also find great reward in helping others,
and it is likely that some of these men are attracted to
child welfare work and may also experience both high
exhaustion and high JS.
To find satisfaction in child welfare, one must
believe that one is truly helping vulnerable children
and making a positive difference in their lives. Other
factors may also contribute to an individual’s ability
and willingness to continue in a job that takes a significant toll on personal resources. The research suggests that access to social support (both co-worker and
supervisor support) may be especially important.
Other personal attributes, such as ability to find satisfaction in doing one’s best and in mastering skills,
even in the face of less than ideal outcomes, may be
helpful. Active coping strategies, such as problem
solving, cognitive restructuring, seeking social support and expressing emotions, may help workers to
avoid depersonalizing clients and may contribute to a
stronger sense of accomplishment. For some, having
control over decisions or other aspects of the work
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Burnout and job satisfaction in child welfare service C A Stalker et al.
(job autonomy) seems to contribute to JS in spite of
high demands. Organizational variables, such as work
overload, lack of promotional opportunities, perception of problematic changes in agency policy and procedures, an unsupportive supervisor and perceptions
that the job is physically unsafe, have all been found
to negatively affect EE and JS in child welfare samples.
Should we be concerned about workers who are
both emotionally exhausted and yet satisfied with
their jobs? Studies report that EE is associated with
job exit, turnover intentions, absenteeism and lowered
job performance (Harvey & Stalker, in press). High
scores on EE in a female sample of child welfare
workers were significantly associated with higher
scores on anxiety, depression, irritability and somatic
complaints, and lower scores on marital satisfaction
compared with workers with low EE (Jayaratne et al.
1986). High EE among police officers has been associated with difficulty sleeping (Maslach & Jackson
1979, cited in Maslach et al. 1996) and higher levels
of drug, alcohol and tobacco use (Cordes & Dougherty 1993). No research has shown whether simultaneous high JS scores diminish the relationship
between high EE and these negative outcomes over
time. It seems likely that experiencing high levels of
EE over long periods puts one’s health at risk, even if
one is also experiencing high JS.
Implications for research
Clearly, more studies are needed that focus on the
relationship between EE and JS in child welfare samples, and that do so with methodological rigour. Longitudinal studies examining these constructs over time
would help illuminate whether some workers continuously score high on EE while maintaining high JS,
or whether the high EE fluctuates. Longitudinal studies that include measures of the expected negative
consequences of EE would also be useful. Future
studies should compare scores on EE with measures
of post-traumatic stress, vicarious traumatization
(McCann & Pearlman 1989) and other measures of
work-related strain to better enable analysis of the
relationship between these constructs.
189
their clients. Although not all workers with high EE
depersonalize their clients, many do, or are at risk to
do so, yet child welfare workers scoring high on depersonalization may be no more likely to leave their
jobs than those scoring low (Drake & Yadama 1996).
It seems likely that workers who defend against EE by
depersonalizing clients will do those clients serious
disservice through distant or de-humanizing stances,
and perhaps even by failing to put forth effort that
could make a critical difference in families. Reducing
high EE in child welfare workers is thus arguably
an ethical imperative for workers, managers and
policy-makers.
Although much has been written about the prevention of burnout and turnover (Maslach & Goldberg
1998; Bednar 2003; Harvey & Stalker, in press), less
attention has been focused on the systemic problems
that lie at the heart of these issues in child welfare.
Esposito & Fine (1985) suggested that burnout is an
ideology that camouflages the paradoxes inherent in
the child welfare system. They argued that child welfare workers are ‘employed to manage basic contradictions in our society’ (p. 738) involving perceptions
that the state should not interfere in family matters,
while simultaneously expecting the state to prevent
the abuse and neglect of children. Child welfare organizations are currently expected to both police families and provide caring, compassionate and skilful
interventions to alleviate very complex problems.
In addition to continuing efforts to improve organizational climates and provide support to individual
workers, the child welfare field and the social work
profession need to renew efforts to increase public
and political awareness of the relationship between
inadequate social policies and the welfare of children.
Policies that provide essential subsidized day care for
children, improved minimum wage, adequate social
assistance and adequate community mental-health
services would go a long way to making the child
welfare system one that has the capacity to truly help
children and families, and at the same time provide a
workplace that does not require so much personal
sacrifice on the part of its employees.
Implications for practice and child welfare policy
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Although some individuals appear to tolerate high
levels of EE during long periods of work in the field
of child welfare, they should be discouraged from
doing so. In addition to the negative effect on workers’
health, some studies suggest that emotionally
exhausted workers may not provide good service to
Funding for this project was provided by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada as part of a Community–University Research Alliance (grant #SSHRC 833-199-1026) awarded to
Gary Cameron, Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University.
Child and Family Social Work 2007, 12, pp 182–191
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Burnout and job satisfaction in child welfare service C A Stalker et al.
REFERENCES
Acker, G.M. (1999) The impact of clients’ mental illness on
social workers’ job satisfaction and burnout. Health and Social
Work, 24, 112–119.
Anderson, D.G. (2000) Coping strategies and burnout among
veteran child protection workers. Child Abuse and Neglect, 24,
839–848.
Badgett, M.V.L. & Folbre, N. (2001) Assigning care: gender
norms and economic outcomes. In: Women, Gender and Work:
What Is Equality and How Do We Get There? (ed. M. Fetherolf
Loutfi), pp. 327–345. International Labour Organization,
Geneva.
Baines, C. (1998) Women’s professions and an ethic of care. In:
Women’s Caring: Feminist Perspectives on Social Welfare (eds C.
Baines, P. Evans & S. N. Neysmith), pp. 23–46. Oxford University Press, Toronto.
Bednar, S. (2003) Elements of satisfying organizational climates
in child welfare agencies. Families in Society, 84, 7–12.
Bhana, A. & Haffejee, N. (1996) Relation among measures of
burnout, job satisfaction, and role dynamics for a sample of
South African child-care social workers. Psychological Reports,
79, 431–434.
Bulan, H.F., Erickson, R.J. & Wharton, A.S. (1997) Doing for
others on the job: the affective requirements of service work,
gender and emotional wellbeing. Social Problems, 44, 235–256.
Cordes, C.L. & Dougherty, T.W. (1993) A review and an integration of research on job burnout. Academy of Management
Review, 18, 621–656.
Cox, T., Kuk, G. & Leiter, M.P. (1993) Burnout, health, work
stress, and organizational healthiness. In: Professional Burnout:
Recent Developments in Theory and Research (eds W.B.
Schaufeli, C. Maslach & T. Marek), pp. 177–193. Taylor &
Francis, Philadelphia, PA.
Drake, B. & Yadama, G.N. (1996) A structural equation model
of burnout and job exit among child protective services workers. Social Work Research, 20, 179–187.
Erickson, R.J. & Ritter, C. (2001) Emotional labour, burnout,
and inauthenticity: does gender matter? Social Psychology
Quarterly, 64, 146–163.
Esposito, G. & Fine, M. (1985) The field of social work as a
world of work. In: A Handbook of Child Welfare: Context, Knowledge and Practice (eds J. Laird & A. Hartman), pp. 727–740.
The Free Press, New York.
Harvey, C. & Stalker, C.A. (in press) Understanding and preventing burnout and turnover. In: Moving Toward Positive Systems of Child and Family Welfare: Current Issues and Future
Directions (eds G. Cameron, N. Coady & G. Adams). Wilfrid
Laurier University Press, Waterloo, ON.
Harvey, C., Mandell, D., Stalker, C.A. & Frensch, K. (2003) A
Workplace Study of Four Southern-Ontario Children’s Aid Societies. Partnerships for Children and Families Project, Waterloo,
ON.
Himle, D.P., Jayaratne, S. & Chess, W.A. (1987) Gender differences in work stress among clinical social workers. Journal of
Social Service Research, 10, 41–56.
190
Child and Family Social Work 2007, 12, pp 182–191
Hochschild, A.R. (1983) The Managed Heart: Commercialization
of Human Feeling. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
Jayaratne, S. & Chess, W.A. (1983) Job satisfaction and burnout
in social work. In: Stress and Burnout in the Human Service
Professions (ed. B. A. Farber), pp. 129–141. Pergamon Press,
New York.
Jayaratne, S. & Chess, W.A. (1984) Job satisfaction, burnout,
and turnover: a national study. Social Work, 29, 448–453.
Jayaratne, S., Chess, W.A. & Kunkel, D.A. (1986) Burnout: its
impact on child welfare workers and their spouses. Social Work,
31, 53–59.
Jayaratne, S., Himle, D.P. & Chess, W.A. (1991) Job satisfaction
and burnout: is there a difference? Journal of Applied Social
Sciences, 15, 245–262.
Koeske, G.F. & Kelly, T. (1995) The impact of overinvolvement
on burnout and job satisfaction. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 65, 282–292.
Koeske, G.F. & Kirk, S.A. (1995) Direct and buffering effects
of internal locus of control among mental health professionals.
Journal of Social Service Research, 20, 1–28.
Koeske, G.F. & Koeske, R.D. (1993) A preliminary test of a
stress-strain-outcome model for reconceptualizing the burnout phenomenon. Journal of Social Service Research, 17, 107–
135.
Koeske, G.F., Kirk, S.A. & Koeske, R.D. (1993) Coping with
job stress: which strategies work best? Journal of Occupational
and Organizational Psychology, 66, 319–335.
Landsman, M.J. (2001) Commitment in public child welfare.
Social Service Review, 3, 386–419.
Lee, R.T. & Ashforth, B.E. (1996) A meta-analytic examination
of the correlates of the three dimensions of job burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 123–133.
Leiter, M.P. & Harvie, P.L. (1996) Burnout among mental
health workers: a review and a research agenda. International
Journal of Social Psychiatry, 42, 90–101.
McCann, L. & Pearlman, L.A. (1989) Vicarious traumatization: a framework for understanding the psychological effects
of working with victims. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 3, 131–
149.
Marini, M.M., Fan, P.-L., Finley, E. & Beutel, A.M. (1996)
Gender and job values. Sociology of Education, 69, 49–65.
Marshall, N.L., Barnett, R.C., Baruch, G.K. & Pleck, J.H.
(1991) More than a job: women and stress in caregiving occupations. In: Current Research on Occupations and Professions,
Vol. 6 (ed. J. A. Levy), pp. 61–81. JAI Press Inc, Greenwich,
CT.
Martin, U. & Schinke, S.P. (1998) Organizational and individual factors influencing job satisfaction and burnout in mental
health workers. Social Work in Health Care, 28, 51–62.
Maslach, C. & Goldberg, J. (1998) Prevention of burnout: new
perspectives. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 7, 63–74.
Maslach, C. & Jackson, S.E. (1979) Burned out cops and their
families. Psychology Today, 12, 59–62.
Maslach, C. & Jackson, S.E. (1986) Maslach Burnout InventoryHuman Services Survey. Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo
Alto, CA.
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Burnout and job satisfaction in child welfare service C A Stalker et al.
Maslach, C., Jackson, S.E. & Leiter, M.P. (1996) Maslach Burnout Inventory Manual. Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo
Alto, CA.
Moore, J.E. (2000) Why is this happening? A causal attribution
approach to work exhaustion consequences. Academy of Management Review, 25, 335–349.
Norvell, N., Walden, K., Gettelman, T. & Murrin, M. (1993)
Understanding occupational stress in child-welfare supervisors. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23, 2043–2054.
Reagh, R. (1994) Public child welfare professionals – those who
stay. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 21, 69–78.
Rycraft, J.R. (1994) The party isn’t over: the agency role in the
retention of public child welfare caseworkers. Social Work, 39,
75–80.
Silver, P.T., Poulin, J.E. & Manning, R.C. (1997) Surviving the
bureaucracy: the predictors of job satisfaction for the public
agency supervisor. Clinical Supervisor, 15, 1–20.
Takeda, F., Ibaraki, N., Yokoyama, E., Miyake, T. & Ohida, T.
(2005) The relationship of job type to burnout in social workers at social welfare offices. Journal of Occupational Health, 47,
119–125.
Um, M.-Y. & Harrison, D.F. (1998) Role stressors, burnout,
mediators, and job satisfaction: a stress-strain-outcome
model and an empirical test. Social Work Research, 22, 100–
115.
Van Yperen, N.W. & Hagedoorn, M. (2003) Do high job
demands increase intrinsic motivation or fatigue or both? The
role of job control and job social support. Academy of Management Review, 46, 339–348.
191
Child and Family Social Work 2007, 12, pp 182–191
Van Yperen, N.W. & Janssen, O. (2002) Fatigued and dissatisfied or fatigued and satisfied? Goal orientations and responses
to high job demands. Academy of Management Review, 45,
1161–1171.
Vinokur-Kaplan, D. (1991) Job satisfaction among social workers in public and voluntary child welfare agencies. Child Welfare, 70, 81–91.
Wharton, A.S. (1993) The affective consequences of service
work. Work and Occupations, 20, 205–232.
Wharton, A.S. & Erickson, R.J. (1995) The consequences of
caring: exploring the links between women’s job and family
emotion work. Sociological Quarterly, 36, 273–296.
Yoo, J. (2002) The relationship between organizational variables
and client outcomes: a case study in child welfare. Administration in Social Work, 26, 39–61.
NOTES
1 In this paper, when we use the word burnout, we
are referring to the construct operationally defined by
the Emotional Exhaustion (EE) scale of the Maslach
Burnout Inventory. Numerous researchers have suggested that the EE subscale is the central component
of burnout (Cox et al. 1993; Koeske & Koeske 1993).
2 For a complete description of the study, please see
Harvey et al. (2003).
3 Tables summarizing the studies reviewed are available from the authors.
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd