Fervently Optimistic: Teachers Emotional Exhaustion and a Balance between Workload and Job Satisfaction among High School Teachers

Abstract

Professionals experience emotional exhaustion at the workplace as they balance workload and job satisfaction, often leading to burnout. Burnout is linked to job satisfaction, and both significantly affect job performance. Indeed, the effect was even more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, research has established job satisfaction and quality productivity among professionals, even among teachers, are positively related to emotional exhaustion. This study investigated workload and mental health concerns among teachers. A group of 367 out of 4 447 targeted teachers in public secondary school settings were part of the study utilising a descriptive survey design. Data on burnout was obtained using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-S), while the JSS-S measured teachers’ job contentment. The results showed that burnout is strongly linked to job satisfaction, and the study suggests that the underlying causes of burnout need to be addressed to improve teachers’ work satisfaction.