Identifying Burnout Syndrome in a Private University in the State of Puebla, Mexico: Facing the Challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction

The idea of work has changed substantially in recent years. Traditionally, work has been associated with a physical location such as an office, factory, building, industrial park, or other types of facilities. In 2022, the workplace is no longer constrained by physical limits or time frames. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic can be credited for generalizing remote work.

Before the pandemic, working from home was considered as a perk offered by certain companies. There used to be a lure to the voluntary lifestyle of the digital nomads, which was traditionally associated with working in a relaxed environment. However, forced remote working due to confinement conditions, in many cases, was less than idyllic.

The growing fear and anxiety among the world population, due to the uncertainty of the disease, intensified by the essential but disruptive measures, such as quarantines, closures, and social distancing, plus the changes in the way in which work was performed, job security, and the added household chores led, in numerous cases, to disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, panic, behavioral changes and even burnout syndrome (Sood, 2020).

Working from home can create unique challenges for remote workers because the work role is integrated into the family domain in such a way that their home is associated with the workspace (Allen, Cho & Meier, 2014). Furthermore, studies have been carried out that show that people who work from home tend to work longer hours due to the limited control over the time they work (International Labour Organization, 2017).

This chapter includes an analysis of the evolution of research in the field of remote work and burnout syndrome in an attempt to identify the impressive growth in publications due to interest in those topics since the COVID-19 pandemic. The literature review covers burnout syndrome, remote work, pandemic burnout, and also gender differences that can be identified in terms of the effects of remote work on physical and emotional well-being.

The field study is centered on a private higher education institution in central Mexico. General conditions regarding stress and working hours in the country are described to create the general background of the study, along with two major regulations that legislate psychosocial risks and remote work. The population considered were full-time faculty members who had moved their activities online. A section of a scale that is part of a more extensive study about the effects of remote work during the pandemic was used. The original scale focused on the impact of working from home on the health, well-being, productivity, performance, and family relationships of employees; while the part used for this study is centered on health and well-being. The scale was applied in November and December 2020. Results were analyzed as a whole and later on divided according to gender to determine whether there were significant differences in terms of burnout syndrome in faculty.