Investigation of the relationship between occupational stress and job burnout among bank employees

Bank employees commonly experience high job stress due to the inherent demands of their work. Although previous studies have highlighted significant occupational stress and considerable job burnout among bank employees, few investigations have specifically explored the relationship between occupational stress and job burnout within this employee group. This study aimed to examine the association between occupational stress and job burnout among bank employees.

This cross-sectional survey study was conducted in Iran, focusing on employees working at a single bank branch in Urmia. One hundred two bank employees, comprising 83 males and 19 females aged between 25 and 55 years, participated in the study. Data were collected using the Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Correlation analysis was employed to explore the relationship between occupational stressors and their subscales as independent variables, and job burnout as the dependent variable.

The findings indicated that bank employees experienced moderate to severe levels of occupational stress, with individuals exhibiting low stress reporting no burnout. Conversely, individuals with high stress levels demonstrated moderate levels of burnout. Notably, there was a significant relationship between dimensions of the occupational stress scale, such as role overload, role ambiguity, and the physical environment, and job burnout. Among these dimensions, the physical environment exhibited a particularly noteworthy correlation with job burnout (r = 0.429, p = 0.001).

The results suggest that specific dimensions of occupational stress significantly influence job burnout, underscoring the importance of implementing organizational interventions to mitigate occupational stress and job burnout.