Reimagining the future of work

PhD candidate Margaret Lee

The pandemic has put workplace burnout under the spotlight in recent years, with the perceived Great Resignation generating headlines around the world.

But Monash Business School PhD researcher Margaret Lee, of the Department of Management, says she’s more interested in what happens next.

“Recent global events have revealed just how fragile our workplace ecologies are, and we’ve seen this in industries like healthcare, hospitality and education,” Ms Lee says.

“But burnout does not discriminate based on how long you work, how passionate you are, or how interesting and valuable your work may be – it’s something many people have experienced.”

Margaret said most research to date has focused on the causes of burnout, while her PhD thesis, Burnout, Recovery and the ‘Missing Middle’, examines how people progress towards recovery.

“We currently have minimal insight into how people experience this ‘recovery’ phase, and how organisations can help to facilitate this,” she says.

“My doctoral research focuses on this neglected area.”

Margaret said contemporary thinking around burnout management had focused on person-centric interventions such as mindfulness and exercise.

Her research examines the role the work environment can play in driving burnout recovery.

“My work provides a new perspective about how we think about burnout, stress, working life and the structure of work,” she says.

“This has clear implications for contemporary debates and policy around how we organise work and people, for example, workplace surveillance, flexible work and universal basic income.”

Professor Kathleen Riach, from Monash Business School’s Department of Management, said Margaret’s work disrupts the way we think about burnout, not as an event that happened to a particular type of person, but as a phenomenon of the modern workplace.

“It has significant and long-term economic and social consequences if we do not start to think about this as a significant issue that demands attention from organisations and policymakers,” Prof Riach says.

“The value of Margie’s work, however, lies not only in developing new ways of understanding and thinking about burnout, but in doing so without losing sight of the intimate experiences and voices of those whose lives have been radically changed due to burnout.”

Ms Lee says completing her PhD research during a pandemic was a challenge.

“I’m very lucky to have been afforded the freedom and support to pursue a passion project, and to have a very supportive social network,” she says.

“My supervisors, my family and friends and the broader research community helped me to persist and maintain a curiosity about the world.”

Looking ahead, Ms Lee says she hopes to continue her work to better understand the social experiences around illness and trauma in the workplace.

“I am interested in how we untangle these and what we do with the loose threads - that is, the variety of ways that people knit themselves back together,” she says.

A book is also on the horizon.

“I am working on publishing a book based on my research, exploring ways of creatively communicating academic thought that resonates with and respects its audience,” she says.

“I love stories and modern forms of storytelling that stretch the potential and reach of research.”