What burns out young generations? Part I. Professional burnout among employees from generations Y and Z – problem analysis
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3846/btp.2026.23963Abstract
Professional burnout is one of the most toxic phenomena affecting employees in contemporary organisations. Previously researchers focused on the professional burnout syndrome in the context of professions involving severe stress in the workplace. However, the changing realities of the modern world, turbulent shifts in the social, economic and business dimensions, as well as challenges of psychosocial nature mean that the burnout problem is increasingly noticed among young employees who theoretically should not be significantly affected by this phenomenon at this stage of their career. The purpose of this research is the empirical identification and assessment of organisational and psychosocial factors which can be strong determinants of the occurrence and development of professional burnout among representatives of generations Y and Z. The studies presented in this paper present the perspective of employees – generation Y and Z representatives employed in Polish businesses. The research results demonstrate organisational and psychosocial factors which in the opinion of the subjects of the research are the strongest determinants of the occurrence of professional burnout. The research results presented in this paper constitute part of a larger research project. The second part of the research is presented in the article “What Burns Out Young Generations? Burnout and Countermeasure Methods and Practices: The Perspective of Generation Y and Z Employees, Part II.”
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generation Z, generation Y, professional burnout syndrome, occupational stress, work-life balanceHow to Cite
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Copyright (c) 2026 The Author(s). Published by Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.
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