Work burnout and spiritual well-being during Covid-19 pandemic amongst staff in two Malaysian public universities

• Main Authors: Sulaiman, Rohaya, Mohammed Zabidi, Mahfuzah, Hj. Basri, Fairuzah, Mohd Marzuki, Zunaidah, Zaid Mohd Zin, Mohamad, Ozata, Sadik
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (HRMARS) 2022
• Subjects: BPL Islamic education
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/98028/7/98028_Work%20burnout%20and%20spiritual%20well-being%20during%20Covid-19.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/98028/; https://hrmars.com/papers_submitted/13247/work-burnout-and-spiritual-well-being-during-covid-19-pandemic-amongst-staff-in-two-malaysian-public-universities.pdf; http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v12-i5/13247

In early 2020, the government enforced the work-from-home order for all Malaysians in response to the Movement Control Order (MCO) to curb the Covid-19 global outbreak. Many have faced challenges in acquiring the skills and knowledge to use the latest information technology applications to do their work at home. Moreover, the sudden need to simultaneously perform several tasks, while working from home, has led to mental and emotional strains. As a result, many individuals started to experience work burnout and other negative repercussions. Thus, this study aims to investigate the motivating and demotivating factors that lead to work burnout. This study is important in contributing data and information for both universities in order to reduce work burnout issues amongst staff. This study employed the quantitative survey research methodology. A survey instrument was used to collect data online via Google Form and was analysed using SPSS version 26. The survey comprises four main sections; Section A focuses on respondents’ demographic profiles, Section B contains six items on personal burnout, Section C contains seven items on work-related burnout and lastly, six items in section D probed colleagues-related burnout. 106 respondents from two public universities in Malaysia were chosen purposively to answer the survey. The study found that personal-related burnout has the highest mean score of 3.3. This is followed by work-related burnout with 3.0. The lowest mean score was observed for colleague-related burnout, with 2.6. Hence, this study implies that tasawuf education should be emphasised to help individuals achieve spiritual well-being. In this regard, tasawuf education focuses on educating one’s heart to shape a person into a quality individual according to the Islamic mould. As a result, they develop strong resilience when facing challenges and obstacles in life. Further research may focus on examining a tasawuf-based spiritual well-being model from selected Sufi members’ perspectives to produce holistically successful individuals according to the true Islamic teachings.