RESILIENCE AS A BUFFER AGAINST BURNOUT: A SOCIO-MANAGERIAL ANALYSIS OF DEPRESSION IN CORPORATE WORKSPACES

Abstract

Corporate burnout and depression are becoming one of the most difficult challenges to the welfare and performance of employees or the company. The paper shall examine the resilience as a buffer variable between burnout and depression with a socio-managerial view projected in the corporate industries of Dehradun and the surrounding regions of Uttarakhand. Data about 240 workers in six industries (IT services, hospitality, health care, education, and MSMEs and banking) was collected using a cross-sectional research design. Standardized measures were Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS). These measures were utilized in combination with a self-constructed socio-managerial questionnaire.

The results showed moderate-high burnout among staff particularly in the hospitality and IT sector, and an alarming rate of depression with 22 percent of the employees registering moderate and 8 percent experiencing severe depression. The regression and moderation analysis showed that resilience negative correlated burnout and depression significantly and that resilience was protective. The employee who works in industries where the HR practices were well-structured and the leader was supportive such as the banking and education sector identified the resilience and the reduced depressive symptoms. On the other hand, the lower resilience in the sphere of IT and hospitality and its connection with the higher stress outcomes were observed.

The findings suggest the resilience as an individual resource, and organizational resource that is nurtured. These managerial practices such as flexible work arrangements, peer mentoring, recognition systems and recognition systems were also key in building resilience. The article links the role of resilience-based intervention in tier-2 corporate hubs with a less formal infrastructures of wellness. By implementing the personal and socio-managerial approach, resilience could be applied as the sustainable mechanism to decrease burnout, prevent depression, and increase the productivity of organizations.