Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2022 - 22

authors explain. Stress and fatigue are
specifically identified concerning burnout
in both the MBI and the OLBI (Demerouti
2001, 500). The American Institute of
Stress warns that workload is the largest
contributor of stress for Americans and
has " escalated progressively over the past
few decades " (Smallwood 2020, 40). The
financial impacts of work-based stress
in the United States is estimated at $80
billion annually, due to constant turnover
and the cost to replace and train workers.
Additionally, health-care costs, including
insurance premiums, are increasing and
are one and a half times more expensive
for people who report having high levels
of stress (Smallwood 2020, 48).
A set of sessions at the 2022 USITT
conference presented an ongoing study
of burnout in theatrical technical directors
that is currently being run by Dr.
Adam Van Hove, Brian Smallwood, and
Jamie Bray, associate technical director
at Theatre Squared in Arkansas. They
identified three areas of strain causing
burnout in TDs: unrealistic expectations
by others, not having a " seat at the table, "
and the " vicious cycle of productions. "
This last area directly relates to work
time during the tech week and the constant
production cycle, which doesn't allow
for down time between shows, and
in many cases prep for the next show
is happening concurrently with a show
in rehearsal or performance. Early data
from this team exhibits a majority of respondents
have felt burnout in their position
(Bray et al, 2022).
Responding to the detrimental studies
of overwork and workplace stress are
" work-life balance practices, " a human
resources strategy to negate work-related
stress and other implications of job
demands (Lazar, Osoian, & Ratiu 2010,
201). " Work-life balance practices are
deliberate organizational changes in programs
or organizational culture that are
designed to reduce work-life conflict and
enable employees to be more effective
at work and in other roles " (Lazar et al
2010, 202). The goal of such practices is
to create, as Jim Bird of Worklifebalance.
com says, " meaningful achievement and
enjoyment in everyday life " (Lazar et al.
2010, 203). DuckJung Shin and Jackson
Enoh look at the correlation between
organizational profitability and worklife
balance programs (WLBP) in the
introduction to their 2020 paper. Listed
examples of WLBPs include leave policies,
child or elder care, on-site amenities
such as gym or health center,
financial assistance, and informational
or therapeutic assistance. Shin and Enoh
utilized Demerouti et al.'s Jobs DemandsResources
Model in their study of WLBP,
which recognizes the relationship between
the " physical, social, and organizational
aspects of the job that require
sustained physical or mental effort, " or
the " demands, " and the job " resources "
such as " job control, the potential for
qualification, participation in decision
making, ... social support from colleagues
and peer groups " (Shin & Enoh, 2020;
Demerouti et al. 2001, 501). Shin and
Enoh note that consideration is given to
how human resource managers recognize
the organizational and individual
needs related to WLBP and the availability
and actual use of resources. What
they discovered was that just by having
WLBP available, even if they weren't
used, employees had increased health
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