Effort-Reward Imbalance

Burnout at work is thought to occur when the effort required to perform a job outweighs the rewards of the job and the resources of an individual to meet these demands. Over-commitment at work, the personal motivation to work excessively, also increases the risk of adverse health outcomes.

We asked respondents about their perceived effort at work, the rewards of their job, and their level of over-commitment to work using the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) questionnaire. An effort-reward ratio score is calculated to quantify the disparity between effort and reward reported by older workers. Select the outcome you'd like to explore from the drop-down menu below and click a category for a breakdown of summary scores by demographic group.