Last update:
   18-Feb-2025
 

Arch Hellen Med, 42(2), March-April 2025, 251-259

ORIGINAL PAPER

Investigation of burnout and job satisfaction of employees in non-governmental organizations
for refugees and migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic

P. Theodorou,1 D. Boutyrakis,1 G. Manomenidis,2 C. Platis,1,3 T. Bellali1,4,5
1School of Social Sciences, Postgraduate Course "Health Care Management", Hellenic Open University, Patras,
2Department of Nursing, Didimoteicho Branch, International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki,
3Centre of Planning and Economic Research, Athens, Greece,
4Department of Health Sciences, School of Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus,
5Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, Greece

ΟΒJECTIVE To investigate the level of burnout and job satisfaction among employees in non-governmental organizations (NGO) in the refugee and immigration field during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHOD The research sample consisted of 107/185 (response rate: 57.8%) employees of three NGOs (Hellenic Refugee Council, Children's Rights Network, The HOME Project). The survey was held from December 2021 to April 2022. The survey was conducted using an anonymous questionnaire with closed-ended questions, which is divided into three parts. The first is related to the collection of social, demographic and professional data, the second includes the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) and the third includes the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS). Data analysis was performed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS), version 21.0.

RESULTS The analysis of the questionnaires showed a moderate professional satisfaction of the employees as a whole while salary and operating procedures in NGOs were the most satisfactory factors for professionals. Regarding the results of the statistical analysis related to burnout, relatively high levels were found, especially in the categories of work with clients and the total professional burnout. Employees in Thessaloniki were more satisfied with their profession, their salary, supervision, additional earnings, rewards and operating conditions while employees in Athens showed increased rates in all categories of burnout. Finally, increased years of service were associated not only with increased satisfaction with promotion and salary, but also with greater burnout, while reduced levels of study were also associated with increased satisfaction with salary.

CONCLUSIONS Clarification of professional roles, psychological support and adequate staffing would all help to increase job satisfaction and reduce the burnout of NGO workers, leading ultimately to improvement of the services provided to refugees and immigrants.

Key words: COVID-19 pandemic, Job satisfaction, Immigration crisis, NGOs, Professional burnout, Refugee crisis.

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