A Study of the Associations of Psychosocial Work Characteristics，burnout and Job Satisfaction in Local Tax Officials

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of psychosocial work characteristics, burnout and job satisfaction in local tax officials. Study participants were local tax officials who were workers of the Revenue offices of the New Taipei City Government, including department heads, general civial servants and contract-based employees. Study subjects were recruited by a stratified random sampling scheme. A structuralized self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information concering psychosocial work chracteristics, burnout status and job satisfaction. The Chinese version of Job Content Questionnaire based on the demand-control-support model and the Chinese version of Copenhagen Burnout Inventory were included. Also included were items for workplace violence experiecned over the past 12 months. A total 384 valid questionnaires were collected. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, chi-square test, t-test, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, multiple logistic regression analysis. In addition, finding of this suvey was compared with that of the National Survey of employees conducted by the Labor and Occupational Safety and Health, Ministry of Labor of Taiwan. Main findings of this study were as the following： 1. With regard to psychosocial job demands, more than 80% of the local tax officials reported high levels of repetitive work, , hectic work and work speed. The overall level of job demands was higher than the mean from the national survey of general employees. 2. With regard to social support at work, findings of this study showed that more than 80% of the study participants agreed that supervisor support and coworker support were good. However, the prevalence rates of workplace violence were higher than that of the general workers. It is worth noticing that 24.7% and 12.2% of surveyed subjects had experienced “verbal violence” and “psychological violence”, respectively, over the past 12 months. 3. With regard to burnout status, findings of this study indicated that the level of personal burnout was higher than that of the national average of general employees, so was the level of work-related burnout. However, the level of was lower than the national averages, but the difference was not statistically significant. 4. With regard to job satisfaction, findings of this survey showed that tax officials reported lower levels of job satisfaction than general employees of the national survey. To promote workers’ health and job satisfication, the management should encourage staff to obtain further on-job training for a better job control, should simplify operating procedures through the aid of information technology to reduce workers’ job demands, and should improve work arrangement and workplace social interaction to reduce the negative impacts of job stress and workplace violence.