Burnout and Time Perspective of Blue-Collar Workers at the Shipyard

Background:The aim of the research was to investigate the association between time perspective in relation to burnout and successful ageing of blue-collar workers with physically highly demanding work and low autonomy. Shipyard blue-collar workers usually do predominantly manual labor versus white-collar workers, whose jobs do not usually involve physical work.Methods:497 participants workers in a shipyard in the north of Spain. Ages were between 20 and 69 (M = 46.62, SD = 10.79). We used the Zimbardo Time Perspective Instrument (ZTPI), Spanish version, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS).Results:Emotional exhaustion factor obtained a coefficient of 0.97; cynicism factor of 0.83; and professional efficacy factor ofp= 0.86. The mean of the three reliability coefficients was 0.887. With respect to the five factors of the ZTPI questionnaire: the negative past factor obtained a coefficient ofp= 0.91; that of positive pastp= 0.81; the present hedonistic of 0.878; the future ofp= 0.83; and the fatalistic present ofp= 0.90. The mean of the five coefficients, wasp= 0.86.Conclusions:Within shipyard workers, burnout is associated with a negative past and negative future time perspective. This makes shipyard workers at a higher risk of developing burnout and this can have serious consequences for the sustainable employability of these blue-collar workers.