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Assessments

Who is the OLBI for? Employees, managers, and HR

The OLBI is designed for adults in work who want to describe their own exhaustion and disengagement. LuriaLab lists it for ages 18 and over. [1] It is a personal questionnaire, not a workplace risk assessment, and it should not be used to judge individuals. [2]

Who should consider the OLBI?

Working adults who want words for how drained or detached they feel about their job, before deciding on a next step. Validation samples listed by one publisher span several occupations and countries, including US workers, Greek employees, German nurses, and workers in Brazil and Portugal. [5]

Who might do better with a different starting point?

If you want to know how stressful the last month has been overall, the PSS-10 fits better. If you want to see how far a problem is reaching into work and home life, the WSAS fits better. If your main concern is low mood, anxiety, or tension, the DASS-21 covers them. And if you are in distress, a conversation with a doctor or counsellor is a better first step than any questionnaire.

Should managers or HR use the OLBI with a team?

Managers and HR should be careful with it. The OLBI describes how individuals answer about themselves. It does not identify which working conditions to change, and HSE says even its own work-design survey should be used alongside other data and followed by conversations with employees. [7] If you do use any burnout questionnaire at team level, keep it voluntary and anonymous, report at group level, combine small groups, check data protection rules, and commit to act on the results.

Do not use individual scores for selection, promotion, or performance management. A burnout questionnaire is not designed for those decisions, and burnout is not a medical condition. [2]

What should I check about a translated version?

Translations may keep fewer items, may be scored differently, and may have been validated in a different population. The Brazilian adaptation dropped three items and found that one validity criterion was not fully met. [6] If you take it in another language, treat any published cut-off as unreliable and focus on the pattern of your two scores.

Can someone help me complete it?

You can ask someone to read the statements if that helps. Answer for yourself. If you are using the questionnaire with a counsellor or doctor, they can help you read the result in context.

Sources and further reading

These links open external research and health-information websites.

  1. LuriaLab: Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) test page
    Sixteen items, two subscales, instant scoring statement, age 18+, disclaimers, and citation. Read on 24 October 2026.
  2. World Health Organization: Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon" (2019)
    ICD-11 definition of burn-out; not classified as a medical condition.
  3. Maslach and Leiter (2016): Understanding the burnout experience. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103-111
    Notes that the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory assesses two dimensions, and discusses measurement and diagnosis.
  4. Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, and Schaufeli (2001): The job demands-resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 499-512
    Study of 374 workers: demands linked mainly to exhaustion, lack of resources mainly to disengagement. Abstract-level details only; full text not opened.
  5. NovoPsych: Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI)
    A commercial publisher's description of items, scoring ranges, its own cut-offs, and reliability figures it cites. Read on 24 October 2026.
  6. SciELO: Oldenburg Burnout Inventory validation in Brazil (Ciencia & Saude Coletiva)
    Describes the original 16-item structure, four-point agreement scale, balanced wording, and how the authors reversed items. Portuguese-language article read on 24 October 2026.
  7. HSE: What are the Management Standards?
    The six areas of work design that affect stress.

This page is educational. A questionnaire score cannot establish a diagnosis or explain the cause of your symptoms. If you are struggling, speak with a doctor or mental health professional, whatever your score. Read when to get help for work stress or find a helpline in your country.