This study aims to extend the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) theory and introduces the JD-R–GROW framework (Growth-oriented Retention of Workforce) to show how organisations can strategically use work engagement and burnout beyond a psychological state to a potential predictor of workforce sustainability crucial for overall growth of organisation.
This study is grounded in existing literature. It extends the JD-R model and presents a theoretically supported JD-R–GROW framework. The framework links burnout to preventable turnover and work engagement to discretionary retention and finally culminating as workforce sustainability. It highlights how individual experiences shape workforce sustainability. The framework presents a set of theoretically supported testable propositions emphasizing its practical relevance.
The framework presents a novel approach to workforce sustainability. It presents workforce sustainability (GROW) as a strategic outcome rooted in employee experience (burnout and engagement). It reveals how job burnout and engagement signal turnover risks and retention opportunities respectively through which organisations can transform individual well-being into sustainable workforce.
This study makes novel contribution to both theory and practice by extending the scope of traditional JD-R theory from individual level outcomes to organisational level outcomes. In theory, it enriches the JD-R framework by positioning burnout and work engagement not as endpoints but as indicators and pathways to workforce sustainability. In practice, it offers a fresh approach to workforce sustainability by cultivating discretionary retention of growth-oriented workforce.
