What All Employers Can Learn From Healthcare Worker Burnout

Key Takeaways

• Model and support self-care, boundary-setting and psychological safety to reduce employee burnout and drive engagement.
• Help create a sense of purpose so employees understand the impact of their work and feel more valued, motivated and resilient.
• Resources must be usable to be effective. Ensure employees have the time, encouragement and flexibility to access therapies, recharge rooms and other offerings.

“The healthcare industry is facing a reckoning over extreme burnout,” says Indeed Director of Healthcare Category Management and nursing thought leader Dr. Travis Moore. “It should serve as a warning signal for every industry: address the mental health of your workforce or pay the price.”

Dubbed the “Indeed Nurse” due to his wealth of healthcare knowledge and experience, Dr. Moore has seen firsthand how nervous exhaustion, emotional fatigue and lack of systemic support are causing even the most committed professionals to walk away.

But here’s the thing: employee burnout isn’t limited to the medical field.

As hospitals are forced to adapt to this crisis or risk losing essential talent, their best practices offer valuable lessons for leaders across all industries. Here’s what every employer can learn from healthcare’s burnout crisis to build a workplace where employees can thrive.

Support Employee Mental Health and Boost Workplace Wellbeing

1. Build a work culture that energizes

Workplace culture tends to reward overworking, reinforcing burnout — especially in healthcare.

“If you’re able to take time for a break or use company-provided resources, it becomes a stigma indicating you can't handle the job or you're not a good healthcare provider,” Dr. Moore says, an observation from his experience in the field.

While shifting deep-rooted cultural norms takes time, it’s necessary to drive long-term retention and performance. Some strategies to energize workers include:

• Foster psychological safety. “Employees must feel safe sharing concerns without fear of retaliation,” says Amy Polunsky, Indeed Senior Director of Total Rewards. “When advocacy is met with support, people are more likely to speak up.”

• Incentivize rest. “We recognize employees for working overtime, but what if we rewarded them for maintaining boundaries and prioritizing their health?” says leadership and burnout recovery coach Chazz Scott. He suggests implementing work-life balance metrics in performance reviews to encourage sustainable habits.

• Lead by example. Leaders should actively support and model self-advocacy, making it clear that rest and wellbeing are integral to performance rather than barriers to success. “If people worry that taking a break will negatively impact their job security or reputation, they won’t do it,” Scott says.

While managers play a role, Dr. Moore adds that informal leaders are also within every department. “Identifying these key figures helps drive change,” he says.

2. Make work feel meaningful

Changes in the healthcare industry underscore the importance of connecting employees to their purpose. In healthcare, that pertains to workers’ relationships with those they care for, according to Indeed’s “Pulse of Healthcare Report.”

“During the pandemic, healthcare workers were celebrated as heroes. But that respect and recognition quickly faded, and many now feel unappreciated,” says Dr. Moore. “When employees don’t feel valued — whether by their employer or the public — it leads to disillusionment.”

Purpose — when people see the impact of their work — is a key indicator of work wellbeing. However, in Indeed’s Global Work Wellbeing Report,  48% of respondents say they don’t feel a clear sense of purpose in their work.

To counter this, consistently reinforce how employees’ contributions matter through direct feedback, recognition programs or brand storytelling that connects individual roles to the company’s broader mission.

When looking at the state of survey respondents globally, Indeed's Global Work Wellbeing Report 2024 finds that the workforce hasn't rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.

3. Learn what your workforce values most

Proactively check in with your employees to learn which resources would be most valuable for their unique needs. Candid conversations can reveal where employees truly want support, whether it’s lifestyle spending accounts, flexible schedules or community in the workplace.

Dr. Moore describes a time when his medical assistant quit. After engaging in deeper conversation, he learned her childcare costs made working financially impossible. “Many employees leave not because they dislike their jobs, but because workplace realities make them unsustainable,” he says. “Employers must recognize what additional support mechanisms enable them to do their jobs effectively.”

Polunsky shares several ways Indeed engages its employees to learn what they need:

• Company-wide surveys: The Total Rewards team works closely with Indeed’s People Science team, which designs and analyzes employee surveys, to influence survey questions and analyze responses.

• Slack channels and employee forums: Informal discussions help gauge needs and concerns in real time.

• Visibility and transparency: Leadership ensures employees know their feedback is heard and acted upon. If changes aren’t feasible, leaders communicate why, maintaining trust and engagement.

4. Make wellbeing resources actually usable

Offering mental health resources isn’t enough. Employees need the time and encouragement to use them. Take Dr. Moore’s experience working in the pediatric ICU where his team used its  “wellness room” — created for recharge breaks — as a makeshift storage space to stash pillows, IV pumps and other hard-to-get supplies. Team members didn’t have the time or support to leave their patients, so they never used the room for its intended purpose.

To make mental health resources more accessible:

• Measure utilization: “You can’t just check a box to say you've provided a wellness resource. Track whether employees are taking advantage of what you offer,” Dr. Moore says. If not, use your feedback channels to identify barriers.

• Assign wellness ambassadors: Peer education is particularly effective. Many hospitals designate wellness ambassadors to educate others on available benefits and how to use them.

• Offer flexible care options: “Healthcare workers compartmentalize when we're at work so we can do our job, but we unpack those issues at home. That’s when we need resources,” says Dr. Moore. Flexible-care models that fit a variety of needs and schedules, such as virtual and in-person therapy options, are crucial to engagement and effectiveness, adds Polunsky.

• Prepare a support process: In a hospital, a “code blue” signals a medical emergency that requires an immediate, lifesaving response from the care team. Dr. Moore explains a newer protocol called “code lavender,” where a team responds, no questions asked, to support a care provider experiencing stress. While most industries don’t require emergency response teams, leaders can normalize asking for help and have a support process in place.

5. Balance innovation with empathy

Most organizations are incorporating AI into everyday processes to boost efficiency, including in employee support and benefits. However, don’t overestimate AI’s ability to provide relief. The personal human touch is what keeps your people engaged and satisfied.

Dr. Moore recalls a recent trip to the emergency room when his partner had appendicitis. While the staff moved through the process like a well-oiled machine, that was the problem — “it operated like an algorithm,” Dr. Moore says. Despite the clinical efficiency, the experience lacked the compassion and empathy so critical to care.

Polunsky shares how Indeed has begun integrating AI to support human resources without sacrificing the human touch:

• Data analysis and feedback: Efficiently analyze benefit usage trends and feedback with AI, helping to adapt programs based on real employee needs.

• Enhancing communication: Use AI to help streamline and schedule messaging and ensure employees receive timely, relevant benefit information. Always ensure AI-generated messages undergo human review before sending.

• Improving accessibility: AI tools can help employees find resources quickly, reducing barriers to engagement.

Scott reminds us: “AI makes us more productive, but it doesn’t resolve underlying beliefs that make us feel guilty for taking rest or the pressure to be always on. If we don’t address the mindset around balance, AI won’t magically solve burnout.”

Work Wellbeing Isn’t Optional — It’s Strategic

Healthcare’s burnout crisis is a cautionary tale for every industry. The moral of the story? Supporting your employees’ mental health is essential to performance and retention, as its neglect leads to burnout, absenteeism and high turnover.

As Polunsky simply says, “Supporting mental health at work isn’t just a kind gesture — it’s a strategic business decision.”

Discover more strategies for supporting your workforce’s mental health:

Your Nurses Are Still Burned Out. Now What?

What Does Work Wellbeing Have to Do With Business Success? Everything

How to Make Your Workplace Welcoming to Neurodivergent Employees

Indeed’s “Pulse of Healthcare 2024 Report” Reveals Healthcare Worker Priorities and Employer Misperceptions