86 percent of employees experiencing burnout say it impacts their health and wellness
Arlington, Va., September 3, 2024 – Government employees continue to report high levels of burnout (41 percent), notably higher among Millennial (50 percent) and female (48 percent) workers according to Eagle Hill Consulting’s latest government employee burnout survey. Among government employees who experience burnout, a staggering 86 percent say burnout impacts their health and wellness. Large shares of government employees say burnout impacts their productivity (78 percent), job performance (71 percent), attendance (41 percent), and ability to serve customers (55 percent).
Read the 2024 Understanding Government Employee Burnout infographic.
“Extinguishing burnout should be a top priority at agencies because it impacts productivity, performance, and employee health,” says Melissa Jezior, president and chief executive officer of Eagle Hill Consulting. “Reducing burnout is complicated, but it isn’t unsurmountable, even with tight budgets and staff shortages. And it’s particularly important to address burnout in government because so many employees are in positions that directly impact the public – air traffic controllers, homeland security teams, firefighters, law enforcement, and teachers for example.”
“One troubling finding is that most managers aren’t taking action when an employee expresses burnout. We often find managers don’t have the training to deal with this type of feedback or they aren’t empowered to make changes to address the problem,” Jezior said.
“The first step for agency leaders is to actively solicit employee views to get at the root causes of burnout, then implement measurable actions that can alleviate the problem. We consistently find that workload and staff shortages are key drivers of burnout, but every agency will have varied causes and solutions. Ultimately, agencies dealing with worker burnout must find smarter ways to work, like leveraging technology, re-prioritizing tasks, staffing up, or strengthening employee wellness and training programs,” Jezior said.
Additional survey findings are as follows:
- Only about half of government employees experiencing burnout (49 percent) have expressed to their manager that they feel burned out. Most managers (57 percent) didn’t take action to address burnout when employees communicated their stress levels.
- Government employees report that burnout impacts their willingness to go above and beyond in their jobs (57 percent), desire to stay in their role (42 percent), and relationships with colleagues (33 percent).
- When asked how to reduce burnout, 70 percent said more vacation/time off would help. Other solutions include increasing flexibility of working hours (69 percent), offering a four-day work week (68 percent), decreasing workloads (65 percent), adding more workers to get the job done (64 percent), working from home (64 percent), reducing administrative burdens (60 percent), providing better health and wellness benefits (57 percent), and offering more on-site amenities (52 percent).
- Among government employees who experience burnout, the top causes are their workload (59 percent), followed by staff shortages (48 percent), time pressures (43 percent), juggling personal and professional life (42 percent), and the inability to influence change (34 percent).
These findings are from the Eagle Hill Consulting Government Employee Burnout Survey conducted by Ipsos from August 9-14, 2024. The survey included 1,478 respondents from a random sample of employees across the U.S., including 531 government employees. Eagle Hill conducts the polling twice annually to maintain a pulse on worker burnout. In August 2024, response options for the survey question “Are you feeling burnout at work?” removed reference to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eagle Hill Consulting LLC is a woman-owned business that provides unconventional management consulting services in the areas of Strategy & Performance, Talent, and Change. The company’s expertise in delivering innovative solutions to unique challenges spans across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. A leading authority on employee sentiment, Eagle Hill is headquartered in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, with employees across the U.S. and offices in Boston and Seattle. More information is available at www.eaglehillconsulting.com.
Media Contact: Susan Nealon | 703.229.8600 | snealon@eaglehillconsulting.com
