Overview

• About 76% of employees in the US are currently experiencing worker burnout. Some 44% of them experience worker burnout sometimes and 23%, often or always. However, some demographics are more heavily affected by worker burnout than others.
• For example, women (80%) are more likely to experience worker burnout compared to men (72%).
• Among women, those aged 18-44 years are more likely to experience worker burnout (87%) compared to those between 45-54 years (74%), indicating that age increases the likelihood of worker burnout among women.
• According to a Gallup report, 34% of American employees are fully engaged at work, 52% say they are just showing up to work, and 17% are actively disengaged.
• Harvard Business Review reported that employee burnout costs between $125-$190 billion in additional healthcare spending with complications such as type 2 diabetes, heart congestion, depression, and gastrointestinal problems. This cost can prove significant to an organization. However, it is also measurable.

Strategies to Measure Employee Burnout

• Companies can measure employee burnout by analyzing critical metrics such as overtime, workload, and time spent.
• The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is one method of measuring worker burnout. It includes a 22-item survey covering three critical areas: emotional exhaustion, low sense of personal accomplishment, and depersonalization.
• "Each subscale includes multiple questions with frequency rating choices of never, a few times a year or less, once a month or less, a few times a month, once a week, a few times a week, or every day."
• This method can further be evaluated to develop five profiles of workers' experiences at an organization, including burnout, engagement, overextended, ineffective, and disengaged.

Summary

• The available information regarding the measurement of employee burnout is not very robust. However, there are relevant insights mentioned above that can be explored and expanded to provide a more profound knowledge of the topic.
• The initial research only revealed the cost associated with worker burnout based on the annual healthcare spending and not the average spend per company. However, it does emphasize that such costs could be significant for an organization and can be measured.