Reducing Burnout and Resignations of Front Line Workers

Abstract

Government agencies across the world are struggling to retain front line workers, as high job demands and low job resources contribute to employee burnout. Four decades of research have documented the costs of burnout, yet we have limited causal evidence on strategies that reduce it. In this paper, we present evidence that low perceived social support puts employees at risk for burnout and that priming group identification and affirming social belonging can mitigate this risk. First, we present survey evidence that low perceived social support is correlated with high burnout among correctional officers (Study #1, n = 175). Second, we conduct a multi-city field experiment aimed at nudging group identification and social belonging (Study #2, n = 536), in which 911 dispatchers are prompted to share advice anonymously and asynchronously with other dispatchers. This intervention reduces burnout by 8 points (0.4 SD) and cuts resignations by more than half (3.4 percentage points) four months post-intervention. Finally, we conduct an online laboratory experiment (Study #3, n = 497) confirming that the experimental intervention increases perceived social belonging and support. These findings suggest that low-cost belonging affirmation techniques can reduce burnout, contributing meaningfully to the retention challenges facing government.