How to Identify and Address Burnout in the Non-Profit Sector

By Dr. Emily Bennett, ND

You’re hearing about burnout everywhere these days, but maybe you aren’t sure exactly what it means. You know it has something to do with work becoming a place that leaves you so exhausted that it’s hard to function, but is that all it entails? How is it caused? How does it impact your organization? And what’s the best way to begin addressing it?

Burnout is on the Rise in the Non-Profit Sector

New research released in December 2021 has revealed that over a third of Canadians are currently experiencing burnout, and that some non-profit sectors are experiencing it at particularly high rates, including:

  • Health and patient care – 53%
  • Education and childcare – 38%
  • First responders – 36%

The study also noted that within the health and patient care sector in particular, “a staggering 66 percent of nurses reported burnout” and that “mental health professionals followed closely at 61 percent.”

Despite this rising tide of burnout, less than one third of Canadians feel that their employers are doing anything to help mitigate the impacts of stress in their workplace.

Employee Burnout Drives Turnover

When nothing is done to address the problem of burnout in the workplace, the progressive dissatisfaction of employees leads to an increase in the rate of turnover. We are seeing this happen at a much higher rate right now than prior to the pandemic.

A YMCA Workwell Community survey completed prior to Omicron and its associated lockdowns found that:

  • 73% reported experiencing burnout in the past three months
  • 25% planned to leave their jobs in the next 6 months
  • 56% reported that personal well-being – feeling burned out, overworked, and underappreciated – was driving the desire to move on to a new position. 

Turnover Costs Non-Profit Organizations Time, Money & Resources

The cost of turnover will vary from organization to organization but the direct financial costs are estimated to be at least 20% of the annual salary for the average employee earning between $30,000 and $50,000 per year. However, this figure doesn’t take into account the indirect costs associated with job search or recruitment, training and lost productivity by those involved in the hiring process. 

In a 2017 article with Charity Village, Melanie LaFlamme, then senior VP of HR at the YMCA of Greater Toronto said she doubled the employee’s annual salary to find the true cost of turnover to the organization, a number that better reflected the time it takes to get a new employee trained and proficient in their role. 

In addition to the financial costs, burnout also leads to the loss of mentors in the nonprofit workplace. When we lose experienced staff to burnout, new employees miss out on the opportunity to learn from supervisors and senior employees. This can exacerbate the problem, as new employees need to figure out on their own how to balance 1) the passion many bring to the purpose-driven work done by non-profit organizations with 2) the challenges they face. 

Burnout is a Workplace Phenomenon 

So what does it mean to experience burnout? 

Burnout was added to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) in 2019 by the World Health Organization, not as an individual medical diagnosis but as an “occupational phenomenon”

Someone experiencing burnout will have a combination of the following three symptoms:

  • Fatigue + exhaustion, unrelated to a medical condition or other known cause
  • Cynicism or negativism towards their job or workplace
  • Feeling a lack of professional efficacy or ability to get their job done well

A workplace phenomenon requires a workplace-based solution and an understanding of the factors in an organization that lead to burned out staff. While there’s no “one size fits all” approach to help an individual who is struggling with symptoms related to burnout, there are risk factors that make an organization prone to burnout that can be assessed and addressed in order to improve the environment and culture as a whole

How Not to Address Burnout

When you think of a workplace wellness plan, you may picture a series of one off initiatives that provide staff members the opportunity to engage in some kind of health-based activity – a meditation workshop, lunchtime yoga, or a discount at a local restaurant. 

Interventions like this not only miss the mark in providing a long-term strategy for wellbeing at work but may also struggle to get off the ground, especially if staff have more basic desires around autonomy, community or recognition at work.

Instead, Take a Root-Cause Approach to Addressing Burnout

To address the root causes of burnout in your organization you should start by listening to your staff. This could involve taking advantage of a survey, like the MBI + AWS, or speaking to each person individually.

Developing a clear idea of exactly where people feel unsupported or dissatisfied will enable you to formulate an approach to addressing wellbeing at work that is most likely to succeed over both the short and long-term. 

Next Steps

Join my Online Workshop

To learn more about the evidence-based strategies for addressing burnout in your organization, join Dr. Emily Bennett on March 9, 2022 with Laridae for a Deep Dive: “How to Address the Root-Causes of Burnout in Non-Profit Organizations”.

Take an Assessment Quiz

Curious about how your organization fares when it comes to burnout? Take the quiz

About the Author

Dr. Emily Bennett, ND (she/her) is a coach, consultant and creator of the Kindling Framework, a strategic approach to wellbeing & burnout prevention designed specifically for non-profit and social service organizations.

After years of serving folks working in the non-profit and social service sector in her one-on-one naturopathic medical practice, Emily was concerned at the number of her patients for whom leaving their job seemed the only solution to resolving the symptoms of their stress and mental health concerns. She became dedicated to helping non-profit organizations create workplace wellness programs that work for them and keep their dedicated, mission-driven staff healthy & burnout free.