Empowering educators: Tackling burnout and promoting faculty well-being.

Empowering
educators:
Tackling burnout
and promoting
faculty
well-being.


March 19, 2025

Caring for the caregivers: Supporting faculty mental health

Tags

MENTAL HEALTH
VIRTUAL CARE
HIGHER EDUCATION

Working in higher education has become increasingly challenging, and educators are facing an unprecedented degree of burnout. In fact, 64% of higher education faculty say they’re feeling some level of burnout. And they identify work as the root cause.1

This feeling of burnout has cascading negative impacts across their lives — from their well-being to their performance and their ability to teach effectively.

Staff turnover

Staff turnover in higher education has nearly doubled since 2021.2

Stress

More than one-third of faculty say teaching is more stressful than in previous years.3

Negative

47% say supporting student mental health needs are taking a negative toll on their well-being.4

As the demands on educators continue to rise, the need for meaningful support and sustainable solutions has never been more urgent. Identifying burnout early is essential to supporting educators and staff. Prioritizing their mental health allows them to sustain their passion for teaching and research and serve as effective role models for their students and colleagues.

7 tell-tale signs of burnout

Burnout can be challenging to identify, as it can manifest in several ways and overlap with various medical conditions, such as depression or anxiety. While none of these signs serve as a medical diagnosis, they hint toward burnout and someone who may need care for their mental well-being:


1. Exhaustion

  • General exhaustion, seeming more tired than usual
  • Arriving later in the morning, or not as punctual as they used to be
  • Frequently commenting that they feel exhausted

While there can be many reasons for fatigue and exhaustion, including medical diagnoses, these comments or actions can also indicate that someone feels burned out.


2. Higher absenteeism

  • Frequent sick days due to stress-related symptoms like headaches, chronic fatigue, etc.
  • Last-minute cancellations of class or office hours or extended leave of absence
  • Increased use of personal or unpaid leave and reduced participation in activities or meetings

Feeling overwhelmed by workloads, lack of motivation, or severe exhaustion can contribute to mental and physical drain, making faculty miss work more often than usual.


3. Lower quality work

  • Making an increasing number of mistakes on administrative tasks or submissions
  • More forgetful than usual, with more frequent requests for deadline extensions

If a professor or staff member used to excel in their work but has started exhibiting red flags due to quality or timing issues, it can be a clear sign of mental fatigue rather than a training-related issue.


4. Overall disinterest in work and activities

  • Withdrawal from professional engagements, functions, and activities
  • Lack of enthusiasm for teaching and minimal student interaction
  • Declining interest in research or volunteering

Some people are naturally less enthusiastic than others, but a baseline level of enthusiasm is still expected in the workplace.


5. Increasingly irritable

Changes in attitude, like irritability with colleagues or students, can be an obvious sign of burnout. However, this shift can manifest subtly, including not receiving feedback well or expressing cynicism towards students’ abilities.


6. More pessimistic

If someone becomes uncharacteristically pessimistic, expressing negativity about students, course outcomes, or the future of education, this can indicate a diminished sense of accomplishment and feelings of defeat.


7. General disengagement

Identifying disengagement is often one of the more subtle signs of burnout, as it can progress slowly. A few common signs include:

  • No longer asking for feedback and lack of interest in feedback they receive
  • Failing to contribute to department discussions
  • Less talkative or communicative than they used to be
  • Rarely bringing up anything of concern, previously important issues

Burnout-related disengagement can look different for everyone. The key is recognizing if someone’s behavior and personality differ from their normal baseline. Burnout can have long-term consequences for faculty well-being, student success, and institutional culture if left long enough.

Empowering educators and improving mental health.

Supporting the mental health of educators in higher education is crucial, given the pressures of research, teaching, administrative tasks, and student support. Here are some key ways to help create a more supportive environment to alleviate faculty burnout and improve professor-student interactions.


+ Foster an open-door policy.


61% of potential job-changers say poor communication
is a motivating force to leave their roles.5

Open-door policies can help improve communication. Take the first step by making it known that your staff can come to you with any questions or concerns, ensuring they always feel heard. Your communication policy can also include an anonymous way to share feedback—like a submission box or anonymized form for the department. This way, everyone will feel comfortable enough to share.

Lastly, create a plan to address feedback and ensure your staff knows about it and any results from your efforts as you move forward.


+ Monitor and balance workloads as much as possible.

With the ongoing faculty shortage and shrinking budgets, hiring more staff to offset workloads isn’t always an option. As a result, many faculty struggle with heavy workloads and high expectations.

Setting boundaries, managing time, and encouraging self-care routines can help, along with making adjustments wherever possible.

For example, professors are typically expected to spend about 40% of their time each week on research.6 If that number is skewing more than that, or the educator is working far more than full-time hours, encourage structured downtime and realistic scheduling so they aren’t pressured to always feel “on,” answering emails, mentoring, or researching.

Advocate for your faculty by ensuring they know they can always come to you with concerns about their workload. Having your staff leave due to workload burnout and non-communication will also exacerbate any existing workload issues. Making workload adjustments can have a long-term impact on mental health.


+ Recognize achievements and efforts.

Teaching can feel thankless at times. Make sure your staff know how much you appreciate them.


71% of employees are less likely to quit when recognized frequently.7

Celebrate victories big and small. For example, if the entire staff got through a problematic testing period, host a party and let them know how much you appreciate them. Much like communication, a little recognition goes a long way.


+ Educate staff on their available benefits.


25% of employees don’t feel informed about workplace benefits.8

Orientations aren’t for new hires only. Hold orientations anytime you have benefit changes or notice people are not utilizing certain benefits. Send out communications to educate your faculty and staff, including:

Email

Emails

Form

Simple 1-pager or pamphlet that explains the benefits

Talk

Talk to staff about how benefits have helped you

+ A word about depression.

Faculty burnout and depression can look strikingly similar, making it difficult to distinguish between the two. Because both can involve exhaustion, emotional withdrawal, and a feeling of hopelessness, it’s critical to involve a licensed medical professional as early as possible if you have concerns. It’s also likely that some of your staff are grappling with both issues. A professional can determine the course of action to take between the two.


+ The crucial role of virtual care in faculty mental health.

Going beyond recognizing the signs of burnout and taking steps to address it, truly prioritizing the mental health of your faculty and staff means ensuring they have access to clinically-backed mental health care.

Faculty often struggle for time due to their demanding schedule. MD Live by Evernorth has a network of more than 1,300 mental health professionals across all 50 states and Puerto Rico. MD Live helps them connect quickly and securely with a licensed professional by phone or video without leaving home or campus. And all from the privacy of wherever they’re most comfortable.

Whether you’re addressing burnout, depression or simply want to foster an environment of mental wellness, MD Live can help you and your institution.

Let’s talk about how we can help you and your faculty


Frequently asked questions about burnout

Make sure your staff are up-to-date and know about any types of mental health assistance they have, including EAP and other benefits.

Employee burnout can take many forms, including:

  • Disengagement from work and any related activities
  • An increase in irritability or aggression with colleagues and others
  • Frequent mistakes and less punctuality

It’s worth noting many characteristics of burnout can also apply to depression, so it’s best to involve a professional in either case.

Burnout isn’t something someone can necessarily cure; instead, it’s something someone must recover from. But there are still ways you can help others counter the effects of burnout, including providing better pay and benefits, offering more flexible work hours, implementing an open-door communication policy, and providing mental health support.

Self-care strategies can go a long way toward preventing or slowing burnout. Some self-care strategies for burnout include:

  • Setting realistic expectations for yourself with work
  • Creating clear boundaries between work and your personal life
  • Practicing yoga, meditation, and other mindfulness exercises
  • Getting a sufficient amount of sleep, eating well, and exercising if possible
  • Pushing back against unrealistic workloads or expectations, if necessary

While a lot of burnout rests on the job and those with the power to make changes from the top, the above self-care strategies can help you with burnout and help create a healthier work environment for yourself.