The research was grounded in [7] JD-R model to examine the impact of positive and negative factors on employee burnout. In this model, an employee’s work environment comprises both physical and psychological factors that contribute to their work experience. The JD-R model provided the lens through which was viewed and analyzed the research project and the data uncovered. [7] asserted that high job demands are associated with feelings of exhaustion, and low job resources are most associated with depersonalization. Leaders can utilize information about effective strategies to reduce burnout in employees with high workload demands, thereby improving organizational performance, see Figure 1.

Figure 1.Job Demands-Resources model.

The JD-R has deep roots in how scholars and practitioners view employee support in the modern workplace. The JD-R was created by Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, and Schaufeli in 2001. [22] defined burnout as a syndrome that occurs only within human services professions. [7] asserted that there was little empirical evidence to support the notion that burnout occurs exclusively in caring professions. Demerouti et al. asserted that burnout occurs regardless of the profession when limited job resources deplete employees’ energy and motivation.

Burnout does not occur as a single factor; instead, it is a complex set of factors that comprise a syndrome. [7] expanded on the earlier work by [21]. In his research, Maslach defined burnout as a syndrome comprising three distinct components: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment rather than a singular condition. Emotional exhaustion refers to feelings of being overextended and exhausted due to the emotional demands of work. Depersonalization refers to a feeling of detachment and cynicism towards one’s work. A reduced sense of personal accomplishment indicates a feeling of no longer being effective in one’s work or job responsibilities. Maslach found that burnout was exclusive to caring professions, such as social work, but Demerouti et al. asserted that burnout was not exclusive to caring professions.

The work environment comprises numerous interactions of job demands and resources. In the JD-R model, burnout can occur when there is an imbalance between the job resources (low) and demands (high) ([7]). Job demands refer to the physical, social, and organizational requirements that necessitate continuous effort and can lead to exhaustion. Demerouti et al. asserted that the greater the job effort, the greater the psychological costs to the employee.

Job resources can mitigate the psychological and physical costs of the employee. Job resources encompass physical, psychological, social, and organizational aspects that enable employees to achieve work goals, mitigate the cost of job demands, or foster personal growth ([7]). Job resources can be individual or grouped to reduce the cost to the employee; for example, having an empty office to use during a big deadline can provide a quieter environment and improved concentration. Leaders who implement effective strategies to balance work demands and job resources among their employees can reduce burnout.

Understanding the definition of workload is imperative for analyzing how high load demands can lead to burnout. [39] differentiated the workload definitions according to the subject’s self-reporting level in an editorial about the different workload measurement tools. The authors defined the fundamental concept of workload as the demands placed on an individual to meet a task and the individual’s skills required to complete it. Employees could reach their maximum physical and mental capacity as tasks increase. Overload occurred when tasks exceeded an employee’s available resources. However, not all employees measure the same way.

Employees can differ in how they view their workload. [39] compared experienced employees who may be able to complete complex tasks efficiently with newer employees who struggle with more straightforward tasks due to their learning curve. They asserted that workload demands should include a self-reporting dimension on a Likert scale, much like a pain scale, to communicate how employees view their workload. Employees can respond differently to job demands, which could lead to burnout.

Leaders implementing effective strategies to reduce burnout may also effectively strengthen their organization’s financial performance. There is a link between the adverse effects of burnout and the positive effects of employees achieving decent work. Burnout is a syndrome of ongoing work stress that employees can no longer manage ([8]). [8] studied the relationship between decent work and burnout in a sample of 727 academics from Portugal and Brazil. Dinis et al. defined decent work as the right of all human beings to decent and productive work conditions. Dinis et al. found that decent work dimensions were significantly and negatively related to burnout. Burnout does not occur in isolation, but it can affect many employees simultaneously.

It can be perilous for a leader to view burnout as a one-employee-at-a-time syndrome. Instead, one employee’s stress can lead to stress and burnout in another employee. [2] found that a psychological contagion can occur, meaning that an employee may exhibit stress when observing another employee’s stress. The researchers recruited 30 male college students and divided them into two groups: one experiencing a stress-inducing scenario and the other a placebo scenario with minimal stress. The researchers found that when observing stress in a colleague, nonverbal communication, such as the fight-or-flight biological responses, can be present. Shared stress can lead to shared burnout, which in turn can harm employee retention.

An organization comprises employees, customers, and the physical work environment. Losing and replacing employees costs an organization time and money ([30]). [30] analyzed the relationship between turnover intention, working conditions, burnout, and the mediating factor of social support. Prajith and Vigi used a simple sample of 324 healthcare workers in India. The researchers found a positive correlation between turnover intention, burnout, and working conditions. Social support played a mediating role in reducing the relationship between burnout and working conditions. Leaders should consider how to model and reward social support to reduce burnout and intention to turnover.

Retaining employees saves an organization money. [33] investigated methods to enhance retention by fostering a sense of belonging in the workplace. The cost to recruit and hire new physicians was estimated to be between $25,000 and $1,000,000 per physician and could cost as high as $50,000 for an experienced nurse. Schaechter et al. analyzed a sample of 366 physicians, 99% of whom were women, regarding their intent to leave within two years. Schaechter et al. found that a greater sense of workplace belonging was associated with a reduced intention to leave. Workplace belonging included interpersonal relationships and organizational policies. Leaders can implement social support systems, such as mentoring, to enhance retention and reduce the likelihood of employees intending to leave.

The negative impacts of burnout in high-workload-demand jobs can be felt by staff and measured by leaders. Reduced retention and productivity are symptoms that impact the business. In the JD-R model, the researchers referred to burnout as an imbalance between job demands and resources ([7]). Leaders could improve organizational performance by understanding the importance of regulating job resources as an effective strategy to reduce burnout.

Employees can feel overwhelmed due to a lack of job resources. [3] examined the job demands of university faculty in a prominent institute for professional education in applied science in Netherlands. The faculty’s job demands included work overload, student emotional demands, physical demands, and work-home interference. Bakker et al. employed the JD-R as their conceptual framework and the Maslach Burnout Inventory as their measurement instrument. Bakker et al. found that job resources could buffer the impact of workload on exhaustion and depersonalization.

Burnout can occur when job demands exceed job resources. [3] found that additional job resources can reduce burnout and that combining resources, such as autonomy and a high-quality relationship with their supervisor, could mitigate high job demands. Bakker et al.’s research demonstrated the importance of the relationship between supervisors and their employees. Leaders could learn about job resources they could apply in combination to mitigate job demands and reduce burnout.

Balance is at the core of an engaged employee. According to the JD-R model, burnout arises from an imbalance between job demands and job resources ([7]). [14] surveyed 364 full-time employees to investigate the relationships between job demands, personal and job resources, turnover intention, and emotional exhaustion. Hoare and Vandenberghe found that job resources had a more significant impact on reducing turnover intention than job demands. Job resources have a significant impact on the increase in emotional exhaustion ([14]). These research findings suggest that leaders should prioritize ensuring job resources over reducing job demands to reduce burnout.

4.1.1. Theme 1: Prioritize the Employee

The first emerging theme, Prioritize the Employee, was identified by 87% of the participants and refers to focusing on the needs and preferences of the employees. Event industry leaders are responsible for delivering events and services to customers, which is an external focus. Paradoxically, the participants spoke about the importance of their strategy to prioritize the employee, which is an internal focus.

[7] built their JD-R model on the foundation of [21] definition of burnout as a syndrome. Within the syndrome of burnout, employees can experience emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduction in personal accomplishment ([21]). However, whereas Maslach asserted that burnout is a syndrome specific to the human services profession, Demerouti et al. asserted that burnout could occur in any profession and expanded Maslach’s research to create the JD-R. In the JD-R model, organization support has been identified as a job resource ([7]). It fits with the current literature that prioritize the employee is the strongest theme in effective strategies to reduce burnout in employees with high workload demands, as it is aligned with the needed support for these employees, as they have complex work. The prioritizethe employee theme, being the highest occurring theme, aligned with the JD-R model to increase job resources to balance high workload demands to reduce burnout. The participants discussed how they provided job resources and organizational support, which they demonstrated through supportive leadership, to balance job demands, as exemplified within the JD-R model, thereby reducing burnout among their employees.

Event industry leaders who expressed the prioritizethe employee theme focused on providing supportive leadership to reduce burnout in their employees. The prioritize the employee theme aligned with the JD-R model as the leaders supported the physical, psychological, social, and organizational factors that impact an employee’s work environment ([7]). P2 articulated, “So some of the strategies that we used…was an…over [sic]arching theme of the company that the employees were to be treated…the same as our clients”.

As the event planning industry is a service-based industry, customer service is a key focus. However, events are not only built around logistics planning, budgets, room layouts, and contractual deadlines; they are also shaped by subjective factors such as attitude and expression when dealing with the changing priorities and timelines of stakeholders ([38]). The competing demands of the event planning timeline and the stakeholders’ expectations increase the complexity of the work and can lead to an employee’s increased stress at work. Thus, event industry leaders who provide organizational support by treating the internal employees similarly to the external clients can reduce burnout. Providing job resources can help to reduce burnout.

The prioritizethe employee theme aligned with the JD-R by providing the job resources of supportive leadership, professional development, and organizational support to reduce burnout in employees. The secondary research further supported the alignment between the prioritize the employeetheme and the JD-R. [23] studied the factors that influence employee engagement and satisfaction among 184 administrative employees in the South African municipality of eMalahleni. Masuku et al. found a significant relationship between the work environment and employee engagement, with employee satisfaction improving as the work environment improved. In addition to improving employee engagement, supportive leadership, employee autonomy, and professional development, motivation can lead to employee innovation, which was shown to increase employee satisfaction ([23]). As the work of event industry employees is complex, innovation is valuable. Employee innovation can lead to increased competitive advantage of the organization by making its services better than its competitors or by creating niche services that are unique within the event industry. Fostering employee innovation can keep employees challenged and empowered. As the work of event professionals is complex, providing job resources to support autonomy and innovation is essential to reduce burnout. Additionally, leaders can reduce employee burnout by supporting innovation in job demands as well.

A leader demonstrates the prioritizetheemployee theme by being open to change in the kinds of resources needed to balance an increase in job demands. When leaders are open to change, they foster psychological safety within their team and offer the job resource of organizational support to balance high-load work demands. The secondary research expanded on the prioritize the employeetheme demonstrated by leaders being open to change to foster innovation. [4] asserted that leaders’ emotions can have a multiplier effect for their team, meaning that if the leader is having a bad day and is impatient with an employee, the employee can experience that negative emotion even more strongly due to the power differential. When a leader fosters a safe environment to innovate, challenge current processes, and ask questions, they create an environment in which employees can innovate. By nurturing a safe and creative environment, a leader can support employees’ growth from single loop learning, how to solve a problem, to double loop learning, using experience to re-envision the overall landscape in which we work ([4]). The complex work of employees within the event profession increases job demands.

Event industry leaders must also consider the unique demands of their employees’ complex work and provide opportunities for them to improve work processes, thereby reducing job demands. In the JD-R model, employee dissatisfaction can occur when there is an imbalance in job demands and resources. With this in mind, event industry leaders should save space for their employees to have a voice in how they do their work. Leaders being open to change aligned with the JD-R model, as the leader supports the employee’s autonomy through job resources, thereby reducing burnout. During P2’s interview, they emphasized the importance of being open to change by supporting employees’ suggestions for process and workflow improvements. They asserted that a contributing factor to employee burnout is witnessing a process that is not working well, having to repeat it over and over, yet not feeling empowered to share their input on improvement. P2 described saving space for employee suggestions, testing the recommendations, analyzing the results with the employee, and deciding together whether to keep the improvement. Being open to change by giving employees input on how they perform their work can help reduce job resources by achieving increased efficiency in a work process and also assuring employees that their time is not being wasted. Being open to change to employee input can be one factor in the prioritizethe employee theme. Considering how to support employees during the long work hours required to plan and support events is another factor in the prioritizethe employee theme.

Employees in the event industry are often required to work long hours, including weekends and holidays. Event leaders demonstrated the prioritize the employeetheme through the job resources they provided to balance the job demands of their employees’ work schedules. The secondary research further supported the alignment of the prioritizethe employee theme through the effective management of employees’ work schedules. In a study examining the impact of shift work on the sleep quality and safety of shift workers, leaders found that improved management of shift work schedules led to increased employee satisfaction ([16]). Different professions encounter work schedules that are unique to their professions, including nurses who work 12-hour shifts, firefighters who work 24-hour shifts, and petroleum workers who can work 14 consecutive days ([16]). [16] found that limiting the number of successive night shifts and avoiding short intervals between shifts increased employee satisfaction. Event professionals can work long hours to finalize the event’s planning and then work even longer hours to support the event on-site. On-site support includes event set-up, providing logistics support during the event, and breaking down the event. P2 spoke about trying to avoid assigning an employee to work a late shift to support an event, and then also an early morning shift to set up for the next event. When event industry leaders attempt to schedule employees’ work shifts to provide rest and recovery, they align with the JD-R model by seeking to reduce job demands and thereby minimize strain, burnout, or exhaustion. When leaders demonstrate organizational support by trying to balance long work hours by avoiding scheduling employees to work back-to-back late nights and early mornings, they are aligning with the prioritize the employee theme. [38] asserted that conflicts in the chronological timeline of events, how they are planned, and when they are held, can conflict with stakeholders’ timelines. The conflict of the different timelines is referred to as Kairos ([38]). Kairos describes the qualitative aspect of time, in contrast to Chronos, which represents the chronological aspect of time ([38]). An example of the qualitative aspect of time in event planning is a last-minute request from a stakeholder that requires additional work hours for employees. Encouraging employees to take time off to rest and recover is an example of a job resource to balance job demands.

Event industry leaders should be aware of the time their employees are taking off and, often more importantly, when they are not taking time off from work. The secondary research further supports the prioritize the employee theme when leaders maintain their employees’ work-life boundaries to reduce the risk of burnout, and some employees may require assistance in adhering to these boundaries ([17]). P6 articulated,

When we are on-site, I kick my staff out as soon as they’re done with their work. I do not want them just sitting in the staff office with us to be there because I’m there. So I try to make sure they know my expectation is not [sic] that they are working to a point of burnout.

When employees fail to take time off from work to rest and recover, they may begin to exhibit signs of burnout, such as a cynical attitude or feeling detached from their work and colleagues. Leaders demonstrate the prioritize the employee theme by encouraging their employees to take time off. P2 spoke about clarifying that when employees are off, they should not call into meetings or send work emails, so they are truly off from work. The prioritize the employee theme aligned with the JD-R model by leaders providing organizational support as a job resource by demonstrating a supportive work environment to reduce job demands. [7] posited that high job demands can lead to feelings of emotional exhaustion, burnout, and turnover. P6 articulated,

You are the best employee if you [sic] have burnt yourself, which is not[emphasis added] something I think is actually a good brag. I think that is counterintuitive to actually staying around for a long time. … I’m not. I’m not gonna give you [sic] a prize for being the most [sic] burnt-out [sic] employee I have.

The participant prioritized the employee by actively working to prevent overwork and burnout among their staff. Although it may not always be possible to reduce job demands, leaders need to create a positive work environment by seeking additional resources, negotiating deadlines and priorities, or providing supportive leadership to acknowledge the peak times for job demands. Monitoring how employees feel when job demands are high is critical to reducing burnout, but it is not a one-size-fits-all approach for all employees.

Encouraging employees to take time off to rest and recover is aligned with the current literature about the complexity of the work required of employees. [38] described the skills required of event professionals to excel at complex project management, which include managing stakeholders’ changing priorities, as well as social and communication skills, and emotional intelligence. The complex work of these employees increases job demands, which could lead to psychological strain. When leaders demonstrate the job resource of organizational support by encouraging employees to take time off from work to rest and recover, they are reducing job demands.

Another way a leader demonstrates the prioritizethe employee theme by treating employees with respect, which in turn demonstrates organizational support. The secondary research further aligned with demonstrating the prioritizethe employee theme by treating employees with respect because when employees feel respected, they are more resilient ([12]). Resilience can be associated with the positive personal job resources included in the JD-R model that include support, autonomy, motivation, and engagement ([7]). P7 articulated,

You know, most of the people that we have are really great professionals, and when a mistake is made, it’s a mistake. And we try to correct that, of course, any mistake that’s made, but we don’t need to berate the employees or treat them disrespectfully because a mistake was made.

Due to the complex nature of their work, event professionals find resilience to be a valuable personal resource. Demonstrating respect for the employee as a factor in the prioritizethe employeetheme aligned with the current literature. As event professionals have complex work to achieve the success factors of a live event that include not only quality, budget, and meeting the timeline, they also have to achieve more subjective measurements that can include how the event enhances the image of a local community or an organization, how it fosters relationships, or how the event creates an identify that attendees want to return to ([38]). Leaders who expressed the prioritizethe employee theme expressed the importance of demonstrating respect for their employees to reduce burnout.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in March of 2020, the event industry almost ceased to exist as in-person events were prohibited. Both individual event professionals and the event industry needed to be resilient in order to pivot to digital events and podcasts, find alternative work temporarily, or change careers altogether. Event industry leaders can support the personal job resources of motivation, autonomy, and engagement that contribute to resilience by getting to know the needs of their employees.

The prioritize theemployee theme can also be demonstrated by getting to know the different preferences of employees to reduce burnout. Employees can react to increased job demands with strain, burnout, or exhaustion ([7]). P7 described an employee who felt strongly about the difference between using vacation time after working over a weekend on an event and being given time off to acknowledge the weekend days. P7 articulated, “I came to the conclusion that we can change our thinking. And not everybody thinks like us, but the goal is to keep an employee, keep them around, and keep them engaged”. The secondary research further demonstrated the alignment between the prirotizethe employee theme with the importance of understanding the different needs of employees. [29] introduced a proactive work environment model called the SMART Work Design model, which stands for stimulating work, mastery, autonomy, relational work, and tolerable demands. The researchers combined elements from the Job Characteristics and the JD-R models to support employee well-being ([29]). The SMART Work Design elements include stimulating work, based on a variety of tasks; mastery, clarity in role within the organization; autonomy, giving the employee control over how they work, innovate, and make decisions; relational work, fostering a supportive environment from peers and leaders; and tolerable demands, ensuring a manageable level of effort in the employees workload ([29]). The common thread running through all these factors is the leader’s need to understand the preferences of each employee and adjust to their needs to reduce burnout. An employee’s preferences for a supportive environment may differ from those of another employee. A leader cannot effectively demonstrate organizational support as a job resource if they do not understand the different needs of the employees, both in the work environment and in communication.

4.1.2. Theme 2: Nurture Communication

The second emerging theme, Nurture Communication, was identified by 62.5% of the participants. This theme aligned with the current literature, which describes the complex project management that employees must execute within the event industry ([38]). Event professionals must balance their chronological event planning work with the changing priorities and timelines of stakeholders ([38]). This complex work increases the potential for psychological strain ([38]). Nurturing communication by saving space for it—both in time and intention—is aligned with the need for additional job resources to balance the job demands for these employees to reduce burnout. Leaders who nurture communication, specifically positive communication, with their employees working on complex project management can reduce burnout among their staff.

Whereas communication can occur in formal meetings, on-site during events, or during informal hallway chats, the participants spoke about how they prioritized a regular cadence of one-on-one meetings so they could be aware of what was happening with the employee. The secondary data further supported the participants’ assertions about the need for leaders to be intentional in their communication to reduce burnout. [40] investigated how burnout in employees can be reduced by implementing training for leaders in positive communication through a program called Positively Energizing Leadership. The study subjects were radiology employees working in a breast imaging department at an academic medical institution during the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers performed a pretest survey in 2021, introduced the new leadership training over the next two years, and performed a post-test survey in 2023. The researchers found a significant reduction in burnout and intent to leave, as well as improved engagement. Maintaining a balance between job demands and job resources is at the heart of the JD-R model. Young et al. found that implementing the positive leadership program improved the employees’ perception of job resources, which the employees perceived as improved transparency and more frequent and consistent communication. The participants emphasized the intentionality behind creating opportunities for communication as a key differentiator in their effective strategies to reduce burnout.

A leader demonstrates the nurture communicationtheme by committing to a dependable cadence of meetings with employees. By nurturing regular communication, a leader can build relationships with their employees, better understand employees’ needs and act, and positively contribute to improving retention ([20]). P3 talked about the importance of holding regular one-on-one meetings with employees and asking about work-related and non-work-related topics. P5 described how important it is to know about the employee’s home life because of the long hours required to support events. P7 articulated,

So I think one of the most effective ways is to make sure that open communication is available and an employee is [sic] welcome to raise their hand and say, “Hey. I need a break. I need help. I need a little time off. I need to re-energize, regroup. I’m burned out”.

The common thread through the nurturecommunication theme was that of intentionality on the part of the leader in how they planned and executed their communication with employees to reduce burnout. P7 spoke about their technique of sometimes meeting with an employee without an agenda, just to talk and get to understand the employee. P3 spoke about the importance of using the meeting time with employees to acknowledge with the employee that the work is stressful. P8 spoke about asking the employee what topics they would like to discuss to get the support they needed. By nurturing communication with employees, leaders can create an open, supportive environment, and employees can feel comfortable coming to their leader when they are beginning to experience the symptoms of burnout ([1]). When employees feel they are being heard, they feel more engaged, motivated, and can have higher job satisfaction ([1]). These findings align with the JD-R model to reduce burnout by increasing job resources to offset job demands. [7] asserted that job resources could be internal resources within the employees, such as cognitive abilities, or external resources, such as organizational support. Nurturing communication is a type of organizational support.

4.1.3. Theme 3: Provide Resources

The third emerging theme, provideresources, was identified by 50% of the participants and could include additional personnel, technology, or anything that decreases an employee’s workload. Job resources are crucial in the event industry, as employees often work long hours during peak times. Leaders should focus on personal and job resources as they can reduce employee turnover intention ([14]). Within the JD-R model, job resources can be personal characteristics within the employee, such as optimism, self-efficacy, and resilience, or resources made available within a supportive work environment ([7]). P1 explained that when they see signs that an employee is feeling overwhelmed, they look to increase resources. Increasing resources can involve a long-range strategy to add headcount or, in the short term, redistributing work among current employees within the team or seeking assistance from employees in other departments. Adding job resources to balance high job demands aligned with the JD-R model. A leader can also increase job resources by supporting the employees’ personal resource of autonomy.

When leaders support the personal job resource of autonomy in employees, they can mitigate or buffer the imbalance between job demands and resources, thereby reducing burnout. In a study of 1912 employees at an Australian higher education organization, [3] investigated the buffering capability of reducing burnout among employees. The researchers found that job resources are not a linear single addition to peak work time but instead can work in combination to reduce employee strain. Autonomy was found to be the most common buffering resource, and a leader could support autonomy best by providing process and role clarity. Clarity in process and role is essential to support employee autonomy. When an employee has autonomy, they can avoid spending time waiting for their leader’s approval or feedback. Also, the employees feel empowered to move forward with their work tasks and projects. Another positive aspect of employee autonomy is the foundation of trust between the employee and the leader, which is aligned with the JD-R model to create a supportive work environment as a valuable resource. When a leader introduces technology or empowers employees to adopt it to solve simple, redundant tasks, the leader supports the employee’s autonomy in higher-level planning and decision-making, thereby buffering job demands.

Event industry leaders demonstrated the provide resources theme by offering tools and technology to their employees to make their work smoother and more efficient. Technology is an example of how a leader can support an employee to buffer the risk of burnout when job demands and job resources are out of balance ([3]). P2 articulated, “So one of the things [sic] that we did really well [sic] is we made sure that [sic] if they ever needed anything to do their job, [sic] we got it in their hands as quickly as possible”.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be positioned as a job resource to increase efficiency in simple, day tasks. One participant mentioned using AI daily to create initial drafts of event planning documents. By freeing employees from these mundane tasks, they can have more time for other, more thoughtful work, which can reduce job demands and lower the risk of burnout. AI can also be used as a tool to detect and reduce burnout in employees.

As burnout is a syndrome of characteristics rather than a single factor, it can be challenging to judge if an employee is at risk of burnout. The secondary research expanded on P2’s use of AI as a job resource to reduce burnout. [28] explored the introduction of AI-powered predictive analytics into corporate environments to detect signs of burnout before it occurs in an employee. Over the course of 3 years, predictive AI monitored data including email response times, meeting attendance, absentee trends, and engagement scores. Using AI-powered predictive analytics, cases of burnout, 40% in the first year, were reduced to 25% in the second year, and 10% in the third year. The diverse preferences, work styles, and personalities of employees mean that reducing burnout is not a one-size-fits-all approach. During peak times, one employee can feel challenged, trusted, and in their flow, whereas another can feel pressured, targeted, and overwhelmed. Using predictive AI in the workplace can provide leaders with an earlier warning that an employee is at risk of burnout. With an earlier warning about signs of burnout, a leader has an improved opportunity to avoid the associated negative behaviors rather than planning how to recover from them. Reducing burnout can also decrease employee turnover, thereby reducing the extra costs associated with recruiting and hiring new employees. When comparing the three themes—prioritize the employee, nurture communication, and provide resources—to the current literature, similarities and differences are evident.

Empowerment, which is associated with the job resource of autonomy, can reduce burnout. In the JD-R model, autonomy is considered a personal job resource that can balance high job demands ([7]). The secondary research further supported the job resource of autonomy to reduce burnout. In a study of female public-school principals, [35] found a significant relationship between job empowerment and reduced burnout. Some of the examples of how the principals felt empowered included establishing formal programs for information sharing among female principals. This was like my findings in the participants’ responses in the prioritize theme, which described the effectiveness of being open to change by implementing employees’ ideas. Additionally, supporting the autonomy of employees was also identified as effective in reducing burnout under the provide resources theme.

Reducing an employee’s workload to mitigate the risk of burnout aligned with the provide resources theme; however, the secondary research findings about the buffering effect of help from coworkers in reducing burnout differed from my research. [13] studied hospitalists in a community hospital who were experiencing burnout due to their workload. Whereas their finding that doctors identified workload as the cause of their burnout was like my research, the role of teamwork in reducing burnout differed. The hospitalists cited the work required to complete exit paperwork for each patient, specifically Form 3122, as a strain because it took a significant amount of time and was not directly related to patient care. Members of different teams in the hospital offered to complete parts of the forms; for example, the social workers took responsibility for completing the section of the form that dealt with patients’ activities of daily living, required therapies, and home care needs. During my semi-structured interviews, some leaders described asking for help from other teams during peak times, taking on some of the work themselves, and redistributing work within the team to demonstrate organizational support to reduce workload. However, none of the participants discussed how support between coworkers can help reduce workload and mitigate burnout. Resources to reduce burnout can also be found in technology.

Implementing AI technology as a resource to support employee mental health is aligned with the provide resourcestheme. In the JD-R model, leaders who can assess when an employee is feeling out of balance with their job demands and resources can take action to reduce burnout. The secondary research supported the theme of provideresources by leaders providing AI as a tool. In their research on how AI chatbots and wearable technology can reduce employee burnout, [37] found that providing employees with AI resources can enable them to address mental health strain before it develops into burnout. The researchers found that employees could avoid the perceived stigma of reaching out for help and valued the anonymity offered by the chatbot model. This secondary research expanded on my findings from one participant regarding how AI can be utilized to automate simple tasks and reduce burnout, which aligns with my previous discussion on how predictive AI can mitigate burnout in the workplace.