Should employers use technology to detect burnout?

With the additional demands we’re all facing on many fronts, the rates of burnout are increasing. These high burnout rates alarm employers, which leads to many looking for ways to get ahead of it. For some, technology looks like a solution to jump on. For example:

• Wristbands, electronic badges, sensors, smart phones, wearable devices can measure vital signs and pick up on things like heart rate, sleep quality and sleep patterns.
• Smartphones can reveal ‘biomarkers’ for depression. Anything from a person’s word choice to their typing speed may provide a clue to their frame of mind.

Researchers are continuing to investigate the efficacy of these tools in detecting physical, mental and emotional stress and exhaustion.

But should you use these? In my experience, this is a situation where the solution is somewhere in the middle between ‘absolutely, now’ and ‘absolutely not, ever’, in the tumultuous delta where multi-disciplinary expertise meets. Here are three perspectives to keep in mind.

Burnout is complex

Burnout, and mental health challenges for that matter, are complex. Burnout, specifically, is an occupational phenomenon best thought of as a problem in the relationship between an employee and their work. This is not something that resides in the individual themselves – which means the warning signs and most importantly the solutions do not reside only with the individual. They also reside, often more so, with the employer. Even if an employer had data about their employees being at risk for burnout, many more actions would need to follow on the employer side.

You need to factor in ethics and privacy

There are multiple implications to collecting employee health information, even if employees themselves consent to it. You’ll need to give careful attention to employee privacy needs. The rules that govern the use of an employer’s computer are not the same as the rules that govern personal health information. This means a need for multi-disciplinary conversations that include the technology company’s engineers, the organization’s employees and leaders, health professionals, and others. This is easier said than done, yet doable.

Workplace mental health requires a strategic approach 

A tool, whether AI-based or other, remains just that – a tactical component of an overall workplace mental health strategy. In the case of burnout, this occupational phenomenon resides in the relationship between the employee and their workplace. Therefore, actions need to be taken by both the individual and the workplace.

Seeing potential signs of burnout should not only tell you that someone may be progressing towards a burnout. It may also mean that the organization needs to look at which workplace factors may be contributing. You can then take strategic actions at the organizational and team levels to ensure a psychologically safe and healthy workplace. And this is something that the technology cannot do.

In the end, when it comes to the use of technology for mental health support and burnout detection and prevention, some are comfortable with the approach, others are not. This includes employers, employees, health professionals and others. The reality is that a combination of human and machine is likely to prevail in the future. The more we proactively use expertise from all stakeholders and adopt an ethical and strategic approach to technology, the better.

 

Marie-Helene Pelletier, PhD, MBA, is a workplace mental health strategist, registered psychologist and professional speaker who teaches at the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business.