Is AI Helping to Reduce Workplace Burnout?

Today we have a guest post by Colleen Millerman of the Newsletter Balanced Boss. You can read the entire article (free) as it was intended to look with images and graphs here.

Article Title: "Leveraging AI to reduce burnout for frontline workers"

In this Article

Article Summary: The article explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help reduce burnout in high-stress, frontline professions like healthcare and education, which have faced increased demands and emotional labor, particularly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. It emphasizes that AI is not about replacing jobs but supporting workers by automating repetitive tasks, reducing decision fatigue, and alleviating administrative burdens, allowing professionals to focus on more meaningful, human-centered aspects of their work.

Burnout is a significant issue, especially in healthcare and education, where workers face long hours, high emotional labor, and overwhelming workloads. AI can automate administrative tasks like scheduling, grading, and patient record management, enabling workers to spend more time on their core responsibilities, like patient care or teaching. AI can also assist with decision-making, which helps reduce cognitive overload and emotional strain.

The article highlights that AI is already being used in these industries to improve efficiency, streamline workflows, and support workers' well-being. For example, AI in healthcare is enhancing diagnostic tools, and in education, AI is providing personalized learning experiences for students and reducing teachers' administrative tasks. The future of AI in these sectors is focused on collaboration, where AI acts as a "co-pilot" to human expertise, improving work-life balance and job satisfaction.

Additionally, younger generations, particularly Gen Z, are embracing AI as a tool to enhance productivity, automate tasks, and optimize their careers. By integrating AI into workplaces, the focus is shifting towards creating more flexible, outcome-based work models, where workers can focus on high-value tasks and experience greater job satisfaction.

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• Colleen is a strategic operations leader specializing in scaling organizations, streamlining systems, and driving sustainable growth. Passionate about leadership, wellness, and the evolving future of work, she explores the intersection of business and well-being through her everyday work and her growing Leadership & publication and community. Through writing, coaching, community-building, and consulting, she helps leaders navigate change and redefine the future of leadership.

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The deep dive goes into quite a lot of detail highlighting healthcare, education, etc...

Leveraging AI to reduce burnout for frontline workers

Preface

In my personal life, I am surrounded by individuals who dedicate themselves to front-line, high-stress professions. Professions that, for many, have only become more demanding in recent years. I have a mother in healthcare, a brother-in-law who served as both a cop and a teacher in the last 5 years and uncles and cousins who are firefighters. 

All of them worked tirelessly through the COVID-19 pandemic, and many are still carrying that weight. The relentless pressures they face daily, both during and post-pandemic, are not unique to them. These workers—along with millions of others in high-stress industries—are the backbone of our society, and yet, they are also the most vulnerable to burnout.

This deeply personal connection to the issue of burnout drives my passion for exploring how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help alleviate some of the pressures faced by these workers, particularly in sectors like healthcare and education. These are fields where burnout has become a consistent problem, impacting not just the well-being of the workers but the quality of service provided to society as well. 

And while AI is often discussed in the context of automation and efficiency, I want to explore a deeper, more human-centered approach: how AI can relieve burnout and transform work for the better.

Breaking the cycle of burnout without AI

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into the workforce has sparked significant debate—will AI replace human jobs, or will it be used to enhance productivity and well being? 

Nowhere is this question more relevant than in frontline, high-impact professions such as healthcare and education, where burnout rates are at an all-time high. 

A quick reminder, burnout isn’t just a buzzword—it has become a global crisis, impacting industries that directly touch our lives. You cannot scroll LinkedIn without running into a post, newsletter or comment about burnout. 

In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) has officially begun to recognize burnout as an “occupational phenomenon”, defining it as ‘chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” (WHO, 2019). Characterized by a high degree of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization (cynicism) and a low sense of personal accomplishment at work.

From healthcare to education, the front-line workers who power these sectors are struggling, and their mental and physical exhaustion affects not just them, but society as a whole. With the integration of AI into our workplaces, there’s an opportunity to transform the way we work, alleviate burnout, and create a healthier, more sustainable work environment.

We know that in industries like healthcare and education, workers are expected to balance heavy workloads, emotional labor and administrative burdens that contribute to stress, fatigue and declining job satisfaction—especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Enter AI. 

Instead of replacing frontline workers, AI is increasingly being developed and deployed as a workforce ally—allowing workers to automate repetitive tasks, improve efficiency and even support mental health. 

AI powered tools are even helping doctors and nurses reduce paperwork, helping teachers provide personalized learning plans and assisting emergency responders in decision-making under pressure. 

This shift is being described as “AI a co-pilot, not an autopilot” by the Harvard Business Review. Where AI supports and becomes a partner to human expertise rather than replacing it.

As AI continues to evolve, its role in reshaping high-stress professions will become more critical. By leveraging AI responsibility, organizations can better support and empower their frontline workers while improving efficiency and preventing burnout. 

Burnout is a Growing Crisis 

Burnout is not just a personal struggle; its an industry wide issues affecting everything from retention rates, to job satisfaction to overall productivity (Harvard Business Review, 2023). The professions we see most impacted are those that demand long hours, emotional resilience and extensive documentation—all while dealing with growing demands, lack of adequate resources and in some cases life-or-death situations. 

The growing concern of burnout for Healthcare workers 

Burnout within the healthcare profession has been a persistent concern, significantly impacting both healthcare providers and patient care quality. In 2021 less than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the burnout rate was record-high at 62.8% according to the American Medical Association (AMA, 2022).

In 2022, the survey was completed again among healthcare professionals and slightly improved; a decrease to 53% of professionals stating they experienced at least one symptom of burnout. The  2023 numbers continued to show improvement declining to 48.2%, dropping below 50% for the first time in four years (AMA, 2024). Although improving, this still highlights that nearly half of the healthcare workforce are still experiencing burnout symptoms. 

According to the Office of the U.S Surgeon General there are a range of societal, cultural, structural, and organizational factors that contribute to burnout among health workers, and examples of these are depicted in the below image (HHS, 2024). 

Frontline workers spend more time on paperwork than on the work they trained for. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that U.S. doctors spend nearly twice as much time on administrative tasks as they do with patients. (CDC, 2024).

“I became a doctor to help people, not to fill out paperwork for hours every day.” — Dr. Mark Reynolds, Emergency Medicine Physician

The burdensome administrative process along with the constant high-stakes decisions—known as clinical decision fatigue—has caused more delays in patient care and an increase in medical errors.

Over half of teachers want to leave their profession due to stress and burnout

Similarly, burnout in education has reached alarming levels. 

Read the entire article here.