Research Study Examines Organizational Factors’ Impact on Work-Related Burnout in Child Welfare Workers

Workplace burnout is a frequent cause of turnover for child welfare workers.  Burnout is a multifaceted phenomenon and, research suggests that almost 65% of child welfare workers experience it. Burnout includes co-occurring physical, emotional and mental exhaustion that is often related to organizational, or work-related, factors.

A recent study published in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect aimed to determine which empirically-based predictor had the most impact on work-related burnout in child welfare workers in Florida.

Burnout is a common topic of child welfare research, but less is known about the unique contribution of organizational risk factors. This study sought to highlight the relative importance of each variable among work-related risk factors for burnout.

“When we’re able to determine the most influential predictor of burnout among child welfare workers, we are better prepared as a profession and institute to respond with the right training, resources and support to mitigate these factors,” stated Lauren Stanley.

The research team from the FSU College of Social Work and Florida Institute for Child Welfare included Dr. Lauren Stanley, Dr. Melissa Radey, Dr. Lisa Magruder and Dr. Dina Wilke.  The team utilized a sample of almost 600 newly hired frontline child welfare workers who had been on the job for about 18 months from a comprehensive dataset from the Florida Study of Professionals for Safe Families study.

The study revealed that time pressure, or feeling like you don’t have enough time to successfully complete your job tasks, contributed the most to predicting work-related burnout, dominating all other organizational factors, including pay satisfaction, caseload difficulty, supervisory experiences, organizational support, and co-worker support.

“These findings show that time pressures like tight deadlines combined with an overburdened workload immensely contribute to burnout among child welfare workers,” said Lauren Stanley. “While this may seem obvious, these findings push the child welfare workforce burnout literature forward and resulted in important implications for child welfare organizations and policy.”

Child welfare workers commonly face constant time pressure due to legal and systemic demands, which can lead to high stress and burnout. Study findings inform practical steps agencies can take to better support their workforce:

• Balance the load: Regularly assess workloads to prevent burnout. Offering administrative support or tools like tablets and apps can ease daily burdens.
• Train early and often: Help new workers learn their positions, develop time management, and prioritize self-care skills from the start to reduce burnout risk.
• Foster a supportive culture: Encourage regular check-ins, open communication, and flexible work options to reduce stress and moral distress.
• Track and adapt: Monitor staff time pressure and explore solutions like fair caseload tools and better screening of hotline calls to cut down on over-identification of investigations.

By addressing time pressure directly, agencies can improve worker well-being and deliver better services to children and families.

The FICW continues to explore ways child welfare organizations can implement well-being supports and workforce strategies to reduce burnout through its GROW Center initiatives.