How can we reduce burnout among correctional officers?
Project Summary
Burnout is a serious occupational phenomenon that is linked to a host of poor employee and organizational outcomes. Correctional officers are at a particularly high risk of experiencing burnout, even compared to other frontline workers. In this project, we co-designed and piloted a light-touch, online wellness program among correctional officers and civilian staff in collaboration with the Denver Sheriff Department. In a randomized controlled trial, we tested whether a peer-focused wellness program was more or less effective than an individually-focused wellness program. Six months after the intervention, officers who had access to the peer support program reported significantly higher job satisfaction, and had more positive mindsets about the incarcerated individuals with whom they interact.
Why is this issue important?
Burnout is a serious occupational phenomenon that has been linked to adverse physical and mental health outcomes, increased absenteeism and turnover, and poor performance Burnout among correctional officers is extremely high, even compared to other frontline employees such as social workers. For instance, we found that more than 90% of deputies at the Denver Sheriff Department were suffering from work-related burnout or PTSD. Yet, there is little experimental evidence on what works to reduce burnout among frontline employees or correctional officers, in particular.
What are we doing?
In collaboration with the Denver Sheriff Department, we designed two versions of a light-touch, online wellness program aimed at improving wellbeing among correctional officers: a peer-focused program and an individually-focused program. In a randomized experiment, all employees were randomly assigned to one of the two programs. Then, once a week for eight weeks, they received a wellness prompt via email. Employees in the peer-focused program received prompts that encouraged them to think about ways in which they have previously felt supported by their coworkers or how they have or would support coworkers. Crucially, they were also invited to share their experiences and advice with one another anonymously through an online platform and to browse responses from other staff members. Each email also contained a particularly noteworthy response from the previous week’s prompt. Employees in the individually-focused program received a weekly wellness prompt that encouraged them to reflect on their own coping strategies in a private, online journaling activity. Six months later, we measured the impact of each program on employee wellbeing as well as a series of behavioral outcomes.
What have we learned?
Six months after the end of the program, we found that job satisfaction and happiness were significantly higher among employees who had access to the peer-focused program than those who had access to the individually-focused program. We also found that employees with access to the peer-focused program were significantly more likely to agree that incarcerated individuals under their care “shared their values and beliefs” than employees who were assigned to the individually-focused program. We did not find any significant difference in turnover or other administrative outcomes between the two programs.
What comes next?
This study suggests that peer-focused programs may be more effective at improving at least some dimensions of employee wellbeing than traditional individually-focused programs. Further research is needed to examine whether these results hold in other contexts, as well as to test different approaches to improving the effectiveness of such programs.