Autonomy in work location decision and burnout in behavioral health providers: Lessons learned from COVID-19.

OBJECTIVE

The ability to choose one's work-location can influence burnout from employment. We sought to evaluate potential associations between autonomy in work-location decision and burnout.

METHODS

We used 2020 Veterans Health Administration Annual All Employee Survey data from behavioral health providers at 129 medical facilities. Based on responses to items in a COVID-19 module related to teleworking frequency and reasons for not teleworking both pre- and during COVID-19, we generated six groups representing potentially differing levels of work-location decision autonomy. We hypothesized that greater autonomy is associated with less burnout.

RESULTS

Psychologists reported highest burnout (40.1%, 1801/4494), followed by psychiatrists (35.6%, 703/1976) and social workers (31.0%, 3421/11,051). Adjusting for covariates including workload, providers newly approved for telework during COVID-19 showed 1.28 (95% CI=1.03-1.59), 1.71 (1.25-2.35), and 1.35 (0.86-2.12) times higher odds of burnout among social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists, respectively, compared to providers chose not to telework during COVID-19.

CONCLUSIONS

Providers who chose to keep coming into work in person reported less burnout than providers who previously could not telework and are teleworking during the pandemic. Greater autonomy in work-location decision might have greater importance in reducing burnout in behavioral health providers than having the ability to telework per se.