Burnout doesn’t announce itself. It shows up discreetly in copy-paste patient notes, rushed treatment plans, and quiet complaints to colleagues on a longer-than-it-should-be lunch break. Team morale starts to slump even before they quit, and it gets worse when remaining clinicians inherit their workload. By the time leaders see the physical signs of exhaustion, the clinician is already out the door.
Leaders feel blindsided, but the signs were always there. In a recent study from the American Psychological Association (APA), 52% of surveyed psychologists say their patients have more severe symptoms now than they did a year ago, and 26% say they see more work now than 12 months prior. The heavy case load and emotional toll inevitably wreak havoc on their mental health.
But the signs are also in the minutiae of employee data — calendars, payroll, HR systems. With the right tools, healthcare leaders can analyze employee data from inputs across the business and use the insights to detect burnout before it becomes turnover.
The Cost of the Burnout Crisis
Burnout isn’t something to grin and bear. It has massive repercussions on the efficiency of your health system, the quality of patient care, and your bottom line.
A single exit can add up to thousands of dollars when you calculate the time and money it takes to recruit, hire, train, and certify new talent. Data from a Next Gen Healthcare and Behavioral Health Business white paper highlights that staff turnover costs about $7,600 per physician, estimating a $270,800 a year bill for the average hospital that experiences a 1% increase in registered nurse turnover costs.
And then there’s the indirect costs, like lapses in patient care. Disconnected employees take weeks to do tasks that used to take minutes. Their favorite patients become just another responsibility, and they’re less engaged in session. What’s worse, patients feel this disconnect. The more mental health providers become checked out, the more they risk compromising the quality of patient care.
Costs start racking up at the first sign of overwhelm. That’s why it’s essential to get ahead of it. To detect burnout and signs of disengagement before they even happen.
Turning Analytics Inward to Spot the Signs
Healthcare providers use data from multiple systems to monitor patient progress and improve health outcomes. When a patient’s anxiety scores spike, providers intervene. When sessions are consistently missed, they reach out. When symptoms plateau, they change approaches.
This data-driven vigilance has become standard practice for patient care — tracking subtle indicators, spotting warning signs early, acting before crisis hits. Yet organizations rarely turn this same analytical lens inward to support their own clinicians. With the right analytics, leaders will be able to tell if the psychologist who seems dedicated on the outside is just going through the motions.
Using Predictive Analytics for Burnout Prevention
The good news is, you already collect the data you need for burnout prevention — scheduling patterns, supervision attendance, documentation quality, and even PTO usage. By connecting employee data across the organization, behavioral health leaders can expose invisible burnout triggers they often miss and provide the support their employees need.
Data and predictive analytics allow leaders to move quickly, saving thousands on rehiring costs and preventing potential patient neglect. Here’s how.
Build human risk profiles to predict departures – Synchronized employee data paints a truer picture of the workforce. Consecutive on-call shifts, a consistent pattern of Monday/Friday absences, and a mildly negative sentiment towards the job can seem negligible at first glance. But predictive analytics allows leaders to aggregate that data into a profile that highlights hidden patterns and identifies who is at risk of leaving.
Provide benefits that keep them engaged – Armed with all this data, leaders get a clearer picture of their employee as a whole person, not just a worker. Once they uncover the patterns in employee need — noticing, for example, how many arrive late because of unreliable transportation, or how many caregivers in the home — leaders can offer personalized benefits that fit their lifestyle. These meaningful benefits remove sources of tension in their personal lives and allow them to be more present at work.
Develop targeted burnout intervention programs – According to a 2025 MustardHub survey, 46% of workers have already quit jobs due to feeling disconnected or unsupported. But 59% are open to their supervisor intervening if they’re at risk for burnout. This indicates that employees are more inclined to see intervention as care, not surveillance. Early, targeted intervention can stop burnout in its tracks and re-engage employees on the brink of quitting.
Moving From Insight to Action
Mental health organizations have spent years perfecting how they track patient progress while relying on intuition to understand staff well-being. The result is a disjointed employee experience where people who would otherwise love their jobs are searching for the nearest exit.
The data exists in all your systems. By turning predictive analytics inward, leaders can close mental health care gaps and gain visibility into burnout patterns that would otherwise stay hidden until someone resigns.
Curtis Forbes is the founder and CEO of MustardHub, a workforce engagement platform that helps companies reduce turnover, build stronger cultures, and unlock predictive insights into employee well-being. A serial entrepreneur with a background in both technology startups and education, Curtis previously built and scaled Forbes Music Company and later expanded into a roll-up portfolio of education businesses before exiting in 2025.
With more than two decades of experience leading distributed teams, he has seen firsthand how trust, recognition, and flexible support systems shape whether people stay and thrive, or burn out and leave. At MustardHub, he is pioneering approaches to employee engagement, predictive workforce insights, and portable benefits that align with the realities of modern work. Outside of work, Curtis stays active in music, enjoys traveling, and advocates for social causes, particularly initiatives supporting foster youth in Central Texas.
To learn more about MustardHub or get in contact with someone, please visit www.mustardhub.com.
