A growing body of workforce data is pointing to an uncomfortable truth. Nursing burnout is an active threat to workforce stability across healthcare. In a recent survey issued to registered nurses nationwide, 53% of respondents reported seriously considering leaving the profession at least once a month over a six-month period. This level of recurring intent to exit should be seen as a warning signal to the rest of the industry.
This moment demands urgency from HR leaders. The national nurse turnover rate is 16.4%, with the average cost to replace these nurses being $61,110. Beyond cost, persistent burnout undermines patient care, team morale, and internal credibility. Most concerning, it accelerates a cycle in which staffing shortages worsen the very conditions driving nurses away.
Burnout at work is often discussed as an individual issue, but data and experiences of healthcare professionals tell a different story. It is primarily driven by systemic and organizational factors, and many of these factors fall within HR’s sphere of influence. As the senior director of talent at a healthcare staffing organization, I’ve seen how staff burnout and retention start long before staff walk through the doors of a facility. Our healthcare workers survived the pandemic, and five years later, the fallout is still here. If that wasn’t a staffing wake-up call for healthcare leaders, what will be? Healthcare has become the clearest case study of what happens in high-stress, understaffed workplaces.
How Healthcare Leaders Can Address the Root Causes of Burnout Before it Exacerbates the Industry
Burnout does not originate from exhaustion alone. It begins with sustained misalignment between job demands and organizational support.
Across workforce studies, nurses consistently cite the same drivers of burnout: chronic understaffing, unpredictable schedules, limited decision-making autonomy, inadequate leadership support, and unclear growth pathways. When these conditions persist, even those who are most engaged can begin to lose focus, decrease productivity, or, in extreme circumstances, misdiagnose patients.
Addressing burnout at the root requires leaders to rethink how work is assigned and managed. This means starting with workload and staffing stability. Burnout risk rises sharply when nurses regularly work short-staffed shifts or excessive overtime. Partnering with operations teams to analyze staffing patterns, overtime usage, and schedule volatility can help to look at these needs from more than a cost perspective, but as an indicator of sustainability. Proactive workforce planning, flexible staffing models, and internal float pools reduce reliance on crisis staffing and protect long-term engagement.
HR leaders also need to clarify roles and expectations, since role ambiguity is a significant contributor to burnout. When nurses are routinely asked to absorb responsibilities beyond their role without clarity or support, emotional fatigue compounds. Clear job design, realistic workload expectations, and consistent communication from leadership reduce friction and restore a sense of control.
Empowering leaders to feel like they have the training and tools necessary to manage burnout among their teams is essential. Direct supervisors have more influence on burnout than any policy or program, because they’re working closely with and alongside nurses. These supervisors see and experience their teams’ stress or challenges, yet many frontline leaders are promoted for clinical excellence without adequate preparation to manage people. Invest in leadership training by focusing on coaching, feedback, workload prioritization, and psychological safety. Better leadership is not optional; it is essential to care for the workforce.
Best Practices for Retaining Employees at Medical Facilities and Healthcare Staffing Organizations
Retention is not achieved through one-time incentives but rather is built through intentional systems that support growth, connection, and trust over time.
Intentional systems start with designing clear, attainable career pathways. Nurses are more likely to stay working in their roles when they can envision a future within the organization. Career pathways should extend beyond traditional promotions and include specialization tracks, mentorship roles, education-focused positions, and leadership development opportunities. Research consistently shows that access to development opportunities significantly increases intent to stay.
Embed learning into the flow of work. Development cannot be an extra responsibility layered onto already full schedules. Effective organizations integrate learning into daily schedules, offer modular training formats, and align development programs with real career progression. When learning feels accessible and relevant, engagement follows.
Create consistent feedback and listening mechanisms. Annual engagement surveys are insufficient in high-intensity environments. Pulse surveys, structured check-ins, and facilitated listening sessions allow HR teams on a monthly (or weekly basis, if your organization’s schedule allows for it) to identify stressors early. Just as important is visible follow-through. When employees see action taken based on feedback, trust increases. On the contrary, when feedback disappears into a void, disengagement accelerates.
Support flexibility wherever possible, as autonomy is a powerful retention lever. Flexible scheduling options, role variety, and transparent shift planning all help to reduce burnout and improve work-life integration. Even small increases in control over schedules can have an outsized impact on engagement.
Build Engagement Through Intentional Development and Connection
Burnout prevention and retention ultimately converge around one principle: people stay where they feel supported, valued, and can grow.
HR leaders can drive meaningful change by prioritizing initiatives that foster connection and development. These initiatives are important in an industry centered around saving lives, and are applicable in all other industries as well. HR leaders should provide:
- Structured onboarding and re-onboarding programs that set realistic expectations and reinforce support networks for nurses who are filling gaps in staffing, particularly in rural and underserved areas
- Mentorship and coaching programs that pair less experienced nurses with more seasoned professionals
- Leadership development tracks that prepare frontline managers to lead with empathy and clarity
- Ongoing skills-based training aligned with organizational, patient, and individual needs and goals
- Employee engagement events and learning forums that build community across healthcare networks, recognize contributions, and connect healthcare professionals to the purpose, or “why,” of their work
When designed intentionally, employers can support their employees by reducing burnout, improving retention, and stabilizing the workforce in ways recruitment alone cannot.
The nursing burnout crisis did not emerge overnight, and it will not be resolved through surface-level solutions. But HR leaders are uniquely positioned to influence the systems, leadership behaviors, and development practices that determine whether nurses stay or decide they can no longer afford to.
Hanna Giraldo is Senior Director of Talent at MedPro Healthcare Staffing, where she focuses on talent development, engagement, and retention across the healthcare workforce. Hanna’s background lies in coaching, instructional design, and leadership development, and she is passionate about empowering teams and optimizing processes.