For care workers, work-related stress is a serious problem. This issue has been exacerbated by a shortage of skilled care professionals across Europe, which was heightened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hildegard Hermans is Human Resources Director for Antwerp University Hospital (UZA). She works closely with care workers and has seen first-hand the impact of high burnout rates.

‘It is important that we work on resilience to prevent stress and burnout,’ she says.

For Hildegard, enhancing prevention and resilience against burnout is more effective than trying to solve it once it has occurred. This is the guiding observation behind the tools and methods developed by the ‘Time2Grow’ project. With support from the European Social Fund, a Belgian research and communication organisation, Trendhuis, took part in mutual learning and evaluation with partners in Belgium, Finland and Poland. This research identified best practices to prevent burnout and promote wellbeing among care workers. These were used to inform the creation of the project’s tools and methods.

'Time2Grow’ worked with UZA, Dobre Kadry in Poland and the Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences to develop a new human resource (HR) tool to prevent burnout, as well as a website that hosts self-help tips and tricks for employees. Employees can use the tool to indicate how they are feeling. Questionnaires measure employees’ resilience against burnout, and the system flags worrisome cases to employers using colour-coded alarm signals. When line managers see a signal that an employee is not feeling well, they can act to intervene before burnout becomes an issue. Employees can also refer to the self-help website as a first step before they seek professional support.

Over 1 300 UZA employees filled in questionnaires during the pilot phase. These included questions such as ‘What do you think of your day so far?’ and ‘Are you prone to burnout?’. Worryingly, 1 in 3 of those surveyed were suffering from stress. ‘With the HR tool, the University Hospital of Antwerp could bring stress issues and solutions out into the open, without being intrusive,’ recalls Hildegard.

The HR tool was officially launched for UZA employees on 14 October and is ready for roll-out in other companies, sectors and countries. By equipping care workers and their employers with new lifelong skills, tools, and methods to protect against burnout, the project hopes to reduce stress-related dropout in Europe’s care sector.