Examining burnout profiles in the Veterans Administration: All Employee Survey narrative comments

• Burnout profiles group people based on relatively high or low burnout dimensions.
• We compared 8 MBI-based burnout profiles to employee comments in the same survey.
• Profiles were recognizable from raw text of comments but not from summary themes.

This mixed-method study examined burnout profiles: statistically generated configurations reflecting relative levels of the three MBI-based burnout dimensions – exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal achievement – within individuals. These profiles, based on quantitative ratings, were examined in parallel with open-ended employee comments in the same survey (a large organizational census in the USA Veterans Administration; N = 179,271). We were able to distinguish between the quantitatively defined profiles based on the raw data of the comments. Summary themes (derived from comment data through content analysis) did not differentiate between the profiles. We discuss the conceptual and pragmatic and implications and recommendations for future research.