Are you feeling “overwhelming exhaustion”? What about “cynicism and detachment” from your job, or “a sense of ineffectiveness or lack of accomplishment”? If any of that sounds like you, according to the National Institutes of Heath (NIH), you’re exhibiting classic signs of burnout.

It’s no secret that education has been facing particularly high levels of burnout in recent years. In 2022, global research firm Gallup found that K-12 education saw the highest burnout rate of all industries nationwide. And we continue to see challenges with teacher retention across the country, with many citing burnout as a contributing factor.

But it’s not just your teachers who are experiencing burnout; your school communications professionals are feeling it as well. In our 2024 research “A Seat at the Table,” conducted in partnership with the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA), an alarming 77% of school comms pros indicated that they were at least “sometimes” burned out. More than a third (37%) said they were “always” or “often” burned out. 

So what can you do to avoid—or at least mitigate—burnout in your communications team? Read on to find out.

Give them a voice in decision-making.

Over the years, Gallup has studied workplace culture and burnout extensively, uncovering several factors that keep employees excited about their work. Among those findings is the fact that employees are more engaged when they feel that their opinions count at work.

So here’s the question: Does your communications director know you value their opinions? Do they have a voice in district-level decisions, or are they relegated to the sidelines? In our research on school comms pros, only 34% said they were “always” given a seat at the table when important strategic decisions were being made for the district. 

We believe your school communicators deserve a seat at the table—and not only to show them their opinions count. Without that executive-level access, it’s almost impossible for communicators to do their jobs in a proactive way. It’s important to note, though, that simply including your communications director in cabinet-level meetings doesn’t automatically indicate that you value their thoughts. Are they encouraged to speak up in these meetings, or are they expected to be a silent observer? If they do speak up, do their ideas receive the same consideration as those of other cabinet members? 

If you’re seeing signs of burnout in your comms director, consider whether they have that “seat at the table”—and whether it’s a formality or an invitation to actively participate. Showing them you value their thoughts—in both formal and informal ways—will help them stay engaged.

Break down silos.

It’s not all that surprising that the social dimensions of work have a lot to do with our job satisfaction. According to research from NIH, social isolation and loneliness at work often lead to a decline in job satisfaction and an increasing sense of burnout. But unfortunately, as our 2024 research indicated, the role of the school communicator is often an isolating one. Nearly half of the comms pros we surveyed—47%—said that they work on a team of one. 

And while school communicators do tend to have strong working relationships with their superintendents, their connections with other central office staff members seem to be more tenuous. In our survey, only 12% of comms pros said that district leaders besides their superintendent understood their work “very well.” 

This social isolation is just one of many reasons to break down silos in your central office. We’ve often pointed out that one communications professional can’t be everywhere in your district at once—and that they’ll need help from teachers and others to comprehensively tell your district’s story. (For more on that, check out “Who’s Telling Your Story?” on page 54.)  And as we discuss elsewhere in this issue (see “Common Ground” on page 16), smooth collaboration across different roles and teams is crucial to several district initiatives, such as launching new communications tools. 

Gallup’s research has found that people who have close friends at work are often more engaged in their jobs. So it stands to reason that breaking down silos across your central office isn’t just good for your productivity; it could also help alleviate burnout for your communications professionals. 

Encourage, model and respect work-life boundaries.

You may already be encouraging your communications professionals to set work-life boundaries—to spend time with their families without work concerns hanging over their heads, or to stop checking work emails or school social media platforms after a certain time. But ask yourself—if you’re out of office for a family trip, do you keep checking your work messages? Are you replying to emails at 11 p.m.? 

If the answer is yes, that’s a potential problem for a couple of reasons. First, as a superintendent, you are not immune to burnout; in fact, you might be particularly susceptible to it. According to Gallup, managers are even more likely than their employees to experience burnout. And research from education consulting firm EAB conducted in the 2023-24 school year indicated that 63% of superintendents were experiencing “high” or “very high” levels of burnout.

So you should be setting good work-life boundaries for yourself, if only because reducing your own burnout will increase your capacity to lead your district effectively. But as in all aspects of leadership, you and your behavior set the tone for your entire organization. If you want your comms director—or any of your employees—to strike a healthier work-life balance, you need to model that balance yourself. No matter what you encourage your staff to do, they’re going to follow the example you set. 

Here’s the kicker: Once you and your comms director set these boundaries, you have to respect them. If you’ve told them to save evenings for their families, you can’t expect them to reply to your emails at 8 p.m. (Of course, there may occasionally be a true need for after-hours communication—but keep it to real emergencies.) Your actions speak louder than words here, and your comms director will act according to what they perceive your expectations to be—not what you actually say.

There’s no doubt that running comms for an entire school district is a daunting challenge, and even you can’t alleviate all the pressures that contribute to burnout. But as a superintendent, you have real power to make changes that can improve your comms professionals’ experience in your central office. With these tips in hand, you should be able to turn up their workplace satisfaction and—hopefully—turn down the heat.