Higher Ed Staff Burnout: Why You Can't Be the Glue

I used to work in higher education, and there’s one problem I think about more than any other.

Historically, we have built a lot of student support that only works if a human being is standing in the middle of it.

Right person. Right office. Right place. Right time. And the student has to know exactly who to ask, where to go, and what to say.

Here’s how that actually plays out. A student emails a question. And waits. Then they call. Then they stop by an office, and it’s the wrong one. They’ve had six touch points before anyone answers their first question.

First problem: Students are busy humans who really don’t have time for that. They also do not like to wait. Why would they? In 2026, they can get anything they need delivered to them almost immediately.

Second problem: The staff member on the other end is answering that email in tiny bites of time between appointments, while managing a crisis, while the same student shows up at a different office down the hall.

We call this high-touch support. I’d argue a lot of it is high inefficiency support. And in the end, it is actually high burnout support.

When People Become the Machinery

If you work in advising, counseling, admissions, financial aid, student life, non-profit, or state support or any other role that serves students or participants, you already know this feeling.

When a system has gaps, a person has to fill them. Every confusing policy turns into an appointment. Every unclear process lands on somebody’s desk.

And it’s usually your most experienced people who catch it most often. They notice the student is confused before anyone else does. So they step in, and suddenly they’re doing their job plus the job of keeping the system running.

That’s why it all begins to feel so heavy. The days are filled with solving problems like juggling hot potatoes.

Here’s what I want you to hear: helpers actually don’t have a renewable supply of energy. Availability, constant answers, and staying current on a complicated system all take energy, effort, and efficiency.

Higher education especially has relied on the fact that people love this work and that they are helpers. But love for the work doesn’t refill the tank. Helpfulness is not a renewable resource over the long haul.

Endless availability is not a system. It’s a reliance on humans who do eventually run out.

Good student support and a sustainable workload should never be in competition.

We should be designing for both.

What Better Design Looks Like

Think about the last time you flew. You probably didn’t have to find an employee to find a price or buy your ticket. You didn’t need an employee to tell you whether you could fly to that location on those dates. You didn’t even need to ask where anything was once you were there.

The airport communicated it for you. There are messages on your phone. Repeated signs everywhere. Walkways funneling you. Standardized messaging.

Flying is still confusing sometimes, but if you ask students, higher education is way more complicated. And the truth is that better design can make it far more obvious.

A student should be able to see:

Where they are
What needs to happen next
When they can schedule their classes within the next few years
Where they need to go and when
What processes they need and how to access them
What the options are to get something that is required actually completed.

And they shouldn’t have to retell their story to every office along the way. They shouldn’t have to ask a million questions. That’s one of the fastest ways a student ends up feeling unheard, overwhelmed, and feeling like this place isn’t for them.

For staff, the shift is simple to say and tricky to do: We need to design for “less human rescue”.

That doesn’t mean less human support. It means saving our human resources for the moments that truly need them: like listening, explaining more complex issues, reassuring, and building a student up from the inside.

A practical place to start:

Notice the questions you answer multiple times a week
Treat it as data for redesign, not a student problem
Ask what’s unclear and how to chunk it into smaller pieces
Document it and begin to spend your energy elevating it so it can be fixed at the source

This isn’t reducing support. It’s building scaffolding it so the system is stronger and working for you, not against you.

Surviving the Messy Middle

I won’t pretend change is easy. Even good change is messy. Roles blur, the tech isn’t working, and everyone feels more inexperienced than they like to feel.

Sometimes it genuinely feels worse than the old way for awhile, and that’s a valid thing to notice.

It’s like standing in a kitchen’s construction zone and expecting the kitchen to be beautiful already, though. We have to keep going so the cabinets and floors get in. We can put the

Part of what makes creating more sustainable change hard is your brain. Change registers as unstable, and your brain’s top priority is safety. So it locks down and starts building walls. If it stays activated too long, the wall can get so big you can’t see over it.

Two things help:

Anchor to Creating Sustainability. Can we help a student more clearly see their next step? Is the work sustainable for the people doing it? When your brain sees the bigger goal, it can set the threat down.
Regulate Yourself With Purpose. A 10-minute walk or a few breaths between appointments is not extra. It’s part of leading yourself through change. It’s non-negotiable in times where change is happening.

And when you catch yourself thinking, “it would just be easier if I did this the old way” – pause.

Ask what keeps frustrating you or the person you are serving right now and, be honest, will that get any better if the system doesn’t change?

What could you elevate as a problem to engineer a new solution for instead of continuing to absorb it all?

Gifting Yourself In Change

If you are lucky enough to have your organization creating momentum for you, try to embrace it and make it work for you and the people you serve.

This will be a gift for you in the future. The momentum of an entire department will make this possible.

If you are trying to make small change on your own, don’t give up. You are on the right track – just make sure you gift yourself some compassion and joy in the journey so you don’t burnout.

The “How to Add Joy at Work” workbook is full of small, practical ideas you can try between meetings and appointments, even in the middle of a messy, complicated change initiative.

Download the “How to Add Joy at Work” workbook

Sarah Rose is a workplace well-being coach, recovering over-worker, married mother of 2, and founder of Fresh Rise Group. She helps maxed-out mid-career women who are juggling approximately 47 roles (but only getting paid for one or two) reclaim their energy, boundaries, and confidence without quitting their entire lives. A former “good girl” turned possibility pusher, Sarah challenges long-held beliefs about productivity and being good, but also teaches quick, doable strategies that work even on days when your brain feels like mush.