Programs · Detect

Find out in two weeks whether you have a burnout problem — and where.


Detect: the two-week burnout read. One anonymous, research-grade survey across the teams you're watching, read back to you in the room fourteen days later. Where the risk sits, what's driving it, and an honest call on whether it's worth doing anything more.

At a glance

Length

2 weeks

Format

Survey + executive readout

Scope

15–300 people

Sponsor

CEO · GM · VP HR or Ops · HR Director

Investment

$2,500, fixed

Why Detect

You have a hunch. You don't have the data.

A leader who used to argue in meetings has gone quiet. Two people on the same team asked about the PTO policy in the same month. The engineering manager keeps saying "we're fine" in a voice that isn't. None of it is enough to take to a budget conversation — and by the time it is, someone has taken a recruiter's call.

Last spring's engagement survey can't see this quarter

Burnout moves faster than annual instruments. Detect measures exhaustion and disengagement now, team by team, against published risk bands — not against how people felt in March.

You don't need to commit to a full audit to get a straight answer

The full Burnout & Retention Audit adds confidential listening sessions and a 90-day plan. Most organizations should start with the smaller question: is there a problem, and where? Detect answers that in two weeks for a fixed fee.

It's a decision tool, not a report

You leave the readout with three things to change first and a clear recommendation on what to do next — which is sometimes "nothing more than this."

How it works

Fourteen days, four moves.

  1. Day 1

    Set-up call, 45 minutes

    Which teams, which segments, what you're already hearing. We tune the survey wording to your organization and agree how you'll ask people to take it — the announcement matters more than the instrument.

  2. Week 1

    The survey runs

    Ten to twelve minutes, anonymous, built on the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory — an open-access, research-grade instrument with published risk bands, not a wellness poll. Everyone in scope, up to 300 people. We handle the send, the reminders, and the participation tracking.

  3. Week 2

    Synthesis

    Scores by team and function against the published bands, then mapped to the four causes that actually drive burnout: workload design, priority clarity, recovery norms, and whether managers are reading early signals.

  4. Day 14

    Executive readout, 60 minutes

    In the room or on video, with you and whoever needs to hear it. Where the risk is concentrated, what's driving it, three priorities, and an honest recommendation on what to do next.

What you get

A number next to a threshold — and the conversation that makes it useful.

If Detect says the deeper work is warranted, the full $2,500 credits toward a Burnout & Retention Audit that starts within 90 days. If it says your system is healthier than you feared, that is exactly what the readout will say.


Confidential by design — because otherwise, nobody tells the truth.

Detect only works if people believe their honesty can't come back on them. So the protections aren't fine print; they're the method:

  • No small groups reported. No result is ever broken out for any group smaller than five people.
  • No attribution, ever. Individual responses are never shared — not with HR, not with the sponsor, not with anyone.
  • Organizational, not clinical. This is a diagnosis of how work is designed — not a screening of individuals.
  • Never a performance input. In writing, before the survey goes out.

Fit

Who it's for.

Detect is the right first move when…

  • You run a technical or industrial company — engineering, operations, field service, product — where the reliable people are the ones you'd least expect to lose.
  • The teams in question are 15 to 300 people. Larger organizations scope Detect to a division.
  • You want an answer before a budget conversation, not after one.
  • You've been told "we're fine" and you're not sure you believe it.

This is not…

  • The full audit. Detect is survey data, read well. It doesn't include the confidential listening sessions — people tell an outside listener what they'll never type into a survey. If you need that, start with the audit.
  • A pulse survey or a dashboard subscription. One instrument, one read, one recommendation.
  • Clinical or mental-health screening of any kind.
  • Right for teams under 15. Below that, the five-person reporting floor leaves too little to segment — book the call anyway and we'll talk instead.

Questions

What sponsors ask before saying yes.

How is this different from the full audit?

Depth and time. Detect uses the same instrument and the same four-cause framework as the Burnout & Retention Audit — it's the first read, not a lighter method. What it leaves out is the confidential listening sessions and the prioritized 90-day plan, which is where the audit earns its price. Detect tells you whether and where; the audit tells you why and what to do about it. The $2,500 credits toward an audit that starts within 90 days.

How much of our people's time does it take?

Ten to twelve minutes for anyone taking the survey. Your sponsor spends roughly two hours in total: the set-up call and the readout.

Can it really be in the field within a week?

Yes. The set-up call is the only prerequisite. Once scope and wording are agreed, the survey can go out within two to three business days — most of the lead time is your own internal announcement.

Will people actually be honest on a survey?

More than on an internal one. The survey is hosted and read by Brightwork, not your HR system; nothing is reported for groups under five; and nothing is attributable. Honesty also rises when leadership announces it as "help us fix the system," not "help us find problems people."

Who sees the raw data?

Only Brightwork. Your organization receives aggregated results by team and function, the four-cause map, and the written summary. Raw responses never leave our side, and we're glad to put the data-handling terms in the agreement.

What does it cost, exactly?

$2,500, fixed, for up to 300 people in scope. Paid on signature. There are no per-seat fees or add-ons. If you go on to an audit within 90 days, the full $2,500 comes off the audit fee.

Where it leads

Detect → Diagnose → Design → Activate.

Detect is the first step on the pathway. Each later step stands alone; together they're a system.

Diagnose — The Burnout & Retention Audit

Adds confidential listening sessions and a prioritized 90-day plan, presented to leadership in the room. Your Detect fee credits toward it.

Audit details →

Design — The Quiet Burnout workshop

A full day with your leadership team to turn findings into decisions: the kill-list exercise, operating norms, and a 90-day plan they chose themselves.

Workshop details →

Next step

Get an answer in two weeks.

Tell us which teams you're watching and what you're hearing. We'll tell you whether Detect will answer the question — and it can be in the field within a week of the call.

Book a 20-minute call Read the executive brief (PDF) hello@brightworkleadership.com