Burnout, morale, and psychological safety among designated group members in Canada's military

There is evidence that designated group members (DGMs; women, Indigenous individuals, persons with disabilities [PwDs], and racialized people) experience unique challenges within the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), including experiencing microaggressions and feeling less included than non-DGMs, which can impact well-being. Therefore, this article focuses on the experiences and perceptions of CAF DGMs in terms of key workplace outcomes (morale, burnout) and perceptions of workplace psychological safety.

Data from a broad organizational survey (the 2022 Defence Team Your Say Matters Survey) were analyzed on a sample of 4,483 CAF Regular Force members. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were conducted to identify key differences between the four designated groups and a fifth group (those who were not DGMs; i.e., everyone else) on workplace outcomes (morale and burnout), and perceptions of psychological safety.

Both PwDs and Indigenous individuals appeared to fare worse than all other groups. Specifically, PwDs scored lower on morale and psychological safety and higher on burnout than all groups, except for Indigenous individuals. Indigenous individuals scored lower on morale than women who were not part of another group and racialized people, and higher on burnout than racialized people, who experienced less burnout than everyone else.

These findings highlight the importance of examining the unique experiences of DGMs with respect to their workplace well-being. This research contributes to reconstitution efforts aimed at increasing recruitment and retention by shedding light on differences in key workplace well-being outcomes and perceived psychological safety among DGMs in the CAF.