Tests · work and burnout
Burnout Test (BAT-12)
Burned out, or just tired? The BAT-12 is a 12-question check on the four signs its authors see in burnout: exhaustion, mental distance from your work, trouble focusing, and trouble controlling your emotions. You get a score from 12 to 60 and what its range means. Answer with your current work in mind.
- 12 questions
- Schaufeli et al., 2020
- About this test
About the BAT-12
How often you notice the four core signs of burnout at work, exhaustion, mental distance, trouble focusing and trouble controlling your emotions, added into one score.
- Developed by
- Wilmar Schaufeli, Steffie Desart and Hans De Witte, KU Leuven; published in 2020
- Built and tested in
- Interviews with 49 practitioners and a representative sample of 1,500 Flemish employees
- Wording
- The authors' English form, unchanged
Where it comes from
Wilmar Schaufeli, Steffie Desart and Hans De Witte at KU Leuven built the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) as a new way to measure burnout. They started by interviewing 49 practitioners about how they understand burnout and by reviewing existing burnout questionnaires. That produced four core signs: exhaustion, mental distance, and trouble with cognitive and emotional control. The full core scale has 23 items.
The authors' English form marks 12 of those items as the short version, three for each sign. Those 12 are on this page, in the authors' order, with their instruction and answer labels. The authors' site says the BAT "may be used free of charge without requesting permission from the authors," that it shouldn't be modified, and asks for a citation of the 2020 paper, which is published under a CC BY 4.0 license.
What the research found
The 2020 paper tested the longer form in a representative sample of 1,500 Flemish employees. The four signs held up as four factors, best described by one general burnout factor. Reliability for the 23-item core scale was high (Cronbach's alpha 0.95), and scores converged with two older burnout measures, the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory.
A 2023 paper set the cut-offs used here. It compared more than 4,000 healthy employees in the Netherlands, Belgium (Flanders) and Finland with about 540 people diagnosed with burnout. For the BAT-12, the at-risk cut-off had a sensitivity of 0.89 and a specificity of 0.79. The severe cut-off had a sensitivity of 0.71 and a specificity of 0.89. In plain terms, the lower line catches more cases and raises more false alarms.
How scoring works
| Score | Label | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 12 to 30 | Below the at-risk range | Under the authors' at-risk cut-off. |
| 31 to 35 | At risk for burnout | The authors' at-risk range. They set this line where sensitivity and specificity together were highest. |
| 36 to 60 | Severe burnout | The authors' severe range. They set this line to keep specificity at about 0.90, which limits false alarms. |
The authors give cut-offs as an average from 1 to 5: 2.54 for at risk and 2.96 for severe, in the pooled sample for the BAT-12. This page shows the sum instead, so 2.54 times 12 gives a line of 31 and 2.96 times 12 gives 36. To get the authors' number, divide your score by 12. They call these cut-offs preliminary and say to use them tentatively.
What it can't tell you
The 2020 paper is plain about this: a burnout diagnosis can't rest on the BAT or any other questionnaire and takes a clinical interview with a trained professional. The burnout groups behind the cut-offs were recruited differently in each country, and the cut-offs come from European samples, not from the US.
The BAT has no scale for depressed mood, and its authors recommend measuring that separately. Exhaustion and trouble focusing also show up in depression and in physical illness, so a high score can have other causes. This form asks about work and doesn't cover how you feel elsewhere in your life.
How to use your result
Treat the score as a reason to look closer, not a verdict. Under 31, it's still worth noticing what's changed if work feels harder than it used to. At 31 to 35, look at what's draining you and what could come off your plate. At 36 or higher, please talk with a doctor or therapist, who can also check for depression and physical causes. The depression test covers what this one leaves out, and recovering from burnout goes through what to do next.
If you're thinking about suicide or hurting yourself, call or text 988 (the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), which is free and open 24/7, or text HOME to 741741. Call 911 if you're in immediate danger.
More on this topic: Recovering from burnout, When you can't stop thinking about work, Stress test (PSS-10), Depression test (PHQ-9).
Your answers
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Sources 5
- Burnout Assessment Tool, authors' site (KU Leuven): the terms of use: non-proprietary, free without asking permission, not to be modified, cite the 2020 paper.
- BAT English form, authors' site: the wording, instruction and answer labels used on this page, and which 12 items make up the short version.
- Schaufeli, Desart and De Witte, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2020 (PubMed): abstract of the development paper, CC BY 4.0.
- Same paper, full text on Schaufeli's site: the full article: the 49 interviews, the sample of 1,500, the factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha, the items in Appendix B, the point that diagnosis takes a clinical interview, the advice on depressed mood.
- Schaufeli, De Witte, Hakanen, Kaltiainen and Kok, Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 2023 (PubMed Central): the full article: samples, cut-offs 2.54 and 2.96 for the BAT-12, sensitivity and specificity, how the lines were set, the note that they're preliminary, CC BY 4.0.
Related: stress test, mental health test, depression test.