Employers Must Take the Lead to Fight Burnout

Author: Victoria Kelleher

The best employees tend to work hard to meet an employer's expectations, but there can be consequences if expectations in the workplace are beyond what is reasonably achievable. Some employees find themselves driven into burnout, a state of stress-induced physical or mental exhaustion that prevents workers from operating at their best.

Burnout in the workplace has been on the rise. Recent survey data has estimated that 65% of employees experienced burnout in 2023 alone, and nearly three in four admit that burnout has affected their performance at work in the past.

Employees experiencing burnout can find it difficult or impossible to work through the exhaustion burnout causes. Depleted energy often results in plummeting productivity, heightened absenteeism, and a higher likelihood of mistakes. If burnout is pushed to an extreme, it might even cause an employee to leave an organization to try to escape the stress.

When such a phenomenon is widespread across an organization, its negative effects might ripple across a business to affect its function, its performance, and even its reputation. It is vital that employers understand the conditions that precipitate burnout in employees so that steps can be taken to prevent it.

Burnout in the Workplace

All too often, burnout is treated as though it is a personal failure. Employers may assume that burnout is a result of problems in an employee's personal life or maladaptive personality traits, such as perfectionism or a tendency to overextend oneself. They may conclude that the solution is to direct affected employees toward wellness resources like Employee Assistance Programs.

Although this may be true in some cases, burnout can also be precipitated by factors that are caused by the workplace itself. Before assuming that employees are to blame for a decline in performance, employers should carefully evaluate whether there are problems at their organizations that cause employees to become overwhelmed with stress.

The following graphic shows how the major causes of burnout might be embedded in an employee's workflow:

Causes of Burnout at Work

Preventative Measures

Rather than treating the symptoms, employers should evaluate whether the conditions within their companies might be a source of burnout in the first place. They should take inventory of how many employees are under excessive stress in the workplace and work to counteract the factors that may be causing this. To do so, employers should:

• Collect employee feedback. Employee surveys can reveal which employees are experiencing the most stress and illuminate its root causes.
• Train managers about burnout. Managers should have the tools they need to detect when their direct reports are on the verge of burnout and identify what is contributing to their stress..
• Craft realistic workloads. When employees are stressed, consider whether their workflow may be overloaded with excessive responsibilities and unrealistic deadlines. Consider how work could be more reasonably distributed across the team to make success attainable. 
• Promote work-life balance. Employees should be encouraged to use all the paid time-off they have earned. Workloads should be assessed to ensure they are reasonably achievable and adjusted if they deprive employees of adequate rest.
• Train for effective leadership. Since micromanagement can cause undue stress for both employees and their managers, people leaders should be extensively trained on how to guide employees and delegate tasks.
• Improve company culture. Diagnose and address any issues with workplace relationships that might cause an employee to feel isolated or unsupported. Identify if the company has any implicit values that encourage employees to overwork themselves or punish employees for prioritizing well-being over work.

If employers can make sure that all these factors are properly maintained, burnout will be less likely to spread across a company due to problems in the workplace.