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Burnout Is About Your Workplace, Not Your People

• Jennifer Moss

Leaders create the conditions that lead to burnout — or prevent it.

We often think of burnout as an individual problem, solvable with simple-fix techniques like “learning to say no”, more yoga, better breathing, practicing resilience. Yet, evidence is mounting that personal, band-aid solutions are not enough to combat an epic and rapidly evolving workplace phenomenon. In fact, they might be harming, not helping the battle. With “burnout” now officially recognized by the World Health Organization, the responsibility for managing it has shifted away from employees and toward employers. Burnout is preventable. It requires good organizational hygiene, better data, asking more timely and relevant questions, smarter budgeting (more micro-budgeting), and ensuring that wellness offerings are included as part of your well-being strategy

We tend to think of burnout as an individual problem, solvable by “learning to say no,” more yoga, better breathing techniques, practicing resilience — the self-help list goes on. But  evidence is mounting that applying personal, band-aid solutions to an epic and rapidly evolving workplace phenomenon may be harming, not helping, the battle. With “burnout” now officially recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) , the responsibility for managing it has shifted away from the individual and towards the organization. Leaders take note: It’s now on you to build a burnout strategy.

• Jennifer Moss is a workplace expert, international public speaker, and award-winning journalist. She is the bestselling author of  Unlocking Happiness at Work (Kogan Page, 2016) and The Burnout Epidemic  (HBR Press, September 2021).

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Burnout: Modern Affliction or Human Condition?

Burnout is generally said to date to 1973; at least, that’s around when it got its name. By the nineteen-eighties, everyone was burned out. In 1990, when the Princeton scholar Robert Fagles published a new English translation of the Iliad, he had Achilles tell Agamemnon that he doesn’t want people to think he’s “a worthless, burnt-out coward.” This expression, needless to say, was not in Homer’s original Greek. Still, the notion that people who fought in the Trojan War, in the twelfth or thirteenth century B.C., suffered from burnout is a good indication of the disorder’s claim to universality: people who write about burnout tend to argue that it exists everywhere and has existed forever, even if, somehow, it’s always getting worse. One Swiss psychotherapist, in a history of burnout published in 2013 that begins with the usual invocation of immediate emergency—“Burnout is increasingly serious and of widespread concern”—insists that he found it in the Old Testament. Moses was burned out, in Numbers 11:14, when he complained to God, “I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.” And so was Elijah, in 1 Kings 19, when he “went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough.”

To be burned out is to be used up, like a battery so depleted that it can’t be recharged. In people, unlike batteries, it is said to produce the defining symptoms of “burnout syndrome”: exhaustion, cynicism, and loss of efficacy. Around the world, three out of five workers say they’re burned out. A 2020 U.S. study put that figure at three in four. A recent book claims that burnout afflicts an entire generation. In “ Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation ,” the former BuzzFeed News reporter Anne Helen Petersen figures herself as a “pile of embers.” The earth itself suffers from burnout. “Burned out people are going to continue burning up the planet,” Arianna Huffington warned this spring. Burnout is widely reported to have grown worse during the pandemic, according to splashy stories that have appeared on television and radio, up and down the Internet, and in most major newspapers and magazines, including Forbes , the Guardian , Nature , and the New Scientist . The New York Times solicited testimonials from readers. “I used to be able to send perfect emails in a minute or less,” one wrote. “Now it takes me days just to get the motivation to think of a response.” When an assignment to write this essay appeared in my in-box, I thought, Oh, God, I can’t do that, I’ve got nothing left, and then I told myself to buck up. The burnout literature will tell you that this, too—the guilt, the self-scolding—is a feature of burnout. If you think you’re burned out, you’re burned out, and if you don’t think you’re burned out you’re burned out. Everyone sits under the shade of that juniper tree, weeping, and whispering, “Enough.”

But what, exactly, is burnout? The World Health Organization recognized burnout syndrome in 2019, in the eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases, but only as an occupational phenomenon, not as a medical condition. In Sweden, you can go on sick leave for burnout. That’s probably harder to do in the United States because burnout is not recognized as a mental disorder by the DSM-5 , published in 2013, and though there’s a chance it could one day be added, many psychologists object, citing the idea’s vagueness. A number of studies suggest that burnout can’t be distinguished from depression, which doesn’t make it less horrible but does make it, as a clinical term, imprecise, redundant, and unnecessary.

To question burnout isn’t to deny the scale of suffering, or the many ravages of the pandemic: despair, bitterness, fatigue, boredom, loneliness, alienation, and grief—especially grief. To question burnout is to wonder what meaning so baggy an idea can possibly hold, and whether it can really help anyone shoulder hardship. Burnout is a metaphor disguised as a diagnosis. It suffers from two confusions: the particular with the general, and the clinical with the vernacular. If burnout is universal and eternal, it’s meaningless. If everyone is burned out, and always has been, burnout is just . . . the hell of life. But if burnout is a problem of fairly recent vintage—if it began when it was named, in the early nineteen-seventies—then it raises a historical question. What started it?

Herbert J. Freudenberger, the man who named burnout, was born in Frankfurt in 1926. By the time he was twelve, Nazis had torched the synagogue to which his family belonged. Using his father’s passport, Freudenberger fled Germany. Eventually, he made his way to New York; for a while, in his teens, he lived on the streets. He went to Brooklyn College, then trained as a psychoanalyst and completed a doctorate in psychology at N.Y.U. In the late nineteen-sixties, he became fascinated by the “free clinic” movement. The first free clinic in the country was founded in Haight-Ashbury, in 1967. “ ‘Free’ to the free clinic movement represents a philosophical concept rather than an economic term,” one of its founders wrote, and the community-based clinics served “alienated populations in the United States including hippies, commune dwellers, drug abusers, third world minorities, and other ‘outsiders’ who have been rejected by the more dominant culture.” Free clinics were free of judgment, and, for patients, free of the risk of legal action. Mostly staffed by volunteers, the clinics specialized in drug-abuse treatment, drug crisis intervention, and what they called “detoxification.” At the time, people in Haight-Ashbury talked about being “burnt out” by drug addiction: exhausted, emptied out, used up, with nothing left but despair and desperation. Freudenberger visited the Haight-Ashbury clinic in 1967 and 1968. In 1970, he started a free clinic at St. Marks Place, in New York. It was open in the evening from six to ten. Freudenberger worked all day in his own practice, as a therapist, for ten to twelve hours, and then went to the clinic, where he worked until midnight. “You start your second job when most people go home,” he wrote in 1973, “and you put a great deal of yourself in the work. . . . You feel a total sense of commitment . . . until you finally find yourself, as I did, in a state of exhaustion.”

Burnout, as the Brazilian psychologist Flávio Fontes has pointed out, began as a self-diagnosis, with Freudenberger borrowing the metaphor that drug users invented to describe their suffering to describe his own. In 1974, Freudenberger edited a special issue of the Journal of Social Issues dedicated to the free-clinic movement, and contributed an essay on “staff burn-out” (which, as Fontes noted, contains three footnotes, all to essays written by Freudenberger). Freudenberger describes something like the burnout that drug users experienced in his experience of treating them:

Having experienced this feeling state of burn-out myself, I began to ask myself a number of questions about it. First of all, what is burn-out? What are its signs, what type of personalities are more prone than others to its onslaught? Why is it such a common phenomenon among free clinic folk?

The first staff burnout victim, he explained, was often the clinic’s charismatic leader, who, like some drug addicts, was quick to anger, cried easily, and grew suspicious, then paranoid. “The burning out person may now believe that since he has been through it all, in the clinic,” Freudenberger wrote, “he can take chances that others can’t.” The person exhibits risk-taking that “sometimes borders on the lunatic.” He, too, uses drugs. “He may resort to an excessive use of tranquilizers and barbiturates. Or get into pot and hash quite heavily. He does this with the ‘self con’ that he needs the rest and is doing it to relax himself.”

The street term spread. To be a burnout in the nineteen-seventies, as anyone who went to high school in those years remembers, was to be the kind of kid who skipped class to smoke pot behind the parking lot. Meanwhile, Freudenberger extended the notion of “staff burnout” to staffs of all sorts. His papers, at the University of Akron, include a folder each on burnout among attorneys, child-care workers, dentists, librarians, medical professionals, ministers, middle-class women, nurses, parents, pharmacists, police and the military, secretaries, social workers, athletes, teachers, veterinarians. Everywhere he looked, Freudenberger found burnouts. “It’s better to burn out than to fade away,” Neil Young sang, in 1978, at a time when Freudenberger was popularizing the idea in interviews and preparing the first of his co-written self-help books. In “ Burn-out: The High Cost of High Achievement ,” in 1980, he extended the metaphor to the entire United States. “ WHY, AS A NATION, DO WE SEEM, BOTH COLLECTIVELY AND INDIVIDUALLY, TO BE IN THE THROES OF A FAST-SPREADING PHENOMENON—BURN-OUT? ”

Somehow, suddenly, burning out wasn’t any longer what happened to you when you had nothing, bent low, on skid row; it was what happened to you when you wanted everything. This made it an American problem, a yuppie problem, a badge of success. The press lapped up this story, filling the pages of newspapers and magazines with each new category of burned-out workers (“It used to be that just about every time we heard or read the word ‘burnout’ it was preceded by ‘teacher,’ ” read a 1981 story that warned about “homemakers burnout”), anecdotes (“Pat rolls over, hits the sleep button on her alarm clock and ignores the fact that it’s morning. . . . Pat is suffering from ‘burnout’ ”), lists of symptoms (“the farther down the list you go, the closer you are to burnout!”), rules (“Stop nurturing”), and quizzes:

Are you suffering from burnout? . . . Looking back over the past six months of your life at the office, at home and in social situations. . . . 1. Do you seem to be working harder and accomplishing less? 2. Do you tire more easily? 3. Do you often get the blues without apparent reason? 4. Do you forget appointments, deadlines, personal possessions? 5. Have you become increasingly irritable? 6. Have you grown more disappointed in the people around you? 7. Do you see close friends and family members less frequently? 8. Do you suffer physical symptoms like pains, headaches and lingering colds? 9. Do you find it hard to laugh when the joke is on you? 10. Do you have little to say to others? 11. Does sex seem more trouble than it’s worth?

You could mark questions with “X”s, cut out the quiz, and stick it on the fridge, or on the wall of your “Dilbert”-era cubicle. See? See? This says I need a break, goddammit.

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Sure, there were skeptics. “The new IN thing is ‘burnout,’ ” a Times-Picayune columnist wrote. “And if you don’t come down with it, possibly you’re a bum.” Even Freudenberger said he was burned out on burnout. Still, in 1985 he published a new book, “Women’s Burnout: How to Spot It, How to Reverse It, and How to Prevent It.” In the era of anti-feminist backlash chronicled by Susan Faludi, the press loved quoting Freudenberger saying things like “You can’t have it all.”

Freudenberger died in 1999 at the age of seventy-three. His obituary in the Times noted, “He worked 14 or 15 hours a day, six days a week, until three weeks before his death.” He had run himself ragged.

“Every age has its signature afflictions,” the Korean-born, Berlin-based philosopher Byung-Chul Han writes in “ The Burnout Society, ” first published in German in 2010. Burnout, for Han, is depression and exhaustion, “the sickness of a society that suffers from excessive positivity,” an “achievement society,” a yes-we-can world in which nothing is impossible, a world that requires people to strive to the point of self-destruction. “It reflects a humanity waging war on itself.”

Lost in the misty history of burnout is a truth about the patients treated at free clinics in the early seventies: many of them were Vietnam War veterans, addicted to heroin. The Haight-Ashbury clinic managed to stay open partly because it treated so many veterans that it received funding from the federal government. Those veterans were burned out on heroin. But they also suffered from what, for decades, had been called “combat fatigue” or “battle fatigue.” In 1980, when Freudenberger first reached a popular audience with his claims about “burnout syndrome,” the battle fatigue of Vietnam veterans was recognized by the DSM-III as post-traumatic stress disorder. Meanwhile, some groups, particularly feminists and other advocates for battered women and sexually abused children, were extending this understanding to people who had never seen combat.

Burnout, like P.T.S.D., moved from military to civilian life, as if everyone were, suddenly, suffering from battle fatigue. Since the late nineteen-seventies, the empirical study of burnout has been led by Christina Maslach, a social psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1981, she developed the field’s principal diagnostic tool, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and the following year published “ Burnout: The Cost of Caring ,” which brought her research to a popular readership. “Burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who do ‘people work’ of some kind,” Maslach wrote then. She emphasized burnout in the “helping professions”: teaching, nursing, and social work—professions dominated by women who are almost always very poorly paid (people who, extending the military metaphor, are lately classed as frontline workers, alongside police, firefighters, and E.M.T.s). Taking care of vulnerable people and witnessing their anguish exacts an enormous toll and produces its own suffering. Naming that pain was meant to be a step toward alleviating it. But it hasn’t worked out that way, because the conditions of doing care work—the emotional drain, the hours, the thanklessness—have not gotten better.

Burnout continued to climb the occupational ladder. “Burnout cuts across executive and managerial levels,” Harvard Business Review reported in 1981, in an article that told the tale of a knackered executive: “Not only did the long hours and the unremitting pressure of walking a tightrope among conflicting interests exhaust him; they also made it impossible for him to get at the control problems that needed attention. . . . In short, he had ‘burned out.’ ” Burnout kept spreading. “College Presidents, Coaches, Working Mothers Say They’re Exhausted,” according to a Newsweek cover in 1995. With the emergence of the Web, people started talking about “digital burnout.” “Is the Internet Killing Us?” Elle asked in 2014, in an article on “how to deal with burnout.” (“Don’t answer/write emails in the middle of the night. . . . Watch your breath come in and out of your nostrils or your stomach contracting and expanding as you breathe.”) “Work hard and go home” is the motto at Slack, a company whose product, launched in 2014, made it even harder to stop working. Slack burns you out. Social media burns you out. Gig work burns you out. In “Can’t Even,” a book that started out as a viral BuzzFeed piece, Petersen argues, “Increasingly—and increasingly among millennials—burnout isn’t just a temporary affliction. It’s our contemporary condition.” And it’s a condition of the pandemic.

In March, Maslach and a colleague published a careful article in Harvard Business Review , in which they warned against using burnout as an umbrella term and expressed regret that its measurement has been put to uses for which it was never intended. “We never designed the MBI as a tool to diagnose an individual health problem,” they explained; instead, assessing burnout was meant to encourage employers to “establish healthier workplaces.”

The louder the talk about burnout, it appears, the greater the number of people who say they’re burned out: harried, depleted, and disconsolate. What can explain the astonishing rise and spread of this affliction? Declining church membership comes to mind. In 1985, seventy-one per cent of Americans belonged to a house of worship, which is about what that percentage had been since the nineteen-forties; in 2020, only forty-seven per cent of Americans belonged to an institution of faith. Many of the recommended ways to address burnout—wellness, mindfulness, and meditation (“Take time each day, even five minutes, to sit still,” Elle advised)—are secularized versions of prayer, Sabbath-keeping, and worship. If burnout has been around since the Trojan War, prayer, worship, and the Sabbath are what humans invented to alleviate it. But this explanation goes only so far, not least because the emergence of the prosperity gospel made American Christianity a religion of achievement. Much the same appears to apply to other faiths. A Web site called productivemuslim.com offers advice on “How to Counter Workplace Burnout” (“There is barakah in earning a halal income”). Also, actually praying, honoring the Sabbath, and attending worship services don’t seem to prevent people who are religious from burning out, since religious Web sites and magazines, too, are full of warnings about burnout, including for the clergy. (“The life of a church leader involves a high level of contact with other people. Often when the church leader is suffering high stress or burnout he or she will withdraw from relationships and fear public appearances.”)

You can suffer from marriage burnout and parent burnout and pandemic burnout partly because, although burnout is supposed to be mainly about working too much, people now talk about all sorts of things that aren’t work as if they were: you have to work on your marriage, work in your garden, work out, work harder on raising your kids, work on your relationship with God. (“Are You at Risk for Christian Burnout?” one Web site asks. You’ll know you are if you’re driving yourself too hard to become “an excellent Christian.”) Even getting a massage is “bodywork.”

Burnout may be our contemporary condition, but it has very particular historical origins. In the nineteen-seventies, when Freudenberger first started looking for burnout across occupations, real wages stagnated and union membership declined. Manufacturing jobs disappeared; service jobs grew. Some of these trends have lately begun to reverse, but all the talk about burnout, beginning in the past few decades, did nothing to solve these problems; instead, it turned responsibility for enormous economic and social upheaval and changes in the labor market back onto the individual worker. Petersen argues that this burden falls especially heavily on millennials, and she offers support for this claim, but a lesson of the history of burnout is that every generation of Americans who have come of age since the nineteen-seventies have made the same claim, and they were right, too, because overwork keeps getting worse . It’s this giant mess that Joe Biden is trying to fix. In earlier eras, when companies demanded long hours for low wages, workers engaged in collective bargaining and got better contracts. Starting in the nineteen-eighties, when companies demanded long hours for low wages, workers put newspaper clippings on the doors of their fridges, burnout checklists. Do you suffer from burnout? Here’s how to tell!

Burnout is a combat metaphor. In the conditions of late capitalism, from the Reagan era forward, work, for many people, has come to feel like a battlefield, and daily life, including politics and life online, like yet more slaughter. People across all walks of life—rich and poor, young and old, caretakers and the cared for, the faithful and the faithless—really are worn down, wiped out, threadbare, on edge, battered, and battle-scarred. Lockdowns, too, are features of war, as if each one of us, amid not only the pandemic but also acts of terrorism and mass shootings and armed insurrections, were now engaged in a Hobbesian battle for existence, civil life having become a war zone. May there one day come again more peaceful metaphors for anguish, bone-aching weariness, bitter regret, and haunting loss. “You will tear your heart out, desperate, raging,” Achilles warned Agamemnon. Meanwhile, a wellness site tells me that there are “11 ways to alleviate burnout and the ‘Pandemic Wall.’ ” First, “Make a list of coping strategies.” Yeah, no. ♦

What Is Burnout? 16 Signs and Symptoms of Excessive Stress

Specifically, individuals who report experiencing burnout are:

• 63% more likely to take a sick day
• 23% more likely to visit the emergency room.

Employees experiencing regular burnout are also less likely to perform well. For example,

• They are less likely to approach their superiors about how to improve their performance.
• They’re 13% less confident in their job performance.
• They’re almost three times more likely to leave their jobs.

How common is burnout? In a 2020 survey, Gallup reported that when asked how often participants experienced burnout:

• 48% answered sometimes.
• 21% answered always.

Such statistics only confirms how serious and prevalent this experience is. In this post, we will explore more about the phenomenon of burnout, what it is, and how it manifests.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Stress & Burnout Prevention Exercises (PDF) for free . These science-based exercises will equip you and those you work with, with tools to manage stress better and find a healthier balance in your life.

This Article Contains:

What is burnout & why does it happen, 16 symptoms & signs of burnout, can burnout make you physically sick, effects on life & relationships, anxiety, stress, & burnout: a vicious cycle explained, burnout vs depression, compassion fatigue: burnout in helping professions, psychological diagnosis: is burnout a disorder, best positivepsychology.com burnout prevention resources.

Many factors contribute to burnout. But first, let’s understand the definition and look at possible causes.

Defining burnout

Burnout is an occupational phenomenon where employees experience a mix of physical and psychological symptoms that result in decreased job satisfaction and productivity (Bridgeman, Bridgeman, & Barone, 2018).

Occupational burnout was first recognized in the mid-70s (Freudenberger, 1974) among healthcare professionals. Nowadays, burnout is not limited to only healthcare professionals, but can occur in any industry.

The World Health Organization (2019) defines burnout as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”

Causes of burnout

Burnout can occur for several reasons. However, poorly managed occupational stress has been recognized as the primary cause (Bridgeman et al., 2018; World Health Organization, 2019).

Other factors contribute to work-related stress, which in turn, contribute to burnout (Edmund, 2019; Gallup, 2020). These include the following:

Unrealistic work expectations

Unrealistic work expectations include an unmanageable workload, unrealistic deadlines, and unrealistic time pressure. Employees who are expected to perform consistently for long periods under unrealistic deadlines are more likely to experience burnout.

The number of tasks that employees are expected to complete also contributes to an unrealistic workload.

Micromanagement

Employees who feel like they have no control over their environment, tasks, or time are more likely to experience burnout.

Poor instructions

Poor instructions also includes poorly defined tasks and unclear communication from employers/managers. When employees work in environments where instructions and tasks are unclear, they are more likely to suffer from burnout.

Unclear instructions can lead to unrealistic work expectations and micromanaging because employers do not clearly explain what they expect of their employees, resulting in multiple iterations of work without an apparent end. Employees have to work hard to figure out what exactly employers expect from them, and this increases feelings of anxiety and exhaustion.

Employees benefit from socializing with their peers, and this can lead to feelings of support. Without regular contact with peers, employees may feel like they are alone.

Lack of support and unfair treatment

Employees who feel like their managers do not support them or treat them unfairly are at higher risk of burnout.

The original symptoms described by Freudenberg (1974) were based on what he observed among staff members at the clinic where he worked.

Since then, however, the symptoms have been further refined and are no longer limited to only health professionals.

This list of symptoms is based on what Freudenberger (1974) first observed.

The physical symptoms include:

• Feeling exhausted
• Unable to recover from a common cold
• Frequent headaches
• Frequent gastrointestinal problems
• Sleep disturbances
• Shortness of breath

The behaviors include:

• Irritability
• Heightened emotional responses (quick to cry, quick to anger)
• Suspicious and paranoid about colleagues
• Substance abuse
• Stubbornness, rigid thinking, and unwillingness to listen to other people
• Negative attitude
• Appears depressed

Three dimensions of burnout

The symptoms of burnout commonly fall into the following three dimensions (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996; World Health Organization, 2019):

• Feelings of exhaustion or energy depletion
• Feeling increasingly distant/negative/cynical about one’s job
• Reduced professional efficacy/decreased self-evaluation of output/performance

Signs of burnout

Employees who experience burnout will initially primarily complain of exhaustion. This exhaustion may be referred to as fatigue, tiredness, or feeling low on energy. It appears unshakeable. The fatigue is chronic (i.e., long term) and continuous.

Next, employees suffering from burnout will appear pessimistic about their work. Their pessimism can manifest in various ways. For example, they may adopt an overtly negative view of their work. Their pessimism can be less overt and more subtle; for example, they may appear unmotivated, disinterested, or uncommitted.

As a result, employees will report feeling despondent about their own performance and output in the workplace.

Other signs and symptoms of burnout are the side effects of overwhelming fatigue. Employees may seem disorganized, struggle to pay attention, and appear forgetful. They may come across as irritable, anxious, or depressed. They may turn to substances or medications to help them cope.

Finally, they may experience physiological symptoms because of stress, such as headaches, stomach problems, or cardiovascular problems such as a racing heart.

How symptoms manifest can differ from one person to the next. For example, some may experience restless sleep, while others may have a sore jaw from grinding their teeth.

Burnout is the result of occupational stress; if the cause of the stress is not work related, then it is unlikely to result in burnout.

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People who experience burnout are also more likely to go to the doctor and the emergency room (Gallup, 2020). Some symptoms of burnout are physiological (Freudenberger, 1974). For example, employees who experience burnout report headaches, stomachaches, other gastrointestinal problems, and, sometimes, a racing heart rate.

Employees who experience burnout are also more likely to engage in substance abuse (especially alcohol). There is some evidence that burnout can affect men and women differently. Men are more likely to experience cardiovascular illnesses, whereas women are more likely to experience musculoskeletal problems (Ahola, 2007).

Stress, which is the underlying mechanism of burnout, can make you physically ill. Chronic or long-term stress can increase the risk of heart disease and infection (Kivimäki et al., 2006) and increase the risk of Type-2 diabetes and infertility (Toker, Shirom, Shapira, Berliner, & Melamed, 2005).

Stress can also result in poor-quality sleep, which can affect health by increasing the risk of heart disease and diabetes (Ayas et al., 2003). Increased levels of stress increase the body’s vulnerability to other illnesses (Kivimäki et al., 2006). Experiencing high levels of stress can prolong the time that it takes to recover from a minor ailment such as a cold (Kivimäki et al., 2006).

In very serious cases, chronic burnout increases the risk of death by 35% (Ahola, Väänänen, Koskinen, Kouvonen, & Shirom, 2010).

Remember, burnout results from occupational stress, and people who are more stressed may get involved in more conflict.

An abusive work environment can seep into family life. There is some evidence that employees who work in an abusive environment are more likely to engage in hostile behavior at home (Hoobler & Brass, 2006; Tepper, 2000).

The association between relationships and burnout is not unidirectional. Good-quality relationships can act as a buffer against burnout (Fernet, Gagné, & Austin, 2010). Positive relationships with superiors and colleagues are especially protective because they increase work motivation and job satisfaction (Fernet et al., 2010).

Occupational stress is also positively associated with relationship conflict (Friedman, Tidd, Currall, & Tsai, 2000). Specifically, employees who experienced higher levels of work-related stress also experienced higher levels of relationship conflict and higher levels of task conflict.

However, the relationship between stress and relationship conflict was moderated by the type of conflict management style that employees used.

Employees who avoided conflict were more likely to be stressed, whereas employees who tried to problem solve were less likely to feel stressed (and consequently experienced less conflict).

Burnout Prevalence: A Look at Its Rate

Freudenberger (1974) first observed burnout among healthcare professionals at clinics. Since then, a great deal of research has measured the prevalence of burnout among healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, and psychologists.

It has long been recognized that the prevalence rate varies in the literature. These differences are due to how burnout is measured and defined. For example, prevalence rates for teachers can be as high as 30%, versus 10% for doctors and dentists (Weber & Jaekel-Reinhard, 2000).

In 2018, Rotenstein et al. authored a meta-analysis of the prevalence rate of burnout among physicians. The meta-analysis included 182 studies from 45 different countries, with a combined total of 109,628 participants.

Part of the difficulty with estimating the prevalence of burnout was that different studies used different definitions, measurements, and cut-off scores for burnout. These differences complicated the findings of the meta-analysis.

From this meta-analysis, the prevalence rate was estimated as follows:

• In studies where burnout was defined as a notable score on only one of the three dimensions (exhaustion, depersonalization, or reduced self-evaluation), the prevalence rate ranged between 25.0% and 69.9%.
• In studies where burnout was defined as a notable score on only two of the three dimensions, the prevalence ranged between 19.5% and 28.9%.
• In studies where burnout was defined as a notable score on all three dimensions, the prevalence ranged between 2.6% and 11.8%.

Burnout is caused by situational factors, such as the work environment, and individual factors, such as the personality of the employee (Bühler & Land, 2003).

For example, employees who score high on measures of perfectionism and neuroticism are more likely to experience burnout (Bakker & Costa, 2014). The reason for this is that these types of employees rely on unproductive and unhelpful coping mechanisms when faced with workplace stress (Bakker & Costa, 2014).

Indeed, employees who relied on avoidant conflict resolution strategies were more likely to experience work-related stress when compared to employees who took a problem-solving approach (Friedman et al., 2000).

Furthermore, depression and burnout are correlated, and anxiety and depression are correlated. This suggests that there should be a correlation between anxiety and burnout. Employees who experience burnout do report higher levels of psychological problems such as anxiety and depression (Ahola, 2007; Peterson et al., 2008) and are more likely to rely on substance abuse (Ahola, 2007).

Corrigan, Holmes, and Luchins (1995) found evidence of a medium-sized relationship between anxiety and depression. Schonfeld and Bianchi (2016) showed that teachers who were experiencing burnout were more likely to have a history of depression and anxiety and to be currently taking antidepressant and anti-anxiety medication, respectively, than teachers who were not burned out.

Some researchers argue that people with high trait anxiety are at higher risk of developing anxiety symptoms in response to occupational stress (Koutsimani, Montgomery, & Georganta, 2019). Employees with high levels of trait anxiety are more likely to overcommit to their work and experience higher job demands, such as workload and time pressure (Mark & Smith, 2012).

In summary, people with high trait anxiety scores, high perfectionism scores, and high neuroticism experience more stress at work. This is partly because of how they respond to stress, their coping mechanisms, and how they resolve conflicts. Together, these variables increase the risk of burnout.

However, burnout itself is highly correlated with depression and anxiety and encourages poor coping behaviors such as alcohol dependence.

As a result, employees do not get the opportunity to ‘reset’ and constantly feel stressed.

Burnout vs. depression – how to tell the difference

Burnout and depression are similar.

Sometimes, people who are suffering from burnout display symptoms of depression. The difference is that the ’cause’ of the unmanaged stress that resulted in burnout is due to work, rather than the multitude of other factors that can also result in depression (Bianchi, Boffy, Hingray, Truchot, & Laurent, 2013).

So is burnout just another name for depression, but one that is limited to the workplace?

Some authors argue that the nosology of depression and burnout is unclear. The variety of symptoms and lack of clarity around the exact definition demonstrate how burnout is a hazy concept (Weber & Jaekel-Reinhard, 2000).

Bianchi et al. (2013) argue that burnout and depression should not be considered two separate psychological constructs. They showed that when comparing the symptoms between patients who experienced major depression and burned-out employees, there was little difference between these two groups. These two groups, however, both displayed higher depression scores than a control group.

The argument that the symptomatology is the same for burnout and depression has been made in later papers (Bianchi, Schonfeld, & Laurent, 2015).

The primary difference between burnout and depression is that burnout arises from occupational stress. Bianchi et al. (2015) argue, however, that it is unusual for an illness to be restricted to only one particular domain. Specifically, they argue that depression is depression, regardless of the circumstances from which it arises.

This is further complicated by the tools used to measure burnout,  since they specifically refer to the job environment rather than general daily activities.

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A particular type of burnout that is often experienced by helping professionals is compassion fatigue (Figley, 2002). Compassion fatigue is prevalent among helping professionals, such as nurses and psychologists, who work with patients who are diagnosed with chronic illnesses.

Professionals who experience compassion fatigue are constantly re-exposed to the trauma and stress of a particular event but through the experiences of their clients/patients (Figley, 2002). As a result, professionals aim to be empathetic and compassionate toward their patients, while re-experiencing and re-assessing trauma through them.

Figley (2002) argues that this tension between stress and compassion leads to secondary traumatic stress, which results in compassion fatigue.

Compassion fatigue is different, however, from countertransference or burnout.

Countertransference is when a therapist has an overly strong attachment to a client and experiences events through them as a result. It also includes over-identifying with the client.

In contrast to countertransference, compassion fatigue results from feeling empathy toward the client and their situation. The client’s situation may be a reminder of what the professional has gone through. Compassion fatigue is not because of an attachment.

As defined previously, burnout is a feeling of extreme exhaustion from poorly managed stress. In contrast with therapist burnout , compassion fatigue is more specific since it is triggered through specific traumas and experiences of specific clients. Compassion fatigue is not necessarily a blanket response to ‘work.’

The neural pathways underlying burnout have not been established, and it has similar overlapping features with depression (Freudenberger, 1974).

Most importantly, however, burnout is not recognized by the American Psychological Association as a diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

The World Health Organization (2019) recognizes burnout as an occupational experience, and they include it in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD code Z73.0). However, burnout is not considered a medical illness. Instead, burnout is grouped with other factors that are not illnesses or health conditions but that result in medical consultation.

17 Exercises To Reduce Stress & Burnout

Help your clients prevent burnout, handle stressors, and achieve a healthy, sustainable work-life balance with these 17 Stress & Burnout Prevention Exercises [PDF].

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

Our free Stress & Burnout Prevention Exercises Pack features three handpicked tools from the Positive Psychology Toolkit© . These exercises can help you identify domains in which clients may be at risk of suffering from stress and burnout, as well as the potential benefits of stress for growth.

• Energy Management Audit This brief, 16-item assessment helps clients assess their energy levels across the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual domains. Upon completion, clients will have gained clear insight into their energy strengths and deficits, building awareness of these energy levels’ effects on daily functioning.
• Strengthening The Work-Private Life Barrier This exercise aims to help clients identify the behaviors, beliefs, and conditions that create metaphorical “holes” in the barrier between work and private life. In doing so, clients can better develop a solid barrier between their work and private life to help them restore a healthy balance between the two.
• The Stress-Related Growth Scale This 50-item assessment tool assesses positive outcomes following a stressful event (i.e., stress-related growth). By reflecting on their results, clients can consider the positive benefits of challenging experiences for their relationships, thinking, and coping.

You can access these tools for free by downloading our Stress & Burnout Prevention Exercises Pack .

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others manage stress without spending hours on research and session prep, this collection contains 17 validated stress management tools for practitioners . Use them to help others identify signs of burnout and create more balance in their lives.

Besides tools, we have a wide selection of excellent articles aimed at reducing stress and improving your work environment. Here are a few suggestions as a starting point:

• Positive Psychology in the Workplace : Thank God it’s Monday
• Resilience in the Workplace : How to Be More Resilient at Work
• What Is Job Crafting? (Incl. 5 Examples and Exercises)
• 16 Stress Management Activities and Worksheets to Help Clients Beat Stress

A Take-Home Message

Diagnosing burnout is not easy. It resembles other psychological illnesses such as anxiety and depression.

The challenge for clinicians is to distinguish between these syndromes.

One factor that distinguishes burnout from other illnesses is that burnout is a response to occupational stress . Therefore, clients who are currently unemployed cannot suddenly experience burnout.

With this in mind, however, the experiences of stress and depression are not limited to the workplace. For example, a stay-at-home mom can also experience stress, depression, and physical illness.

Regardless of whether the client is presenting with burnout or similar symptoms resulting from nonoccupational circumstances, the underlying mechanism – stress – can have very serious consequences.

Learning to recognize the symptoms of stress can better protect employees and clients before it becomes unmanageable and unhealthy.

To do so, use the tools provided and browse through our positive psychology articles to give your clients the help they need.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Stress & Burnout Prevention Exercises (PDF) for free .

• Ahola, K. (2007). Occupational burnout and health (Doctoral dissertation). University of Helsinki, Finland.
• Ahola, K., Väänänen, A., Koskinen, A., Kouvonen, A., & Shirom, A. (2010). Burnout as a predictor of all-cause mortality among industrial employees: a 10-year prospective register-linkage study. Journal of Psychosomatic Research , 69 (1), 51–57.
• Ayas, N. T., White, D. P., Al-Delaimy, W. K., Manson, J. E., Stampfer, M. J., Speizer, F. E., …  Hu, F. B. (2003). A prospective study of self-reported sleep duration and incident diabetes in women. Diabetes Care , 26 (2), 380–384.
• Bakker, A. B., & Costa, P. L. (2014). Chronic job burnout and daily functioning: A theoretical analysis. Burnout Research , 1 (3), 112–119.
• Bianchi, R., Boffy, C., Hingray, C., Truchot, D., & Laurent, E. (2013). Comparative symptomatology of burnout and depression. Journal of Health Psychology , 18 (6), 782–787.
• Bianchi, R., Schonfeld, I. S., & Laurent, E. (2015). Is it time to consider the “burnout syndrome” a distinct illness? Frontiers in Public Health , 3 , 158.
• Bridgeman, P. J., Bridgeman, M. B., & Barone, J. (2018). Burnout syndrome among healthcare professionals. The Bulletin of the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists , 75 (3), 147–152.
• Bühler, K. E., & Land, T. (2003). Burnout and personality in intensive care: an empirical study. Hospital Topics , 81 (4), 5–12.
• Corrigan, P. W., Holmes, E. P., & Luchins, D. (1995). Burnout and collegial support in state psychiatric hospital staff. Journal of Clinical Psychology , 51 (5), 703–710.
• De Dreu, C. K., Van Dierendonck, D., & Dijkstra, M. T. (2004). Conflict at work and individual well-being. International Journal of Conflict Management , 15 (1), 6–26.
• Edmund, M. (Ed.) (2019) Beating burnout. Quality Progress , 52 (11), 10–12.
• Fernet, C., Gagné, M., & Austin, S. (2010). When does quality of relationships with coworkers predict burnout over time? The moderating role of work motivation. Journal of Organizational Behavior , 31 (8), 1163–1180.
• Figley, C. R. (2002). Compassion fatigue: Psychotherapists’ chronic lack of self care. Journal of Clinical Psychology , 58 (11), 1433–1441.
• Friedman, R. A., Tidd, S. T., Currall, S. C., & Tsai, J. C. (2000). What goes around comes around: The impact of personal conflict style on work conflict and stress. International Journal of Conflict Management , 11 (1), 32–55.
• Freudenberger, H. J. (1974). Staff burn-out. Journal of Social Issues , 30 (1), 159–165.
• Gallup (2020). Gallup’s perspective on employee burnout: Causes and cures. Gallup . Retrieved January 12, 2021, from https://www.gallup.com/workplace/282659/employee-burnout-perspective-paper.aspx
• Hoobler, J. M., & Brass, D. J. (2006). Abusive supervision and family undermining as displaced aggression. Journal of Applied Psychology , 91 (5), 1125–1133.
• Kivimäki, M., Virtanen, M., Elovainio, M., Kouvonen, A., Väänänen, A., & Vahtera, J. (2006). Work stress in the etiology of coronary heart disease—A meta-analysis. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health , 32 (6), 431–442.
• Koutsimani, P., Montgomery, A., & Georganta, K. (2019). The relationship between burnout, depression, and anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology , 10 , 284.
• Mark, G., & Smith, A. P. (2012). Occupational stress, job characteristics, coping, and the mental health of nurses. British Journal of Health Psychology ,  17 (3), 505–521.
• Maslach, C., Jackson, S. E., & Leiter, M. P. (1996). Maslach burnout inventory . (3rd ed.). Consulting Psychologists Press.
• Peterson, U., Demerouti, E., Bergström, G., Samuelsson, M., Åsberg, M., & Nygren, Å. (2008). Burnout and physical and mental health among Swedish healthcare workers. Journal of Advanced Nursing , 62 (1), 84–95.
• Rotenstein, L. S., Torre, M., Ramos, M. A., Rosales, R. C., Guille, C., Sen, S., & Mata, D. A. (2018). Prevalence of burnout among physicians: A systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Association , 320 (11), 1131–1150.
• Schonfeld, I. S., & Bianchi, R. (2016). Burnout and depression: Two entities or one? Journal of Clinical Psychology , 72 (1), 22–37.
• Tepper, B. J. (2000). Consequences of abusive supervision. Academy of Management Journal , 43 (2), 178–190.
• Toker, S., Shirom, A., Shapira, I., Berliner, S., & Melamed, S. (2005). The association between burnout, depression, anxiety, and inflammation biomarkers: C-reactive protein and fibrinogen in men and women. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology , 10 (4), 344–362.
• Weber, A., & Jaekel-Reinhard, A. (2000). Burnout syndrome: A disease of modern societies? Occupational Medicine , 50 (7), 512–517.
• World Health Organization. (2019). Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International classification of diseases . Retrieved from https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/burn-out/en/

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What our readers think.

This article is a real eye-opener and an invaluable resource! Thank you so much for bringing these issues to light.

This is noot justinteresting; instead it’s vital to know what affects us in the work place. Thank you for sharing these thoughts

A good overview of burnout in the workplace; however I have several patients presenting with domestic burnout, which was not alluded to. This is my term but includes burnout from juggling too many things day in, day out, without any break such as managing children, supporting a wife and running the household. For example, an exhausted husband comes home and has to attend to all the kids chores like homework, bathing, spending time with them, getting them ready for bed, fitting in cooking supper, going to the shops, giving his wife some time, sorting out finances or problems in the house etc. This continuous non-stop activity can lead to burn out, fatigue and breakdown as well as occupational burnout.

Many women especially single moms experience exactly the same issues outlined above. When feeling stretched in what feels like a million and one directions … it’s crucial to make time for joy. Having supportive friends .. therapist.. pets .. getting fresh air .. a good meal ..creative projects are essential to restoration of mental well-being.. Making a list of “to-do’s” is helpful but doesn’t have to be accomplished in one day. These are meant as a reminder ..and if the deadline isn’t met “so be it”..I find that contacting the person or source (hard , I know) that your late in responding has been helpful in reducing stress/anxiety. Most importantly, don’t beat yourself up and know your trying and doing your best!!

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3 Stress Exercises Pack

Speaking of Psychology: Why we’re burned out and what to do about it, with Christina Maslach, PhD

Episode 152.

The word “burnout” has become ubiquitous—it seems to sum up the stress, exhaustion, and disaffection that many of us are feeling this year. But are workers more burned out than ever? And what does the term “burnout” actually mean? How does burnout differ from fatigue or stress? How do you know if you’re burned out? And what can individuals, employers and society do to combat workplace burnout? Christina Maslach, PhD, answers these and other questions.

About the expert: Christina Maslach, PhD

Kim Mills: We've all seen the headlines. The U.S. workforce is burned out. Every week seems to bring another survey. Sixty-nine percent of frontline healthcare workers say they feel burned out. Twenty-nine percent of all remote workers very often or always feel burned out at work. Teachers, tech workers, veterinarians—name the profession, there's probably a news story about how burnt out its practitioners are. Even young content creators on social media are, “burned out and breaking down," according to a New York Times story published in June.

The word “burnout" has become ubiquitous. It seems to sum up the stress and exhaustion and disaffection that many of us are feeling this year. But are workers more burned out than ever? And what does the term “burnout" actually mean? How does burnout differ from, say, fatigue or stress? How do you know if you're burned out? And what can individuals, employers and society do to combat workplace burnout?

Welcome to Speaking of Psychology , the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association, that examines the links between psychological science and everyday life. I'm Kim Mills. Our guest today is Dr. Christina Maslach, a professor of psychology emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the world's foremost experts on occupational burnout. In the early 1980s, she developed the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the standard tool used to measure job burnout. Her work helped lead the World Health Organization to recognize burnout as an occupational phenomenon in its 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases in 2019. Over the past year, she's also offered her thoughts to the news media as an expert on the COVID-19 pandemic, job burnout and work life. 

Thank you for joining us today, Dr. Maslach.

Christina Maslach, PhD: Oh, thank you. It's a delight to be here.

Mills: Let's start by defining job burnout. A lot of people seem to think it's synonymous with stress and exhaustion, but burnout has a much more precise definition than that. So what is the difference between burnout, stress, exhaustion, depression? And is it a medical diagnosis?

Maslach: First, to begin with, it is not a medical diagnosis, and the World Health Organization made that very clear. It said it is not a medical condition. It's an occupational phenomenon. So it is a stress response. Exhaustion is, in fact, part of the burnout response. But it goes beyond the stress of responding to chronic job stressors and involves two other components. One is an increasingly negative, cynical, hostile response to the job, to the work you're doing. “Take this job and shove it," which leads to people not doing the job well, doing the bare minimum, rather than their very best. And it also includes a negative sense of self, and how your professional efficacy—“maybe I'm not really good at this. Maybe I made a mistake going here." So it's those three components, the stress response of exhaustion, the negative response to the job of cynicism, and the negative response to self, of inefficacy.

So, it can be a step in the path towards other kinds of problems, like depression or anxiety, but it is a mistake, I think—and the World Health Organization agrees on that point and says that it's not a medical diagnosis. So it's not something that should be treated in that way. And it is not identified within the DSM, for example, because it's more a human condition or response to stressors.

Mills: So, how is it different from just plain old stress and exhaustion?

Maslach: Well, exhaustion is part of burnout, so it's not different from that, but it includes more than just exhaustion. We will see people who have exhaustion, because they have way too much to do and can't possibly meet all the demands and all of that kind of thing. But they still like their job, they're, they feel good about what they're doing, they still feel good about themselves and how well they're doing. They're just really tired and it's just hard to keep up. So that's what we call an overextended profile, but it's not burnout, which is a high frequency of all three things, exhaustion, cynicism, and a lack of professional efficacy on the job.

Mills: How do you think the pandemic has affected burnout? There've been a lot of articles about the term burnout during the past year, but does that reflect reality? Are people more burned out than ever?

Maslach: It's a little hard to know exactly in terms of actual data and research data. People talk about it, analyze it, complain about it, but we, we don't have basis of evidence beyond this self-report there. For some people, in some occupations, yes. I think healthcare, which you mentioned earlier, is one good example. Teachers in schools might be another one, where the pandemic really changed their job and the conditions under which they were working. And so, that really just made it much more difficult for them to do their job well. The demands, the workload went up. The exhaustion was going up, but we were also seeing problems with the rest of the burnout response. So there are some places where yes, I think that's true. But to the extent that burnout sometimes gets overused to mean all kinds of things beyond stress response to job stressors, there could be other things that were happening in people's lives that would lead them to be experiencing stress. And so, for some professions I would say, yes, that was the case, but in other cases, I don't think that was happening necessarily.

Mills: Well, putting aside the pandemic, what are the risk factors for job burnout?

Maslach: To go back to the World Health Organization's statement, it's a response to chronic job stressors that has not been successfully managed. And so, what we're talking about here is a high frequency of these stressors. It's not something that people experience occasionally or only a couple of times a year. They're facing it daily, they're facing it on regular high frequency. And so, the chronic nature of the job stressors is really what's critical here. The successfully managed can be done by the individual, but often, really, is done by the unit, the team, the work group, the organization, the occupation. World Health didn’t designate it as being managed by just the individual. And what the research data really supports is the notion that it's really the relationship between people and their job, whether there's a good match or fit or a mismatch, that really is problematic and raises the risk of burnout.

And so what we have found in the research is that there are at least six major areas in which a mismatch between the job and the person, the work and the worker, are critical. So the one everyone thinks about of course, is workload, where the mismatch is high demands, low resources. Lots to do, but not enough time or people or tools or information to get it done.

But there are five others. And sometimes those are more important even than workload. There's control. How much choice, discretion, say you have over what you do to innovate or do a little better or differently. Or are you—don't have a control over the work that you're doing. And that's a huge one. A third area is a mismatch in terms of reward. And it turns out not so much pay and perks per se, but recognition for having done something well. And getting those kinds of social and intrinsic rewards of doing a good job.

Fourth area is what we call community. And this is the workplace community. Who are the people that you are in regular contact, interaction with? Your colleagues, your boss, people you supervise, the customers or your clients or patients. Depends what it is. And are those relationships in that workplace community supportive in figuring out how to work out problems and do things better, or is it a really toxic environment where you feel that you're going to be bullied or treated badly or kept out of things and all of this kind of thing? So people talk about it as a socially toxic workplace in that case.

Fifth area has to do with fairness, sort of basic human need to be treated fairly in whatever the system is, whatever the problems are. Being treated unfairly, this is where we talk about glass ceilings or discrimination or people getting ahead by lying and cheating rather than actually deserving of something. So being treated unfairly really keeps you out of the workplace community. It makes you feel really disrespected, and that can lead to a lot of the cynicism that we see with burnout.

And finally, the sixth area has to do with values and the meaning of the work and the pride you take in doing it well and contributing something. And that you're not in an environment of conflicts or ethical behavior, or you're being asked to do things that you just feel are not right or are wrong in some way. And so it's those six areas—workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values—that are the kind of six drivers at this point that we know of that hold risks for burnout.

Mills: Can individual workers determine if they're experiencing burnout, or is this something that really has to be measured objectively by the employer or an outside consultant, for example?

Maslach: Quite honestly, I have never heard people say, I don't know what burnout is, can I take a test? It's like this medical diagnosis again, which is really wrong. It's a stress response. And people usually, if they think about their own experience, know—am I exhausted and feeling stressed? Am I beginning to get really sour on the job and really hate it and don't want to go there and dislike it, et cetera, but I'm stuck? And how do I feel about how well I'm doing on the job?

I don't think it's a mystery in this way. The measure that I developed is a research measure, it's not a diagnostic tool. You develop it so that you're sort of assessing how often do people—how frequently are they experiencing these three aspects of burnout? And what does that correlate with, or how do we discover other things about causes of burnout, effects of burnout? The kinds of occupations that pose higher risks.

So it's a research tool, but that doesn't necessarily say that you can only know it if you take a test. And it shouldn't be used for diagnostic purposes. It should not be used ethically against people's will. I've seen organizations where they'll post names on the wall, or they'll tap people on the shoulder—it's not confidential or anonymous—and say, oh, I think maybe you're burned out. You've got a problem. You better go see a therapist. This is not the way to go to assess burnout and find out, do we have a problem here? You're looking at the aggregate. Where is it showing up? What percentage of your workforce is like that? But it's not to go after the individuals and essentially figure out how to fix them or fire them.

So there's some real confusion, I think, around some of this. The other thing is that there's more to people's experience than burnout or not. We've identified in research at least five different profiles ranging from engagement on the more positive end to burnout on the more negative, and three others in the middle where people are showing maybe one of the burnout components, but not the full three. The high frequency and response to chronic job stresses.

So there's a lot more to it than just that. But I think people are concerned about what do you do and how do you handle it? And one of the problems there, I think, the challenges, is that people tend to focus on what's wrong with the person and then how do we fix them or help them cope or whatever, rather than looking at the other part of that mismatch, which is the job conditions and the workplace. And that has to be fixed or changed or improved or whatever. It's not just focusing on who are the people who just can't handle this?

Mills: What are some of the best practices for a workplace where management thinks that employees are experiencing burnout? What do they do? Do they survey employees? You talked about collecting data in the aggregate, but do they also meet with individuals? What should a company do if they think that their employees are burning out?

Maslach: Well, basically burnout works—it's a signal that things are not going well in the workplace. And it's not just about what's wrong with the people and how do I work with them, but to work with those employees on how could the workplace be made better? How could we improve the situation that they're facing?

And so I think it needs a different kind of a dialogue that really focuses on where might there be some of these chronic job stressors, the pebbles in your shoe you're experiencing all the time? And using those six areas of mismatch as a guide, where could we begin to change the way we're doing things in terms of the control or the workload or the recognition or the community or something like that? And so, it has to be more of a collaborative process, I think, to focus on what might be the problem areas and how can we go about making positive improvements?

I don't think it needs to have a survey, but there's another point that I think I would make here, and that is that even though there's a lot of discussion about burnout, it's still perceived and treated in a stigmatized way. So trying to find out who has burnout and how much burnout and how much of a problem is burnout. People are often unwilling to answer that truly, honestly, in that if they think there's going to be a downside on that, like that tap on the shoulder saying, “What's wrong with you? You better see a therapist.” Because it is that kind of stigma and there could be negative consequences of it.

So taking a focus, not on, “Do we have to have people self-identify as burned out before we do anything to improve the workplace?” No, we can start improving it and if there's anything we've learned from the COVID pandemic is that the workplace can be done differently. We've had to do it all year and some things have worked well, other things have not, but it can be different. And so let's really think out of the box and try and figure out how do we make a better, healthier environment in which people can thrive rather than get beaten down. And that does not require any sort of sign of burnout per se, before you do that. But that burnout really tells you more about what's going on in the workplace than what's going on in the individual.

Mills: There've been a lot of surveys in the past year and a half that found parents of young children have been extraordinarily stressed trying to balance their work and childcare. Do outside stressors like that contribute to occupational burnout?

Maslach: I think for some people, they argue that there is such a thing as parental burnout and other kinds of burnout. They're using the same kind of stress analogy there. But yes, certainly to the extent that you have other things going on in your life that make it more difficult to do the job well and to be in good shape and your own health and well-being, and being able to take care of your family and all the rest of that. That can certainly add to the whole burden. There's no question. So that kind of mismatch between the workload and the rest of your life can be huge as we saw. There also can be positive things that have happened with the working from home thing for some people, don't have to commute the way they used to have to do that. Or maybe they have access to other resources where they can do their work better or some of it on a different timeframe. So I think there's a lot we still need to learn about different possibilities for different kinds of people in different kinds of occupations.

Mills: So you've written about the fact that people tend to think of burnout as an individual problem and it's something that needs to be addressed by the person who's experiencing it, but it's actually the workplace problem. It needs to be solved at the meta level. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Maslach: Yeah. I mean, this is what I am talking about in terms of the relationship between the job and the person, that using an either or thing, is it the job? Is it the person? When the answer really is it's both and you need to really think about what is happening in terms of those chronic job stressors that are there most of the time, all of the time that are just wearing people down. And how do we make changes there as well as helping people to relax and cope and all that kind of thing. But a lot of those chronic job stressors that people are responding to, or trying to deal with, are ones over which they have no control and can't be changed, or it shapes how they're able to live their life and do their day or night hours or whatever shift they're working.

And so there's always a bigger, better approach to this. And it's not just by individual jobs. It's also about how do we make assignments? How do we decide how to get X done, as opposed to Y? If we're adding more to people's plates in terms of the work they have to do, what are we going to subtract? What is no longer as necessary. To simply say, "Sorry, we just have to do more with less,” which is what we're hearing a lot, is just an overload phenomenon that is found to cause more stress for more people with all those negative consequences. And so a real solution is not simply to say, “If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” It's like, “Okay, we'll help you cope and do better in this kind of environment, but we're also going to work on the kitchen to make it a better place to do that kind of work.”

We have to look at both. I mean, burnout in that sense is like the canary in the coal mine. The canary goes down, if the canary's having problems operating in the coal mine, it's not that something is wrong with the canary, that it's not tough enough, tough little bird. It's that it's toxic fumes and it's a signal that something needs to be fixed before everybody else goes into the mine. So that's for me, burnout is really more of that signal. It's saying, “It's becoming too difficult, too much, with too many negative consequences for not only the workers, but the people they deal with, their family life, and so forth.” And we have to address both.

Mills: A recent Washington Post story talked about some of the solutions that companies are trying to implement to combat burnout. And some of them are offering an extra week of vacation time, others are shutting down for a week so everyone has to take time off. Some employers are offering flexible schedules and some are experimenting with a four-day workweek. Are these good ideas? Do they effectively combat burnout? Or is there something counter-intuitive about trying to solve burnout by telling people to get away from the workplace?

Maslach: You hit it right on the head. I mean, it's a strange thing, but often the best way to cope with work stress is not to work. And that begs the question, what's wrong with the work that to deal with it, you have to get away, take time off, take a vacation, do fewer hours, all that kind of thing?

So there's a distinction I think that's important to make here between coping and prevention. Coping by getting away in some way, fewer hours, take a vacation, a week off from work or something like that, take a vacation is coping with stressors, but it's leaving the job as it is. And if it is what it is, then when you go back, those stressors are still going to be there and it's still going to be the problems that were leading to the burnout in the first place.

So to prevent, to actually change the likelihood that burnout will occur is you want to somehow begin to make changes in the conditions that are causing the problem of burnout. So those chronic job stressors. If you just leave them in place, it's not making a difference. And we see in other research on the value of vacations, and getting away, and so forth, there's always an initial good thing. You feel better, you come back saying, “Oh yeah, now I'm ready to go to work.” And pretty soon it's all back to where it was and it's not good. So, it's a coping strategy, but it's not really dealing with the problem, which is, what are the chronic job stressors that are causing the difficulties for everybody?

Mills: What about workplace wellness programs? Things like offering yoga, or meditation, or paying for employees' gym memberships. And I know Amazon recently got some criticism for installing a Zen booth meditation kiosk in its warehouses without really doing anything else to change the working conditions. But do any of these wellness programs address burnout?

Maslach: No, not really. I mean, again, they are all pretty much coping strategies. The job is what it is. You're still in the warehouse doing whatever, but we have this thing over here and maybe that will help you feel better if you use it and take some time off, and all of that kind of thing. So again, it's a coping strategy, but it's leaving the job conditions as they are.

So, the other thing about wellness strategies, I think a lot of them can have a positive effect. There's a huge self-care industry out there with all kinds of ideas and possibilities for helping people to cope, and be more healthy, and all that kind of thing. But tell people to be more healthy, and relax, and make sure you get your eight hours of sleep a night, and so forth, when you are in overload, and you're taking work home, and it's disrupting your family life and your sleep, et cetera, that's not going to help. You have to change those other job conditions.

So, the other issue about wellness strategies, that I think I just want to point out, is that in many cases, the ideas are good, but they sometimes are badly implemented. So, you're telling people, you must do X, but not on company time, or some sort of thing like that. The other part of not doing it well, implementing it, is that I'm surprised how often the employees are never asked if this Zen booth would be a good thing. If they could have a choice of what would happen that would make life better, what would be the things they would really like to see. And so much of this stuff, essentially, gets implemented top down without getting input from bottom, side, whatever, as to what would really make a difference.

And so, I've seen all kinds of wellness things that don't get much uptake. I mean, people don't do them that much because it's really not the kind of thing that is helpful to that. It doesn't fit well within the kind of job they're doing, and so forth. And, you really need to check, of all the many solutions that might be out there that will help people and make them feel better about doing the job, you've got to check first whether this is something they really want. I have seen things that are wonderful. Volleyball courts on the roof of a building unused because nobody wants to, and can't get off work to go and do that. And you need a team and all those kinds of things. So, it's just not well thought out.

And so, we see a lot of things where the intention is good, but the implementation is not. And it rubs people the wrong way. They're being treated in a very paternalistic way as though you don't know anything better, we're doing something good for you, so go do it. And often it's,  “And by the way, you're going to lose some weight. Okay. And maybe stop smoking,” and all that kind of thing. So, they're being talked down to, and I think that somehow also doesn't help them realize that maybe some of what's being offered could actually be useful. But there's often a mismatch there of intension. Oh, here's a good, healthy thing. And can people actually use it, and it doesn't make a difference. Is it worth the money? Is it worth the investment? Any good return it? Not so much.

Mills: Well, this has been really interesting, Dr. Maslach. I really appreciate your joining us today. And I hope our listeners have gained a greater understanding of what burnout is and isn't, and how to deal with it. Thank you.

Maslach: Thank you so much. I really appreciate the opportunity that APA gave me to talk about this.

Mills: You can find previous episodes of Speaking of Psychology at www.speakingofpsychology.org or on Apple, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. And please, if there's an opportunity, leave us a review. If you have comments or ideas for future podcasts, you can email us at [email protected] . That's Speaking of Psychology , all one word, at apa.org. Speaking of Psychology is produced by Lea Winerman. Our sound editor is Chris Condayan. 

Thank you for listening. For the American Psychological Association, I'm Kim Mills.

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Episode 152:  Why we’re burned out and what to do about it, with Christina Maslach, PhD

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• Read Maslach’s book The Burnout Challenge: Managing People’s Relationships with Their Jobs (Harvard University Press, 2022)
• “ How to measure burnout accurately and ethically” ( Harvard Business Review , March 2021)

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• v.15(2); 2016 Jun

Understanding the burnout experience: recent research and its implications for psychiatry

Christina maslach.

1 Psychology Department, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

Michael P. Leiter

2 Centre for Organizational Research & Development, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS, B4P 2R6, Canada

The experience of burnout has been the focus of much research during the past few decades. Measures have been developed, as have various theoretical models, and research studies from many countries have contributed to a better understanding of the causes and consequences of this occupationally‐specific dysphoria. The majority of this work has focused on human service occupations, and particularly health care. Research on the burnout experience for psychiatrists mirrors much of the broader literature, in terms of both sources and outcomes of burnout. But it has also identified some of the unique stressors that mental health professionals face when they are dealing with especially difficult or violent clients. Current issues of particular relevance for psychiatry include the links between burnout and mental illness, the attempts to redefine burnout as simply exhaustion, and the relative dearth of evaluative research on potential interventions to treat and/or prevent burnout. Given that the treatment goal for burnout is usually to enable people to return to their job, and to be successful in their work, psychiatry could make an important contribution by identifying the treatment strategies that would be most effective in achieving that goal.

For many years, burnout has been recognized as an occupational hazard for various people‐oriented professions, such as human services, education, and health care. The therapeutic or service relationships that such providers develop with recipients require an ongoing and intense level of personal, emotional contact. Although such relationships can be rewarding and engaging, they can also be quite stressful.

Within such occupations, the prevailing norms are to be selfless and put others' needs first; to work long hours and do whatever it takes to help a client or patient or student; to go the extra mile and to give one's all. Moreover, the organizational environments for these jobs are shaped by various social, political, and economic factors (such as funding cutbacks or policy restrictions) that result in work settings that are high in demands and low in resources. Recently, as other occupations have become more oriented to “high‐touch” customer service, the phenomenon of burnout has become relevant for these jobs as well 1 .

DEFINING BURNOUT

Burnout is a psychological syndrome emerging as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job. The three key dimensions of this response are an overwhelming exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job, and a sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment. The significance of this three‐dimensional model is that it clearly places the individual stress experience within a social context and involves the person's conception of both self and others.

The initial research on burnout was exploratory and relied primarily on qualitative techniques. Because the earliest researchers came from social and clinical psychology, they gravitated toward relevant ideas from these fields. The social perspective utilized concepts involving interpersonal relations, i.e. how people perceive and respond to others; these included detached concern, dehumanization in self‐defense, and attribution processes. It also brought in concepts of motivation and emotion (and especially coping with emotional arousal). The clinical perspective also dealt with motivation and emotion, but framed these more in terms of psychological disorders, such as depression. Subsequent researchers came from industrial‐organizational psychology, and this perspective emphasized work attitudes and behaviors. It was also at this point that burnout was conceptualized as a form of job stress, but the primary focus was on the organizational context and less on the physical characteristics of the experienced stress.

What emerged from this descriptive work were the three dimensions of the burnout experience. The exhaustion dimension was also described as wearing out, loss of energy, depletion, debilitation, and fatigue. The cynicism dimension was originally called depersonalization (given the nature of human services occupations), but was also described as negative or inappropriate attitudes towards clients, irritability, loss of idealism, and withdrawal. The inefficacy dimension was originally called reduced personal accomplishment, and was also described as reduced productivity or capability, low morale, and an inability to cope.

Assessment of burnout

As the characteristics of burnout became more clearly identified, the next step was to develop measures that could assess them. Various measures were proposed, based on different assumptions about burnout, and many of them relied on the face validity of the measurement items or statements. The first burnout measure that was based on a comprehensive program of psychometric research was the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) 2 , 3 . The MBI was specifically designed to assess the three dimensions of the burnout experience which had emerged from the earlier qualitative research. It has been considered the standard tool for research in this field, and has been translated and validated in many languages 4 . In contrast, other initial measures of burnout focused only on the dimension of exhaustion 5 , 6 .

This distinction between measures that assess several dimensions of burnout, and those that assess the sole dimension of exhaustion, continues to the present day, and reflects different conceptualizations of burnout. For example, the Bergen Burnout Inventory (BBI) 7 assesses three dimensions of burnout: exhaustion at work, cynicism toward the meaning of work, and sense of inadequacy at work. The Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) 8 assesses the two dimensions of exhaustion and disengagement from work. Other burnout measures focus on exhaustion alone, although they differentiate between various aspects of exhaustion. For example, the Shirom‐Melamed Burnout Measure (SMBM) 9 distinguishes between physical fatigue, emotional exhaustion, and cognitive weariness; and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) 10 makes a distinction between physical and psychological exhaustion.

There have been other changes and modifications of burnout measures over the years. Because the initial concern about burnout emerged from caregiving occupations, such as health care and human services, the measures developed in the 1980s tended to reflect the experience of those professions. Later, however, other occupational groups became interested in the occurrence of burnout, but had some difficulties in adapting the existing measures to their work situation. For the MBI, the solution was the development of a General Survey that could be used within any occupation (MBI‐GS) 11 . Not only were various items revised to be more “occupation‐neutral”, but the dimension of depersonalization (which was more specific to human services) was broadened to refer to a negative detachment from work and was renamed cynicism , and the dimension of personal accomplishment was broadened and renamed professional efficacy . More recent burnout measures utilized more occupation‐neutral wording from the outset.

However, some measures also added some new dimensions to the concept of burnout. For example, the Spanish Burnout Inventory consists of four dimensions: enthusiasm towards the job, psychological exhaustion, indolence, and guilt 12 . Meanwhile, some researchers were concerned that the more neutral wording meant a loss of the specific interpersonal issues for human service workers, so they developed a new measure of interpersonal strain 13 . It remains an open question whether these additional elements are essential components of burnout per se , or whether they assess experiences or conditions that often accompany the experience of burnout.

An important development, at the beginning of the 21st century, has been that researchers have tried to broaden their understanding of burnout by extending their attention to its positive antithesis. This positive state has been identified as “engagement”. Although there is general agreement that engagement with work represents a productive and fulfilling state within the occupational domain, there are differences in its definition.

For some burnout researchers, engagement is considered to be the opposite of burnout and is defined in terms of the same three dimensions as burnout, but the positive end of those dimensions rather than the negative. From this perspective, engagement consists of a state of high energy, strong involvement, and a sense of efficacy 14 . By implication, engagement is assessed by the opposite pattern of scores on the three MBI dimensions.

However, a different approach has defined work engagement as a persistent, positive affective‐motivational state of fulfillment that is characterized by the three components of vigor, dedication, and absorption. In this view, work engagement is an independent and distinct concept, which is not the opposite of burnout (although it is negatively related to it). A new measure, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) 15 , was developed to assess this positive state, and extensive research has been carried out in the last decade 16 .

The relationship between burnout and engagement continues to be debated, however, and a recent approach has been to use dialectical theory to synthesize conflicting views on the two constructs, and to develop an alternate model 17 .

Conceptual models

There have been various conceptual models about the development of burnout and its subsequent impact. At first, the focus was on the relationship between the three dimensions of burnout, which was often described in sequential stages. Exhaustion was assumed to develop first, in response to high demands and overload, and then this would precipitate detachment and negative reactions to people and the job (depersonalization or cynicism). If this continued, then the next stage would be feelings of inadequacy and failure (reduced personal accomplishment or professional inefficacy).

More recently, burnout models have been based on theories about job stress, and the notion of imbalances leading to strain. The first such model was the transactional one, which served as the conceptual bridge between sequential stages and imbalances 18 . Its three stages are: a) job stressors (an imbalance between work demands and individual resources), b) individual strain (an emotional response of exhaustion and anxiety), and c) defensive coping (changes in attitudes and behavior, such as greater cynicism).

Subsequently, two developmental models of the demands‐resources imbalance have emerged: the Job Demands‐Resources (JD‐R) model and the Conservation of Resources (COR) model. The JD‐R model focuses on the notion that burnout arises when individuals experience incessant job demands and have inadequate resources available to address and to reduce those demands 19 . The COR model follows a basic motivational theory assuming that burnout arises as a result of persistent threats to available resources 20 . When individuals perceive that the resources they value are threatened, they strive to maintain those resources. The loss of resources or even the impending loss of resources may aggravate burnout. Both the JD‐R and the COR theory of burnout development have received confirmation in research studies.

A different variation of an imbalance model of burnout is the Areas of Worklife (AW) model, which frames job stressors in terms of person‐job imbalances, or mismatches, but identifies six key areas in which these imbalances take place: workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values. Mismatches in these areas affect an individual's level of experienced burnout, which in turn determines various outcomes, such as job performance, social behaviors, and personal wellbeing. The greater is the mismatch between the person and the job, the greater the likelihood of burnout; conversely, the greater the match, the greater the likelihood of engagement. Initial empirical support for the AW model has been provided by both cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies 21 .

CAUSES AND OUTCOMES

Most models of burnout make explicit the causal theorizing that has always been implicit in burnout research: certain factors (both situational and individual) cause people to experience burnout, and once burnout occurs, it causes certain outcomes (both situational and individual). However, these causal assumptions have rarely been tested directly. Most research on burnout has involved cross‐sectional designs or studies using statistical causal models. This correlational database has provided support for many of the hypothesized links between burnout and its sources and effects, but it is unable to address the presumed causality of those linkages. The recent increase in longitudinal studies is beginning to provide a better opportunity to test sequential hypotheses, but stronger causal inferences will also require appropriate methodological designs (and these are often difficult to implement in applied settings). One other critical constraint is that many of the variables have been assessed by self‐report measures (rather than other indices of behavior or health).

Over two decades of research on burnout have identified a plethora of organizational risk factors across many occupations in various countries 22 , 23 . Six key domains have been identified, as mentioned earlier: workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values. The first two areas are reflected in the Demand‐Control model of job stress 24 .

Work overload contributes to burnout by depleting the capacity of people to meet the demands of the job. When this kind of overload is a chronic job condition, there is little opportunity to rest, recover, and restore balance. A sustainable and manageable workload, in contrast, provides opportunities to use and refine existing skills as well as to become effective in new areas of activity.

A clear link has been found between a lack of control and burnout. On the contrary, when employees have the perceived capacity to influence decisions that affect their work, to exercise professional autonomy, and to gain access to the resources necessary to do an effective job, they are more likely to experience job engagement.

The area of reward refers to the power of reinforcements to shape behavior. Insufficient recognition and reward (whether financial, institutional, or social) increases people's vulnerability to burnout, because it devalues both the work and the workers, and is closely associated with feelings of inefficacy. In contrast, consistency in the reward dimension between the person and the job means that there are both material rewards and opportunities for intrinsic satisfaction.

The area of community has to do with the ongoing relationships that employees have with other people on the job. When these relationships are characterized by a lack of support and trust, and by unresolved conflict, then there is a greater risk of burnout. On the contrary, when these job‐related relationships are working well, there is a great deal of social support, employees have effective means of working out disagreements, and they are more likely to experience job engagement.

The area of fairness emerges from the literature on equity and social justice. Fairness is the extent to which decisions at work are perceived as being fair and equitable. People use the quality of the procedures, and their own treatment during the decision‐making process, as an index of their place in the community. Cynicism, anger and hostility are likely to arise when people feel they are not being treated with the appropriate respect.

Finally, the area of values picks up the cognitive‐emotional power of job goals and expectations. Values are the ideals and motivations that originally attracted people to their job, and thus they are the motivating connection between the worker and the workplace, which goes beyond the utilitarian exchange of time for money or advancement. When there is a values conflict on the job, and thus a gap between individual and organizational values, employees will find themselves making a trade‐off between work they want to do and work they have to do, and this can lead to greater burnout.

In terms of outcomes, burnout has been frequently associated with various forms of negative reactions and job withdrawal, including job dissatisfaction, low organizational commitment, absenteeism, intention to leave the job, and turnover 23 . For example, cynicism has been found to be the pivotal aspect of burnout to predict turnover 25 , and burnout mediates the relationship between being bullied in the workplace and the intention to quit the job 26 . On the other hand, for people who stay on the job, burnout leads to lower productivity and impaired quality of work. As burnout diminishes opportunities for positive experiences at work, it is associated with decreased job satisfaction and a reduced commitment to the job or the organization.

People who are experiencing burnout can have a negative impact on their colleagues, both by causing greater personal conflict and by disrupting job tasks. Thus, burnout can be “contagious” and perpetuate itself through social interactions on the job 27 , 28 . The critical importance of social relationships for burnout is underscored by studies that show that burnout increases in work environments characterized by interpersonal aggression 29 , 30 . Such findings suggest that burnout should be considered as a characteristic of workgroups rather than simply an individual syndrome.

Burnout has a complex pattern of relationships with health, in that poor health contributes to burnout and burnout contributes to poor health 31 . Of the three burnout dimensions, exhaustion is the closest to an orthodox stress variable, and therefore is more predictive of stress‐related health outcomes than the other two dimensions. Exhaustion is typically correlated with such stress symptoms as headaches, chronic fatigue, gastrointestinal disorders, muscle tension, hypertension, cold/flu episodes, and sleep disturbances. These physiological correlates mirror those found with other indices of prolonged stress. Parallel findings have been found for the link between burnout and substance abuse 32 .

A ten‐year longitudinal study of industrial workers found burnout to predict subsequent hospital admissions for cardiovascular problems 33 . Other research found that a one‐unit increase in burnout score was related to a 1.4 unit increase in risk for hospital admission for mental health problems, as well as a one‐unit increase in risk for hospital admissions for cardiovascular problems 31 . Other studies have provided a more detailed examination of the link between burnout and cardiovascular disease, noting the role of high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein and fibrinogen concentrations in the link 34 .

BURNOUT IN PSYCHIATRY

To a large extent, the research literature on burnout in psychiatry echoes those previous themes. Workplace variables have been found to be more stressful for psychiatrists than other factors, and thus may be more likely to perpetuate burnout 35 . These variables include too much work, long working hours, chronic staff shortages, an aggressive administrative environment, and lack of support from management. Poor relationships with management and supervisors have also been identified as related to burnout among psychiatry residents 36 . However, research has found mixed results with regard to the role of job satisfaction in burnout, with some studies reporting no relationship 37 , 38 , and other studies reporting that job satisfaction did play a role 39 , 40 .

The rate of burnout among those employed in the health care field tends to be reported in the moderate to high levels, and it is generally believed that the burnout risk in health care is higher than in the general working population. Reported burnout rates for psychiatrists are quite similar to this overall trend 41 , 42 , 43 . Some studies have raised the possibility that psychiatrists show an even more negative risk profile for burnout than do other health care employees 36 , 43 , 44 . For example, one study found that 89% of psychiatrists had either thought about or experienced a clear threat of severe burnout 45 .

There are other critical risk factors that may be more unique to the field of psychiatry. Chief among these is the working relationship that psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals, have with clients who are experiencing psychological trauma. The challenging demands posed by these and other difficult clients can lead to greater stress and frustration among psychiatrists, which in turn can fuel the exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy of burnout. This process has also been described in terms such as compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and vicarious traumatization 46 , 47 , 48 . The burnout experience can become especially overwhelming when the psychiatrist becomes the target of anger, hatred, and even violence, as a result of negative transference 49 . Violent incidents with patients can be emotionally draining and difficult to manage, and can lead health providers to psychologically distance themselves from their work. The occurrence of violence can also make providers feel that they lack control over their job, and thus challenge their sense of professional efficacy.

Higher levels of burnout are correlated with more negative feelings about patients 50 and a poorer quality of patient care 51 . This link between burnout and poor care is supported by research on how burnout is manifested in psychiatrists, by changes in appearance (e.g., look of fatigue), behavior (e.g., becoming avoidant, making less eye contact), and mood (e.g., becoming more irritable and agitated, communicating poorly). In addition, perfectionist and obsessive traits may perpetuate burnout, particularly when the workload is heavy or stressful 52 .

Working with demanding patients and working with patients’ families have been found to be closely associated with psychiatrists’ levels of exhaustion and depersonalization 35 . These relationships reflect psychiatrists’ frustrations with the limits of their craft. Contact with patients’ families intensified these feelings, especially when family members expressed unrealistic expectations for treatment. Psychiatrists are emotionally drained by their inability to meet the strenuous demands they put upon themselves, and the demands inherent in their interactions with patients and patients’ families. In contrast, diminished personal accomplishment reflects problematic relationships with superiors and colleagues, rather than demands from patients. Colleagues provide the most relevant source of information regarding one's sense of efficacy in professional life. When those relationships are strained, it is difficult to find meaningful confirmation of one's job performance.

Research on burnout has always recognized a central role for social relationships in the development and resolution of the syndrome. Initially, the research focus was primarily on the therapeutic relationship between the provider and the service recipient. Over time, studies have confirmed that relationships with colleagues and supervisors are equally, if not more, relevant to the potential for providers to experience burnout. For example, recent research on attachment styles found that attachment anxiety was accompanied by more frequent incivility from colleagues, and was associated with more exhaustion and cynicism. Attachment avoidance was linked to fewer instances of positive social encounters at work, and was associated with a greater sense of inefficacy 53 . In sum, negative social interactions seem to drain energy and distance people from their job, and the absence of positive social encounters is discouraging.

CURRENT ISSUES

There are many interesting questions about burnout and engagement which are being studied in many countries around the world. A few inter‐related themes should be of particular significance for the profession of psychiatry. First is the question of the relationship between burnout and mental illness. Second is the question of the value of simplifying the multi‐dimensional construct of burnout to the single dimension of exhaustion. And third is the question of how best to ameliorate burnout in terms of treatment and prevention.

Burnout and mental illness

When the construct of burnout was first proposed in the 1970s, there were arguments that it was not a distinctly different phenomenon, but rather a new label for an already known state – i.e., “old wine in a new bottle”. However, there were a lot of differing opinions about what the “already known state” actually was. These included job dissatisfaction, anomie, job stress, anxiety, anger, depression, or some combination of them 54 , 55 , 56 . For example, one psychoanalytic perspective argued that burnout was not distinguishable from either job stress or depression, but represented a failure to achieve narcissistic satisfaction in the pursuit of ideals 57 . As a result of these critiques, subsequent research often focused on testing the discriminant validity of burnout by assessing whether it could be distinguished from these other phenomena. The results of many studies have established that burnout is indeed a distinct construct 23 .

Much of this prior discussion has focused on depression, thus raising the question of whether burnout is a precipitating factor for depression, and thus is a predictor for it, or whether burnout is the same thing as depression, and thus is itself a mental illness. Research has demonstrated that the two constructs are indeed distinct: burnout is job‐related and situation‐specific, as opposed to depression, which is more general and context‐free.

However, a recent article has renewed debate on the distinction between burnout and depression by claiming that at high levels the two states are indistinguishable 58 . This position is in contrast to the view that burnout is an occupationally‐specific dysphoria that is distinct from depression as a broadly based mental illness 22 . But close examination of the new research article reveals problems with its argument.

A necessary condition to examine the distinction between burnout and depression is a set of measures that provide a complete and accurate operationalization of each construct, and the new study fell short of this criterion. Specifically, the nine‐item depression measure (Patient Health Questionnaire, PHQ‐9 59 ) used in this study includes five items that refer explicitly to fatigue (lack of interest, trouble sleeping, trouble concentrating, moving slowly, and feeling tired). The other four items include one referring to loss of appetite and three referring to negative thoughts (suicidal thoughts, feeling depressed, negative self‐evaluation). The measure produces a single factor score; clearly that factor is heavily weighted towards fatigue (Cronbach alpha of .88). It may be argued that these nine items fail to capture the full complexity of clinical depression. In any case, the depression construct operationalized in this measure is one dominated by fatigue, accompanied by negative thoughts. To measure burnout, the study used the SMBM 9 , which is a one‐factor fatigue scale with items referring explicitly to trouble concentrating, feeling tired, and thinking in a slow, unfocused, and unclear manner. Although conceptualized as representing three distinct factors of cognitive, physical, and emotional fatigue, the measure consistently reduces to a single factor of fatigue (Cronbach alpha of .96). Given the overlap in the explicit reference of the two measures to fatigue in the majority of their items, it is not surprising that the two scales are correlated highly (r=.77) 58 .

The high correspondence of burnout and depression in this new study reflects a large level of concept redundancy between the SMBM and PHQ‐9. The two instruments primarily measure exhaustion, leading to a strong correspondence between them, especially at high levels of exhaustion. The correlation was especially high in this study; earlier research that used these identical measures reported correlations at three different times as .51, .53, and .54 60 . These results are consistent with other research that finds that burnout and depression are inter‐related conditions.

Research using the MBI departs further from depression measures in its three‐component definition of the syndrome as exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy. Some studies that have used the MBI and different measures of depression have found the following range of correlations. The Profile of Mood States (POMS) depression scale correlated with the MBI ‐ Human Services Survey (MBI‐HSS) exhaustion (r=.33), depersonalization (r=.30), and personal accomplishment (r=−.14) 61 . The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS‐21) depression subscale correlated with the MBI‐GS exhaustion (r=.37), cynicism (r=.47), and efficacy (r=−.21) 62 . The Beck negative emotions and attitudes subscale correlated with the MBI‐GS exhaustion (r=.46) and cynicism (r=.28), and the Beck performance difficulties and somatic complaints subscale correlated with MBI‐GS exhaustion (r=.61) and cynicism (r=.36) 63 .

The wide range of correlations between burnout and depression argues for a complex relationship between the two constructs. Clearly, they are linked to each other. For example, one study found that 90% of the respondents with severe burnout (i.e., daily occurrence of burnout symptoms) reported a physical or mental disease, with musculoskeletal pain and depression as the most common problems 64 . A longitudinal study found that increases in burnout predicted increases in subsequent prescriptions of antidepressant medication 65 .

A new understanding of this linkage comes from a recent longitudinal study in Finland, which found a reciprocal relationship between burnout and depression, with each predicting subsequent developments in the other. It was noteworthy that burnout fully mediated the relationship of workplace strains with depression: when problems at work contribute to depression, experiencing burnout is a step in the process 66 .

These studies confirm that burnout and depression are not independent. Each state has implications for the other. However, that relationship is far from saying that burnout and depression are the same mental illness.

Single or multiple dimensions

Although the original construct acknowledged exhaustion as a key aspect of burnout, it argued that exhaustion is not the whole story. Indeed, if burnout were solely exhaustion, then the word “burnout” would be unnecessary, as it would not be providing any added value. “Exhaustion” would suffice. To rename “exhaustion” as “burnout” would definitely be inviting the criticism of “putting old wine in new bottles”.

And yet, that simplification of burnout to exhaustion has been taking place not only among researchers, but also among practitioners. The driving force seems to be the goal of establishing a clinical diagnosis for burnout, so that health professionals can then receive reimbursement for treating individuals suffering from that condition.

This shift to defining and diagnosing burnout as an individual disorder or disability has been taking place in Northern Europe, primarily in Sweden and the Netherlands. There, burnout has been likened to neurasthenia or other syndromes with a quality of chronic fatigue. Sweden began using work‐related neurasthenia as a burnout diagnosis in 1997; soon, that was within the five most frequent diagnoses 67 . Researchers developed a similar diagnosis in the Netherlands, using clinically validated cut‐off scores on the MBI 68 .

To provide more precise diagnostic direction, Sweden in 2005 revised the ICD‐10 burnout diagnosis (Z73.0) as a difficulty in life management characterized by “vital exhaustion”. The signs of vital exhaustion include two weeks of daily experiences of low energy, with difficulties in concentration, irritability, emotional instability, dizziness, and sleep difficulties. Additionally, these symptoms must interfere with the patients’ capacity to perform their work responsibilities.

In the Netherlands, the term overspannenheid or “overstrain” is used to indicate burnout. This diagnostic approach estimates burnout prevalence at 3‐7% across various occupations, with psychotherapists at 4% 69 . In terms of MBI scores, Dutch researchers recommended that a burnout diagnosis should be connected with very negative scores on exhaustion accompanied by negative scores on one of the other two subscales (cynicism and inefficacy) 70 , 71 .

The use of burnout as a medical diagnosis implies one‐dimensionality, and it is clear that exhaustion has emerged as that single dimension. Moreover, since 1997, the Dutch census bureau has been assessing “burnout” among the working population by using an index of work‐related exhaustion (that is based on the MBI) in its annual national survey. As a consequence, public discourse about burnout in the Netherlands is increasingly limited to exhaustion alone. The risk is that a focus on just exhaustion (and its connection to work overload) will miss the distinct quality of burnout as reflecting a crisis of meaning or values. The exhaustion dimension captures the problem of lacking sufficient energy to make a useful and enduring contribution at work. But it is the cynicism dimension that captures the difficulty in dealing with other people and activities in the work world. Furthermore, efficacy captures the core self‐evaluation people make regarding the value of their work and the quality of their contribution. To ignore these core aspects of the burnout experience would truly be a “mis‐diagnosis” that could have important ramifications for both policy and practice.

It is interesting that North American jurisdictions have been reluctant to recognize burnout as a clinical diagnosis, partially due to concerns about a flood of requests for disability coverage. The lack of an official diagnosis of burnout limits access to treatment, disability coverage, and workplace accommodations. Alternatively, disability applications have referred to depression, neurasthenia, or chronic fatigue. An unfortunate consequence is that inaccurate diagnoses may reduce possibilities for successful recovery and return to work.

New research has begun to focus on an innovative use of the three burnout dimensions, which allows for multiple distinct patterns along the burnout‐engagement continuum. In addition to the two standard endpoint patterns of Burnout (high on all three dimensions) and Engagement (low on all three dimensions), this approach can identify people who are only experiencing one of the dimensions, rather than all of them 72 . A particularly relevant comparison is between people with the complete Burnout profile and those with only high exhaustion (the Overextended profile). The research findings show that these two patterns are decidedly different in terms of their workplace experience, so it is clear that exhaustion alone is not a proxy for burnout. Instead, the profile that comes closer to the negative endpoint of Burnout is the cynicism‐only one (Disengaged profile), which suggests that the experience of cynicism may be more of a core part of burnout than exhaustion. Cynicism is more clearly linked to the job environment, in terms of the poor quality of social relationships at work and the lack of critical resources, and that will lead to reduced job satisfaction and poor job performance 73 .

Treatment and prevention

The personal and organizational costs of burnout have led to proposals for various intervention strategies. Some try to treat burnout after it has occurred, while others focus on how to prevent burnout by promoting engagement. Intervention may occur on the level of the individual, workgroup, or an entire organization. In general, the primary emphasis has been on individual strategies, rather than social or organizational ones, despite the research evidence for the primary role of situational factors.

Many of these individual strategies have been adapted from other work done on stress, coping, and health. The most common recommendations have included: a) changing work patterns (e.g., working less, taking more breaks, avoiding overtime work, balancing work with the rest of one's life); b) developing coping skills (e.g., cognitive restructuring, conflict resolution, time management); c) obtaining social support (both from colleagues and family); d) utilizing relaxation strategies; e) promoting good health and fitness; and f) developing a better self‐understanding (via various self‐analytic techniques, counseling, or therapy) 74 .

Initiatives to moderate workload demands complemented by improvements in recovery strategies through better sleep, exercise, and nutrition have direct relevance to the exhaustion component of burnout. Cynicism, in contrast, pertains more directly to a sense of community or to the congruence of personal and workplace values. For example, an intervention that improved workplace civility among health care providers showed that cynicism declined as a function of improved civility 75 , and that this change was sustained at a one‐year follow‐up assessment 76 . A sense of efficacy, in contrast, could be more responsive to improvements in the forms of recognition from colleagues and leaders within an organization or the profession. An alternative proposal has been that people can make various changes in how they do their job (a process known as “job crafting”), and that such job alterations could lead to less burnout 77 .

Unfortunately, there is very little research that has evaluated the efficacy of any of these approaches in reducing the risk of burnout. Especially rare are studies modeled even loosely on randomized control trials. More common are studies with a single intervention group of volunteer participants for whom there are rarely follow‐up assessments after treatment has ended 78 . It is not yet clear whether burnout is generally susceptible to a range of strategies or whether it is crucial to fit the strategy to the specific context of a workplace to be effective.

The same basic points can be made about studies examining interventions specific to psychiatrists. There have been several recommendations about possible interventions, but no thorough research on whether these ideas are viable solutions. One fairly common recommendation emphasizes the importance of various forms of support, such as peer support groups, formal support via regular feedback and performance evaluation, or the use of a community‐based approach in the work environment. Interestingly, medical students and residents have also identified support as a critical factor, including support from faculty, peers, outside personal relationships, and counseling services 79 .

Another suggestion involves having psychiatrists evaluate their workload frequently, to ensure they are not putting themselves at additional risk for burnout. A related recommendation is that psychiatrists should develop a more versatile lifestyle, in which they diversify their work (e.g., take on a part‐time teaching job, do some writing, or extend one's practice to other types of clients) and/or engage in activities outside of work (such as hobbies and other personal interests).

Mental health professionals who have worked in the areas of trauma and palliative care have made additional recommendations on how to deal with burnout 80 , 81 . Notably, one approach emphasizes the need to take care of oneself – and not only in terms of personal health and physical fitness, but also in terms of psychological wellbeing. Professionals who deal with trauma survivors are encouraged to work through their own personal traumatic experiences in order to prevent becoming “wounded healers” or secondarily traumatized therapists. Professionals working in hospice and palliative medicine are encouraged to focus on spirituality and human nature, via prayer, meditation, or religious services. Other methods for self‐care include taking regular breaks from work, advocating for better social recognition of the difficult work that is being accomplished, and focusing on the positive aspects of life, both at work and home, so that one is not overwhelmed by adversity and misery.

Although various studies have provided excellent ideas to explore as interventions, the logistics of funding, designing, implementing, and evaluating these ideas remain the primary obstacles to better knowledge about the best solutions for burnout. For example, a Swedish group contrasted two therapeutic modalities for people who had been on long‐term leave from work with a diagnosis of “work‐related depression”. They found that both cognitive group therapy and focused psychodynamic group therapy were effective in facilitating their return to work, but found no difference in effectiveness between the two approaches 82 . This study raises two important issues for further research. First, to what extent does “work‐related depression” map upon clinical depression, in contrast to mapping upon burnout? Second, what are the common qualities of the two therapeutic modalities that could serve as mechanisms in treatment efficacy?

CONCLUSIONS

Research to date indicates that the three aspects of burnout do present challenges for psychiatrists. Many of the issues for psychiatrists are similar to those facing other professionals providing human services to people in need of help. But additionally, psychiatric work entails close contact with people in emotional distress, and in some cases the potential for threats from some of these patients. Both of these stressors make demands on psychiatrists’ energy, their capacity for involvement with others, and their sense of professional efficacy.

An issue of special significance to psychiatry is the alignment and differentiation of burnout and depression. The concept of workplace depression as a basis for workers’ disability coverage in some European countries raises important issues for practitioners, which have extensive implications for employees, employers, and insurance providers. Research and conceptual development that includes multidisciplinary participation is needed for definitive progress.

Psychiatry is in a strong position to contribute to the growth of knowledge regarding burnout. The question of burnout's status as a basis for disability claims requires precise and objective assessment. Further, psychiatric‐based treatments may be relevant to burnout, especially regarding return to work for people experiencing severe burnout. Finally, effective research on preventing and alleviating aspects of burnout among psychiatrists requires giving the issue a high priority within the profession.

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Job burnout: How to spot it and take action

Feeling burned out at work? Find out what you can do when your job affects your health.

Job burnout is a type of stress linked to work. It includes being worn out physically or emotionally. Job burnout also may involve feeling useless, powerless and empty.

Burnout isn't a medical diagnosis. Some experts think that other conditions, such as depression, are behind burnout. Burnout can raise the risk of depression. But depression and burnout are different, and they need different treatments.

Certain personality traits may affect the risk of burnout. Other factors, such as past work experiences, also can affect burnout risk. That helps explain why if two people are dealing with the same job issues, one might have job burnout while the other does not.

Whatever the cause, job burnout can affect your physical and mental health. Here are some tips on how to know if you have job burnout and what you can do about it.

Job burnout symptoms

To find out if you might have job burnout, answer these questions:

• Do you question the value of your work?
• Do you drag yourself to work and have trouble getting started?
• Do you feel removed from your work and the people you work with?
• Have you lost patience with co-workers, customers or clients?
• Do you lack the energy to do your job well?
• Is it hard to focus on your job?
• Do you feel little satisfaction from what you get done?
• Do you feel let down by your job?
• Do you doubt your skills and abilities?
• Are you using food, drugs or alcohol to feel better or to numb how you feel?
• Have your sleep habits changed?
• Do you have headaches, stomach or bowel problems, or other physical complaints with no known cause?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might have job burnout. Think about talking to a health care professional or a mental health professional. These symptoms also can be linked to health conditions, such as depression.

Possible causes of job burnout

There are different causes of job burnout. They include:

• Lack of control. Not having a say in how you do your job, such as your schedule, assignments or workload, can lead to job burnout. Not having what you need to do your work also can add to burnout.
• Lack of clarity about what's expected of you. If you're not sure what your boss or others want from you, you're not likely to feel like you're doing a good job.
• Conflicts with others. Maybe you work with an office bully. Or you feel that co-workers are against you. Or your boss is too involved with your work. These conflicts can add to job stress.
• Too much or too little to do. Maybe your job is boring. Or it's so busy you can't keep up with the demands. In these situations, you need a lot of energy to stay focused. This can lead to fatigue and job burnout.
• Lack of support. If you feel alone at work and in your personal life, you might feel more stressed.
• Problems with work-life balance. Problems with work-life balance. Maybe your work takes up so much of your time and energy that you have nothing left for family and friends. This lack of balance can lead to job burnout.

Job burnout risk factors

The following factors can add to job burnout:

• Having a heavy workload and working long hours.
• Struggling with work-life balance.
• Working in a helping profession, such as health care, that involves a lot of giving to others.
• Feeling of having little or no control over work.

Costs of job burnout

Doing nothing about job burnout can make the problems worse. As a result, you might:

• Feel drained.
• Not feel able to cope.
• Not be able to sleep.
• Be sad, angry, irritable or not care.
• Use more alcohol or other substances.
• Get heart disease, high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes.
• Be more likely to get sick.

Handling job burnout

Burnout often involves things in the workplace that you can't control. But there are ways to control how you cope with the stress. To get started:

• Look at your options. Talk to your boss about your concerns. Maybe you can work together to make changes or solve problems. Set realistic goals for what must get done. Find out what can wait. If things at work are not likely to change, you might look for a job that would be a better fit for you.
• Seek support.. Ask co-workers, friends or loved ones for support. Talking to others might help you cope. Feeling like you belong protects against burnout. If your job offers an employee assistance program, look at the services offered.
• Try a relaxing activity. Look for activities that can help with stress. Examples are yoga, meditation or tai chi. Something as simple as taking some deep breaths a few times a day can help relieve tension.
• Get some exercise. Regular physical activity can help you cope with stress. It also can take your mind off work.
• Get some sleep. Sleep restores well-being and helps protect your health.
• Practice mindfulness. Mindfulness is being aware of what's going on inside you and around you without judging or reacting. This practice can help you deal with what's happening on the job.

Keep an open mind as you think about the options. Ask for help. There are ways to overcome burnout and protect your health.

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• Edu-Valsania S, et al. Burnout: A review of theory and measurement. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 10.3390/ ijerph19031780.
• Burnout and stress are everywhere. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/01/special-burnout-stress. Accessed June 1, 2023.
• Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International Classification of Diseases. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases. Accessed June 1, 2023.
• Katsimani P, et al. The relationship between burnout, depression, and anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology. 2019; doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00284.
• Golonka K, et al. Occupational burnout and its overlapping effect with depression and anxiety. International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health. 2019; doi:10.13075/ijomeh.1896.01323.
• Tement S, et al. The impact of psychological interventions with elements of mindfulness (PIM) on empathy, well-being, and reduction of burnout in physicians: A systematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; doi:10.3390/ijerph182111181.
• Bystritsky A. Complementary and alternative treatments for anxiety symptoms and disorders: Physical, cognitive, and spiritual interventions. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed June 2, 2023.
• Swenson S, et al. Mayo Clinic Strategies To Reduce Burnout: 12 Actions To Create the Ideal Workplace. Oxford University Press; 2020. https://academic.oup.com/book/36545. Accessed June 2, 2023.
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How to Recover From Burnout

What to Do If You're Feeling Burned Out

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What Does Burnout Feel Like?

Burnout is defined as a psychological response to prolonged interpersonal stressors. While it isn't recognized as a distinct mental health condition , it is viewed as an occupational hazard, particularly for those who work in people- and service-oriented fields, including health care, education, and human services.

Burnout happens when people become depleted, cynical, and unmotivated in response to ongoing work-related stress. It is a problem that may contribute to feelings of fatigue, depression, and anxiety.

The strain of constant stress can wear you down, and there is only so much that your mind and body can take before you reach your breaking point. Fortunately, there are strategies that you can use for burnout recovery and prevention that can minimize the detrimental impact that burnout can have on your well-being.

This article explores how to recognize the signs of burnout, steps you can take to prevent it, and tips for how to recover if you are starting to feel burned out.

Burnout is more than just feeling stressed or tired. It is a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion that can leave you feeling drained, hopeless, and unmotivated. The main signs and symptoms of burnout include:

• Feeling exhausted all the time
• Lack of motivation or interest in things that you used to enjoy
• Cynicism, apathy , and negativity
• Feeling like you are not making any progress
• Increased absenteeism or lateness
• Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
• Changes in appetite or sleep patterns
• Isolating yourself from others
• Experiencing physical health problems like headaches , tightness in the chest, neck pain, back pain, and nausea
• Increase alcohol and nicotine use
• Indifference, boredom , and restlessness

If you are experiencing any of these signs, it is vital to take action to address the problem before it gets worse.

If you are already feeling burned out, it is crucial to take action to address the problem. Effective burnout recovery strategies can help you figure out what is causing the problem, replenish your mental strength, and combat feelings of cynicism.

Identify the Cause

Spend some time assessing what it is about your job that contributes to burnout . Factors that often play a role include working too many hours , poor relationships with supervisors or co-workers, conflict in the workplace, poor support from management, and excessive workloads.

Once you are more aware of the cause, you can take steps to help mitigate it. Some of these might be more challenging to address, but you might start by talking to your employer about ways to help manage workplace stress and reduce interpersonal conflict.

Lightening your workload, delegating some tasks to others, changing your work location, or even switching to a partial-remote schedule might help alleviate some feelings of burnout.

Take a Break

It is also important to take time to relax and rejuvenate . This might include taking a vacation, getting a massage, or taking up a new hobby. While researchers are still exploring viable treatments for burnout to learn which are most effective, taking a break is often cited as one of the most-used approaches by people experiencing burnout symptoms.

Spend Some Time Alone

Burnout is often linked to high levels of prolonged interpersonal stress. It's why people who work in people-oriented jobs are often more likely to experience burnout.

If you've reached the point where you've developed a negative attitude about others and feel irritable and withdrawn, try to set aside some time for yourself. Spending time alone doing things you enjoy can be a great way to recharge, particularly if you tend to be more of an introvert .

Utilize Effective Coping Skills

You can't eliminate all stress, but you can develop more effective ways of coping with it. How you think about different situations can affect how you feel about them.

Cognitive reframing can be a helpful strategy that may help you change your perspective about the situations that are causing stress. For example, reframing a situation as a learning opportunity instead of a burden might help you approach challenges with less anxiety.

Get Support From Loved Ones

While a bit of solitude can be beneficial, that doesn't mean you should withdraw from loved ones. Negative social interactions often play a significant role in causing burnout, but positive and supportive social connections can be an essential buffer against it.

Leaning on your social support system can also relieve some of the pressure you are feeling. Talking to your friends and family about what you are going through can help you to feel less alone in your experience.

Care for Yourself

Taking care of yourself is essential for burnout prevention, but it can be even more vital once you've reached the point of burning out. Ensure that you are taking care of yourself physically and mentally.

This means eating a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, and exercising regularly. Taking time for yourself, even when you have a lot of demands on your time, can also help you to recover from burnout.

Talk to a Professional

If you are struggling to manage burnout on your own, it is essential to seek out professional help . One study found that psychodynamic group therapy and cognitive group therapy were both effective in reducing symptoms of work-related depression. However, there are a number of additional effective type of psychotherapy which can also be very helpful.

A therapist can help you to identify the causes of your stress and develop a plan to address them. If you feel overwhelmed , don't hesitate to seek help.

Burnout is a serious problem that can significantly impact your health and well-being. However, there are things that you can do to prevent and recover from burnout. By taking care of yourself physically and mentally, setting boundaries, and practicing self-compassion, you can protect yourself from the effects of burnout.

How to Prevent Burnout

One of the best ways to deal with burnout is to try to stop it from happening in the first place. You can do several things to prevent burnout before it starts.

Take Care of Your Health

One of the most important things is to ensure that you are taking care of yourself physically and mentally. This means eating a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, and exercising regularly. It is also essential to find ways to manage stress in your life in a healthy way. This might include yoga , meditation , or deep breathing exercises.

Set and Maintain Boundaries

It is also crucial to set boundaries in your life. This means learning to say no when you are feeling overwhelmed and taking time for yourself even when many demands are competing for your time and attention. 

Creating boundaries means learning to say no to projects that aren't a top priority and communicating your needs clearly. It also means finding a work-life balance that works for you.

Look for ways to make clear divisions between your home and work life, such as having a daily relaxation ritual to help you transition into a more relaxed state after work each day.

Manage Your Stress

Stress is a significant contributor to burnout, so it is vital to find ways to manage it in your life. Helpful stress relief techniques might include yoga, meditation, or deep breathing exercises. 

Fast-acting stress relievers can be helpful when you are dealing with feelings of acute stress, but it is also important to rely on long-term strategies as well. Eating a healthy diet, practicing positive self-talk, and writing in a gratitude journal are a few strategies you might want to incorporate into your routine.

Treat Yourself Kindly

Feeling restored can often come from practicing a little self-compassion . Instead of pushing yourself past your limits, learn to spot signs of feeling overwhelmed.

If you feel overwhelmed or burned out, take a step back and assess what you can do to help yourself in the moment. This might include taking a break, talking to a friend, or reaching out for professional help.

Top Burnout Prevention Strategies

One study found that some of the most commonly used tactics for burnout recovery included:

• Taking care of one's physical well-being
• Support from colleagues
• Taking a transcendental perspective
• Talking to others
• Participating in hobbies
• Varying work duties
• Finding comfort in personal relationships
• Creating boundaries
• Taking time away from work
• Rediscovering passion and finding meaning in work
• Setting realistic expectations
• Using laughter and humor

A Word From Verywell

Burnout is associated with many adverse outcomes, including poor job satisfaction, high turnover, absenteeism, decreased productivity, and lower work quality. Finding ways to prevent burnout can help minimize the impact it might have on your career and mental well-being, but it is also essential to focus on effective burnout recovery strategies if you're already feeling burned out.

If self-help strategies are not providing adequate relief, talk to your doctor or mental health professional to devise a plan to address these feelings of burnout.

Maslach C, Leiter MP. Understanding the burnout experience: recent research and its implications for psychiatry . World Psychiatry . 2016;15(2):103-111. doi:10.1002/wps.20311

Hillert A, Albrecht A, Voderholzer U. The burnout phenomenon: A résumé after more than 15,000 scientific publications . Front Psychiatry . 2020;11:519237. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.519237

Dennis NM, Swartz MS. Emergency psychiatry experience, resident burnout, and future plans to treat publicly funded patients . Psychiatr Serv . 2015;66(8):892-895. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201400234

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Swetz KM, Harrington SE, Matsuyama RK, Shanafelt TD, Lyckholm LJ. Strategies for avoiding burnout in hospice and palliative medicine: peer advice for physicians on achieving longevity and fulfillment . J Palliat Med . 2009;12(9):773-777. doi:10.1089/jpm.2009.0050

Sandahl C, Lundberg U, Lindgren A, et al. Two forms of group therapy and individual treatment of work-related depression: a one-year follow-up study . Int J Group Psychother . 2011;61(4):539-555. doi:10.1521/ijgp.2011.61.4.538

Spence Laschinger HK, Wong CA, Grau AL. The influence of authentic leadership on newly graduated nurses' experiences of workplace bullying, burnout and retention outcomes: A cross-sectional study . Int J Nurs Stud . 2012;49(10):1266-1276. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2012.05.012

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Addressing employee burnout: Are you solving the right problem?

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated and exacerbated long-standing corporate challenges to employee health and well-being , and in particular employee mental health. 1 When used in this article, “mental health” is a term inclusive of positive mental health and the full range of mental, substance use, and neurological conditions. This has resulted in reports of rapidly rising rates of burnout 2 When used in this article, “burnout” and “burnout symptoms” refer to work-driven burnout symptoms (per sidebar “What is burnout?”). around the world (see sidebar “What is burnout?”).

About the authors

This article is a collaborative effort by Jacqueline Brassey , Erica Coe , Martin Dewhurst, Kana Enomoto , Renata Giarola, Brad Herbig, and Barbara Jeffery , representing the views of the McKinsey Health Institute.

Many employers have responded by investing more into mental health and well-being than ever before. Across the globe, four in five HR leaders report that mental health and well-being is a top priority for their organization. 3 McKinsey Health Institute Employee Mental Health and Wellbeing Survey, 2022: n (employee) = 14,509; n (HR decision maker) = 1,389. Many companies offer a host of wellness benefits such as yoga, meditation app subscriptions, well-being days, and trainings on time management and productivity. In fact, it is estimated that nine in ten organizations around the world offer some form of wellness program. 4 Charlotte Lieberman, “What wellness programs don’t do for workers,” Harvard Business Review , August 14, 2019.

As laudable as these efforts are, we have found that many employers focus on individual-level interventions that remediate symptoms, rather than resolve the causes of employee burnout. 5 Anna-Lisa Eilerts et al., “Evidence of workplace interventions—A systematic review of systematic reviews,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 2019, Volume 16, Number 19. Employing these types of interventions may lead employers to overestimate the impact of their wellness programs and benefits 6 Katherine Baicker et al., “Effect of a workplace wellness program on employee health and economic outcomes: A randomized clinical trial,” JAMA , 2019, Volume 321, Number 15; erratum published in JAMA , April 17, 2019. and to underestimate the critical role of the workplace in reducing burnout and supporting employee mental health and well-being. 7 Pascale M. Le Blanc, et al., “Burnout interventions: An overview and illustration,” in Jonathan R. B. Halbesleben’s Handbook of Stress and Burnout in Health Care , New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 2008; Peyman Adibi et al., “Interventions for physician burnout: A systematic review of systematic reviews,” International Journal of Preventive Medicine , July 2018, Volume 9, Number 1.

What is burnout?

According to the World Health Organization, burnout is an occupational phenomenon. It is driven by a chronic imbalance between job demands 1 Job demands are physical, social, or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical or mental effort and are therefore associated with certain physiological and psychological costs—for example, work overload and expectations, interpersonal conflict, and job insecurity. Job resources are those physical, social, or organizational aspects of the job that may do any of the following: (a) be functional in achieving work goals; (b) reduce job demands and the associated physiological and psychological costs; (c) stimulate personal growth and development such as feedback, job control, social support (Wilmar B. Schaufeli and Toon W. Taris, “A critical review of the job demands-resources model: Implications for improving work and health,” from Georg F. Bauer and Oliver Hämmig’s Bridging Occupational, Organizational and Public Health: A Transdisciplinary Approach , first edition, Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, 2014). (for example, workload pressure and poor working environment) and job resources (for example, job autonomy and supportive work relationships). It is characterized by extreme tiredness, reduced ability to regulate cognitive and emotional processes, and mental distancing. Burnout has been demonstrated to be correlated with anxiety and depression, a potential predictor of broader mental health challenges. 2 Previous meta-analytic findings demonstrate moderate positive correlations of burnout with anxiety and depression—suggesting that anxiety and depression are related to burnout but represent different constructs (Katerina Georganta et al., “The relationship between burnout, depression, and anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis,” Frontiers in Psychology , March 2019, Volume 10, Article 284). When used in this article, burnout does not imply a clinical condition.

Research shows that, when asked about aspects of their jobs that undermine their mental health and well-being, 8 Paula Davis, Beating Burnout at Work: Why Teams Hold the Secret to Well-Being and Resilience , Philadelphia, PA: Wharton School Press, 2021. employees frequently cite the feeling of always being on call, unfair treatment, unreasonable workload, low autonomy, and lack of social support. 9 Jennifer Moss, The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It , Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2021. Those are not challenges likely to be reversed with wellness programs. In fact, decades of research suggest that interventions targeting only individuals are far less likely to have a sustainable impact on employee health than systemic solutions, including organizational-level interventions. 10 Hanno Hoven et al., “Effects of organisational-level interventions at work on employees’ health: A systematic review,” BMC Public Health , 2014, Volume 14, Number 135.

Since many employers aren’t employing a systemic approach, many have weaker improvements in burnout and employee mental health and well-being than they would expect, given their investments.

Organizations pay a high price for failure to address workplace factors 11 Gunnar Aronsson et al., “A systematic review including meta-analysis of work environment and burnout symptoms,” BMC Public Health , 2017, Volume 17, Article 264. that strongly correlate with burnout, 12 Sangeeta Agrawal and Ben Wigert, “Employee burnout, part 1: The 5 main causes,” Gallup, July 12, 2018. such as toxic behavior. 13 The high cost of a toxic workplace culture: How culture impacts the workforce — and the bottom line , Society for Human Resource Management, September 2019. A growing body of evidence, including our research in this report, sheds light on how burnout and its correlates may lead to costly organizational issues such as attrition. 14 Caio Brighenti et al., “Why every leader needs to worry about toxic culture,” MIT Sloan Management Review, March 16, 2022. Unprecedented levels of employee turnover—a global phenomenon we describe as the Great Attrition —make these costs more visible. Hidden costs to employers also include absenteeism, lower engagement, and decreased productivity. 15 Eric Garton, “Employee burnout is a problem with the company, not the person,” Harvard Business Review , April 6, 2017.

The McKinsey Health Institute: Join us!

The McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) is an enduring, non-profit-generating global entity within McKinsey. MHI strives to catalyze actions across continents, sectors, and communities to achieve material improvements in health, empowering people to lead their best possible lives. MHI is fostering a strong network of organizations committed to this aspiration, including employers globally who are committed to supporting the health of their workforce and broader communities.

MHI has a near-term focus on the urgent priority of mental health, with launch of a flagship initiative around employee mental health and well-being. By convening leading employers, MHI aims to collect global data, synthesize insights, and drive innovation at scale. Through collaboration, we can truly make a difference, learn together, and co-create solutions for workplaces to become enablers of health—in a way that is good for business, for employees, and for the communities in which they live.

To stay updated about MHI’s initiative on employee mental health and well-being sign up at McKinsey.com/mhi/contact-us .

In this article, we discuss findings of a recent McKinsey Health Institute (MHI)  (see sidebar “The McKinsey Health Institute: Join us!”) global survey that sheds light on frequently overlooked workplace factors underlying employee mental health and well-being in organizations around the world. We conclude by teeing up eight questions for reflection along with recommendations on how organizations can address employee mental-health and well-being challenges by taking a systemic approach focused on changing the causes rather than the symptoms of poor outcomes. While there is no well-established playbook, we suggest employers can and should respond through interventions focused on prevention rather than remediation.

We are seeing persistent burnout challenges around the world

To better understand the disconnection between employer efforts and rising employee mental-health and well-being challenges (something we have observed  since the start of the pandemic ), between February and April 2022 we conducted a global survey of nearly 15,000 employees and 1,000 HR decision makers in 15 countries. 16 Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The combined population of the selected countries correspond to approximately 70 percent of the global total.

The workplace dimensions assessed in our survey included toxic workplace behavior, sustainable work, inclusivity and belonging, supportive growth environment, freedom from stigma, organizational commitment, leadership accountability, and access to resources. 17 The associations of all these factors with employee health and well-being have been extensively explored in the academic literature. That literature heavily informed the development of our survey instrument. We have psychometrically validated this survey across 15 countries including its cross-cultural factorial equivalence. For certain outcome measures we collaborated with academic experts who kindly offered us their validated scales including the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT), the Distress Screener, and the Adaptability Scale referenced below. Those dimensions were analyzed against four work-related outcomes—intent to leave, work engagement, job satisfaction, and organization advocacy—as well as four employee mental-health outcomes—symptoms of anxiety, burnout, depression, and distress. 18 Instruments used were the Burnout Assessment Tool (Steffie Desart et al., User manual - Burnout assessment tool [BAT ] , - Version 2.0, July 2020) (burnout symptoms); Distress Screener (4DSQ; JR Anema et al., “Validation study of a distress screener,” Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation , 2009, Volume 19) (distress); GAD-2 assessment (Priyanka Bhandari et al., “Using Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2 [GAD-2] and GAD-7 in a primary care setting,” Cureus , May 20, 2021, Volume 12, Number 5) (anxiety symptoms); and the PHQ-2 assessment (Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ-9 & PHQ-2], American Psychological Association) (depression symptoms). Individual adaptability was also assessed 19 In this article, “adaptability” refers to the “affective adaptability” which is one sub-dimension of The Adaptability Scale instrument (Michel Meulders and Karen van Dam, “The adaptability scale: Development, internal consistency, and initial validity evidence,” European Journal of Psychological Assessment , 2020, Volume 37, Number 2). (see sidebar “What we measured”).

What we measured

Workplace factors assessed in our survey included:

• Toxic workplace behavior: Employees experience interpersonal behavior that leads them to feel unvalued, belittled, or unsafe, such as unfair or demeaning treatment, noninclusive behavior, sabotaging, cutthroat competition, abusive management, and unethical behavior from leaders or coworkers.
• Inclusivity and belonging: Organization systems, leaders, and peers foster a welcoming and fair environment for all employees to be themselves, find connection, and meaningfully contribute.
• Sustainable work: Organization and leaders promote work that enables a healthy balance between work and personal life, including a manageable workload and work schedule.
• Supportive growth environment: Managers care about employee opinions, well-being, and satisfaction and provide support and enable opportunities for growth.
• Freedom from stigma and discrimination: Freedom from the level of shame, prejudice, or discrimination employees perceive toward people with mental-health or substance-use conditions.
• Organizational accountability: Organization gathers feedback, tracks KPIs, aligns incentives, and measures progress against employee health goals.
• Leadership commitment: Leaders consider employee mental health a top priority, publicly committing to a clear strategy to improve employee mental health.
• Access to resources: Organization offers easy-to-use and accessible resources that fit individual employee needs related to mental health. 1 Including adaptability and resilience-related learning and development resources.

Health outcomes assessed in our survey included:

• Burnout symptoms: An employee’s experience of extreme tiredness, reduced ability to regulate cognitive and emotional processes, and mental distancing (Burnout Assessment Tool). 2 Burnout Assessment Tool, Steffie Desart et al., “User manual - Burnout assessment tool (BAT), - Version 2.0,” July 2020.
• Distress: An employee experiencing a negative stress response, often involving negative affect and physiological reactivity (4DSQ Distress Screener). 3 Distress screener, 4DSQ; JR Anema et al., “Validation study of a distress screener,” Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation , 2009, Volume 19.
• Depression symptoms: An employee having little interest or pleasure in doing things, and feeling down, depressed, or hopeless (PHQ-2 Screener). 4 Kurt Kroenke et al., “The patient health questionnaire-2: Validity of a two-item depression screener,” Medical Care , November 2003, Volume 41, Issue 11.
• Anxiety symptoms: An employee’s feelings of nervousness, anxiousness, or being on edge, and not being able to stop or control worrying (GAD-2 Screener). 5 Kurt Kroenke et al., “Anxiety disorders in primary care: Prevalence, impairment, comorbidity, and detection,” Annals of Internal Medicine , March 6, 2007, Volume 146, Issue 5.

Work-related outcomes assessed in our survey included:

• Intent to leave: An employee’s desire to leave the organization in which they are currently employed in the next three to six months.
• Work engagement: An employee’s positive motivational state of high energy combined with high levels of dedication and a strong focus on work.
• Organizational advocacy: An employee’s willingness to recommend or endorse their organization as a place to work to friends and relatives.
• Work satisfaction: An employee’s level of contentment or satisfaction with their current job.

Our survey pointed to a persistent disconnection between how employees and employers perceive mental health and well-being in organizations. We see an average 22 percent gap between employer and employee perceptions—with employers consistently rating workplace dimensions associated with mental health and well-being more favorably than employees. 20 Our survey did not link employers and employees’ responses. Therefore, these numbers are indicative of a potential gap that could be found within companies.

In this report—the first of a broader series on employee mental health from the McKinsey Health Institute—we will focus on burnout, its workplace correlates, and implications for leaders. On average, one in four employees surveyed report experiencing burnout symptoms. 21 Represents global average of respondents experiencing burnout symptoms (per items from Burnout Assessment Tool) sometimes, often, or always. These high rates were observed around the world and among various demographics (Exhibit 1), 22 Our survey findings demonstrate small but statistically significant differences between men and women, with women reporting higher rates of burnout symptoms (along with symptoms of distress, depression, and anxiety). Differences between demographic variables across countries will be discussed in our future publications. and are consistent with global trends. 23 Ashley Abramson, “Burnout and stress are everywhere,” Monitor on Psychology , January 1, 2022, Volume 53, Number 1.

So, what is behind pervasive burnout challenges worldwide? Our research suggests that employers are overlooking the role of the workplace in burnout and underinvesting in systemic solutions.

Employers tend to overlook the role of the workplace in driving employee mental health and well-being, engagement, and performance

In all 15 countries and across all dimensions assessed, toxic workplace behavior was the biggest predictor of burnout symptoms and intent to leave by a large margin 24 Measured as a function of predictive power of the dimensions assessed; predictive power was estimated based on share of outcome variability associated with each dimension; based on regression models applied to cross-sectional data (that is, measured at one point in time), rather than longitudinal data (that is, measured over time); causal relationships have not been established. —predicting more than 60 percent of the total global variance. For positive outcomes (including work engagement, job satisfaction, and organization advocacy), the impact of factors assessed was more distributed—with inclusivity and belonging, supportive growth environment, sustainable work, and freedom from stigma predicting most outcomes (Exhibit 2).

In all 15 countries and across all dimensions assessed, toxic workplace behavior had the biggest impact predicting burnout symptoms and intent to leave by a large margin.

The danger of toxic workplace behavior—and its impact on burnout and attrition

Across the 15 countries in the survey, toxic workplace behavior is the single largest predictor of negative employee outcomes, including burnout symptoms (see sidebar “What is toxic workplace behavior?”). One in four employees report experiencing high rates of toxic behavior at work. At a global level, high rates were observed across countries, demographic groups—including gender, organizational tenure, age, virtual/in-person work, manager and nonmanager roles—and industries. 25 Differences between demographic variables across countries will be discussed in our future articles.

What is toxic workplace behavior?

Toxic workplace behavior is interpersonal behavior that leads to employees feeling unvalued, belittled, or unsafe, such as unfair or demeaning treatment, non-inclusive behavior, sabotaging, cutthroat competition, abusive management, and unethical behavior from leaders or coworkers. Selected questions from this dimension include agreement with the statements “My manager ridicules me,” “I work with people who belittle my ideas,” and “My manager puts me down in front of others.”

Toxic workplace behaviors are a major cost for employers—they are heavily implicated in burnout, which correlates with intent to leave and ultimately drives attrition. In our survey, employees who report experiencing high levels of toxic behavior 26 “High” represents individuals in the top quartile of responses and “low” represents individuals in the bottom quartile of responses. at work are eight times more likely to experience burnout symptoms (Exhibit 3). In turn, respondents experiencing burnout symptoms were six times more likely to report they intend to leave their employers in the next three to six months (consistent with recent data pointing to toxic culture as the single largest predictor of resignation during the Great Attrition, ten times more predictive than compensation alone 27 Charles Sull et al., “Toxic culture is driving the Great Resignation,” MIT Sloan Management Review, January 11, 2022. and associated with meaningful organizational costs 28 Rasmus Hougaard, “To stop the Great Resignation, we must fight dehumanization at work,” Potential Project, 2022. ). The opportunity for employers is clear. Studies show that intent to leave may correlate with two- to three-times higher 29 Bryan Bohman et al., “Estimating institutional physician turnover attributable to self-reported burnout and associated financial burden: A case study,” BMC Health Services Research , November 27, 2018, Volume 18, Number 1. rates of attrition; conservative estimates of the cost of replacing employees range from one-half to two times their annual salary. Even without accounting for costs associated with burnout—including organizational commitment 30 Michael Leiter and Christina Maslach, “The impact of interpersonal environment on burnout and organizational commitment,” Journal of Organizational Behavior , October 1988, Volume 9, Number 4. and higher rates of sick leave and absenteeism 31 Arnold B. Bakker et al., “Present but sick: A three-wave study on job demands, presenteeism and burnout,” Career Development International , 2009, Volume 14, Number 1. —the business case for addressing it is compelling. The alternative—not addressing it—can lead to a downward spiral in individual and organizational performance. 32 Arnold B. Bakker et al., “Present but sick: A three-wave study on job demands, presenteeism and burnout,” Career Development International , 2009, Volume 14, Number 1.

Individuals’ resilience and adaptability skills may help but do not compensate for the impact of a toxic workplace

Toxic behavior is not an easy challenge to address. Some employers may believe the solution is simply training people to become more resilient.

There is merit in investing in adaptability and resiliency skill building . Research indicates that employees who are more adaptable tend to have an edge in managing change and adversity. 33 Karen van Dam, “Employee adaptability to change at work: A multidimensional, resource-based framework,” from The Psychology of Organizational Change: Viewing Change from the Employee’s Perspective , Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2013; Jacqueline Brassey et al., Advancing Authentic Confidence Through Emotional Flexibility: An Evidence-Based Playbook of Insights, Practices and Tools to Shape Your Future , second edition, Morrisville, NC: Lulu Press, 2019; B+B Vakmedianet B.V. Zeist, Netherlands (to be published Q3 2022). We see that edge reflected in our survey findings: adaptability acts as a buffer 34 Estimated buffering effect illustrated in Exhibit 4. to the impact of damaging workplace factors (such as toxic behaviors), while magnifying the benefit of supportive workplace factors (such as a supportive growth environment) (Exhibit 4). In a recent study, employees engaging in adaptability training experienced three times more improvement in leadership dimensions and seven times more improvement in self-reported well-being than those in the control group. 35 McKinsey’s People and Organization Performance - Adaptability Learning Program; multirater surveys showed improvements in adaptability outcomes, including performance in role, sustainment of well-being, successfully adapting to unplanned circumstances and change, optimism, development of new knowledge and skills; well-being results were based on self-reported progress as a result of the program.

However, employers who see building resilience and adaptability skills in individuals as the sole solution to toxic behavior and burnout challenges are misguided. Here is why.

Individual skills cannot compensate for unsupportive workplace factors. When it comes to the effect of individual skills, leaders should be particularly cautious not to misinterpret “favorable” outcomes (for example, buffered impact of toxic behaviors across more adaptable employees) as absence of underlying workplace issues that should be addressed. 36 Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, “To prevent burnout, hire better bosses,” Harvard Business Review , August 23, 2019.

Also, while more adaptable employees are better equipped to work in poor environments, they are less likely to tolerate them. In our survey, employees with high adaptability were 60 percent more likely to report intent to leave their organization if they experienced high levels of toxic behavior at work than those with low adaptability (which may possibly relate to a higher level of self-confidence 37 Brassey et al. found that as a result of a learning program, employees who developed emotional flexibility skills, a concept related to affective adaptability but also strongly linked to connecting with purpose, developed a higher self-confidence over time; Jacqueline Brassey et al., “Emotional flexibility and general self-efficacy: A pilot training intervention study with knowledge workers,” PLOS ONE , October 14, 2020, Volume 15, Number 10. ). Therefore, relying on improving employee adaptability without addressing broader workplace factors puts employers at an even higher risk of losing some of its most resilient, adaptable employees.

Employees with high adaptability were 60 percent more likely to report intent to leave their organization if they experienced high levels of toxic behavior at work than those with low adaptability.

What this means for employers: Why organizations should take a systemic approach to improving employee mental health and well-being

We often think of employee mental health, well-being, and burnout as a personal problem. That’s why most companies have responded to symptoms by offering resources focused on individuals such as wellness programs.

However, the findings in our global survey and research are clear. Burnout is experienced by individuals, but the most powerful drivers of burnout are systemic organizational imbalances across job demands and job resources. So, employers can and should view high rates of burnout as a powerful warning sign that the organization—not the individuals in the workforce—needs to undergo meaningful systematic change.

Employers can and should view high rates of burnout as a powerful warning sign that the organization—not the individuals in the workforce—needs to undergo meaningful systematic change.

Taking a systemic approach means addressing both toxic workplace behavior and redesigning work to be inclusive, sustainable, and supportive of individual learning and growth, including leader and employee adaptability skills. It means rethinking organizational systems, processes, and incentives to redesign work, job expectations, and team environments.

As an employer, you can’t “yoga” your way out of these challenges. Employers who try to improve burnout without addressing toxic behavior are likely to fail. Our survey shows that improving all other organization factors assessed (without addressing toxic behavior) does not meaningfully improve reported levels of burnout symptoms. Yet, when toxic behavior levels are low, each additional intervention contributes to reducing negative outcomes and increasing positive ones.

The interactive graphic shows the estimated interplay between the drivers and outcomes, based on our survey data (Exhibit 5).

Taking a preventative, systemic approach—focused on addressing the roots of the problem (as opposed to remediating symptoms)—is hard. But the upside for employers is a far greater ability to attract and retain valuable talent over time.

The good news: Although there are no silver bullets, there are opportunities for leaders to drive material change

We see a parallel between the evolution of global supply chains and talent. Many companies optimized supply chains for “just in time” delivery, and talent was optimized to drive operational efficiency and effectiveness. As supply chains come under increasing pressure, many companies recognize the need to redesign and optimize supply chains for resilience and sustainability, and the need to take an end-to-end approach to the solutions. The same principles apply to talent.

We acknowledge that the factors associated with improving employee mental health and well-being (including organizational-, team-, and individual-level factors) are numerous and complex. And taking a whole-systems approach is not easy.

Would you like to learn more about the McKinsey Health Institute ?

Despite the growing momentum toward better employee mental health and well-being (across business and academic communities), we’re still early on the journey. We don’t yet have sufficient evidence to conclude which interventions work most effectively—or a complete understanding of why they work and how they affect return on investment.

That said, efforts to mobilize the organization to rethink work—in ways that are compatible with both employee and employer goals—are likely to pay off in the long term. To help spark that conversation in your organization, we offer eight targeted questions and example strategies with the potential to address some of the burnout-related challenges discussed in this article.

Do we treat employee mental health and well-being as a strategic priority?

This is fundamental to success. When a large organization achieved a 7 percent reduction in employee burnout rates (compared with an 11 percent increase in the national average within the industry over the same period), the CEO believed that leadership and sustained attention from the highest level of the organization were the “key to making progress.” 38 John H. Noseworthy and Tait D Shanafelt, “Executive leadership and physician well‐being: Nine organizational strategies to promote engagement and reduce burnout,” Mayo Clinic Proceedings , January 2017, Volume 92, Number 1. Senior executives recognized employee mental health and well-being as a strategic priority. Executives publicly acknowledged the issues and listened to employee needs through a wide range of formats—including town halls, workshops, and employee interviews (our research suggests that leaders are not listening to their people  nearly enough). They prioritized issues and defined clear, time-bound measurable goals around them—with a standardized measure of burnout being given equal importance to other key performance metrics (financial metrics, safety/quality, employee turnover, and customer satisfaction). Although anonymous at the level of the individual, results were aggregated at division/department level to allow executive leadership to focus attention and resources where they were most needed. 39 Liselotte Dyrbye et al., “Physician burnout: Contributors, consequences and solutions,” Journal of Internal Medicine , 2018, Volume 283, Number 6. This example highlights how CEOs have the ability to create meaningful change through listening to employees and prioritizing strategies to reduce burnout.

Do we effectively address toxic behaviors?

Eliminating toxic workplace behavior is not an easy task. Organizations that tackle toxic behavior effectively deploy a set of integrated work practices  to confront the problem, 40 Robert I. Sutton, The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t , first edition, New York, NY: Business Plus, 2010. and see treatment of others as an integral part of assessing an employee’s performance. Manifestations of toxic behavior 41 “Why every leader,” 2022. are flagged, repeat offenders either change or leave, and leaders take time  to become aware of the impact their behavior has on others. If you lead part of an organization, looking at your own behaviors, and what you tolerate in your own organization, is a good place to start. 42 “ Author Talks: How to handle your work jerk ,” March 29, 2022.

Leaders with higher self-regulation may be better, less toxic leaders

Research shows that leaders’ development of self-regulation increases followers’ ratings of their effectiveness and is associated with higher team financial performance as well as a higher final team grade compared with a control group. The benefits of self-regulation also improved leaders’ development of task-relevant competencies. 1 Robin Martin and JooBee Yeow, “The role of self-regulation in developing leaders: A longitudinal field experiment,” Leadership Quarterly , October 2013, Volume 24, Number 5. Furthermore, building employees’ resilience and adaptability  skills leads to a higher sense of agency and self-efficacy, 2 Jacqueline Brassey et al., “Emotional flexibility and general self-efficacy: A pilot training intervention study with knowledge workers,” PLOS ONE , October 14, 2020, Volume 15, Number 10; and Jacqueline Brassey et al., Advancing Authentic Confidence Through Emotional Flexibility: An Evidence-Based Playbook of Insights, Practices and Tools to Shape Your Future , second edition, Morrisville, NC: Lulu Press, 2019; B+B Vakmedianet B.V. Zeist, Netherlands (to be published Q3 2022). which is related to reduced burnout and improved performance. 3 Charles Benight et al., “Associations between job burnout and self-efficacy: A meta-analysis,” Anxiety, Stress, & Coping , 2016, Volume 29, Issue 4; and Alex Stajkovic, “Self-efficacy and work-related performance: A meta-analysis,” Psychological Bulletin , 1998, Volume 124, Number 2.

Another component of eliminating toxic behavior is cultivating supportive, psychologically safe work environments , where toxic behaviors are less likely to spread  across the organization. 43 Annie McKee, “Neutralize your toxic boss,” Harvard Business Review , September 24, 2008. Effective leaders know that emotional contagion 44 John T. Cacioppo et al., Emotional Contagion , Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1994. may go both ways: displaying vulnerability and compassion  fuels more compassionate teams; displaying toxic behavior fuels more toxic teams. 45 Michael Housman and Dylan Minor, Toxic workers , Harvard Business School working paper, No. 16-057, October 2015 (revised November 2015). There are two caveats: toxic behavior may not be intentional—particularly if individuals are not equipped to respond with calm  and compassion under pressure—and regardless of intent, toxic behavior spreads faster and wider than good behavior. 46 “To prevent burnout,” 2019. To prevent unintentional dissemination of toxic behaviors, role modeling from adaptable , self-regulating, compassionate leaders may help (see sidebar “Leaders with higher self-regulation may be better, less toxic leaders”).

Do we create inclusive work environments?

Most leaders recognize the established associations between performance and inclusion , but inclusion does not happen by accident . Inclusion is a multifaceted construct that must be addressed comprehensively and proactively. Most companies define inclusion too narrowly and thus address it too narrowly as well. Over the past three years, we’ve broadened our perspective  on how to create truly inclusive workplaces and developed a modern inclusion model . The model includes 17 practices (based on frequency of desired behaviors) and six outcomes (based on perceptions of effectiveness). Each practice falls into one of three relationships that shape workplace inclusion: organizational systems, leaders, and peers/teammates.

The 17 inclusive-workplace practices , when done consistently well, drive workplace inclusion and equity for all employees by providing clarity into actions that matter. For example, among employees working in hybrid models , work–life support was the top practice employees desired improvements on—with nearly half of employees recommending prioritizing policies that support flexibility—including extended parental leave, flexible hours, and work-from-home policies.

A truly inclusive workplace implements systems that minimize conscious and unconscious bias , allowing employees to express themselves and connect with each other. It also features leaders who not only advocate for team members and treat them impartially but also uphold and support all organizational systems and practices . For example, one employer defined data-driven targets for the representation and advancement of diverse talent across dimensions (beyond gender and ethnicity) and role types (executive, management, technical, board)—leveraging powerful analytics to track progress and foster transparency along the way.

Do we enable individual growth?

Evidence suggests that individual growth, learning, and development programs are effective 47 Arnold B. Bakker and Evangelia Demerouti, “Towards a model of work engagement,” Career Development International , 2008, Volume 13, Issue 3. ways to combat burnout and to retain and engage employees, and therefore are important for addressing growing talent and skills shortages within organizations. Employers who “double down” on talent redeployment, mobility, reskilling, and upskilling tend to see improvement across a range of financial, organizational, and employee experience metrics. In a recent study of extensive employee data, offering lateral career opportunities was two-and-half times more predictive of employee retention than compensation, and 12 times more predictive than promotions 48 “Why every leader,” 2022. —signaling an opportunity for leaders to support employee desires to learn, explore, and grow way beyond traditional career progression.

Investing in your employees’ capabilities can drive financial returns, is often cheaper than hiring, and signals to employees that they are valued and have an important role in the organization.

Do we promote sustainable work?

Promoting sustainable work goes beyond managing workload. It’s about enabling employees to have a sense of control and predictability, flexibility, and sufficient time for daily recovery. It’s also about leading with compassion and empathy 49 “It’s time to eliminate bad bosses. They are harmful and expensive,” Potential Project, The Human Leader, April 2022. —tailoring interventions based on where, when, and how work can be done , and how different groups are more likely to (re)establish socio-emotional ties  after a long period of isolation and loss of social cohesion .

One technology company is using real-time data on employee preferences to rapidly test and iterate solutions that work for specific groups around return-to-office options. To find solutions that work for your employees, consider adopting a test-and-learn  mindset. This approach can help the organization make progress while adapting as context evolves (a hallmark of more productive  organizations).

Are we holding leaders accountable?

Many organizations consider people leadership criteria in their performance management. Yet, there is substantial room to grow when it comes to employers providing transparency around employee mental-health and well-being objectives and metrics. 50 Workplace Mental Health Blogs , One Mind, “Fix performance management by aligning it with employee mental health,” blog entry by Daryl Tol, March 2, 2022; Garett Slettebak, “Measuring progress on workplace mental health”, One Mind at Work, March 24, 2022.

Organizations that are doing this well have set clear expectations for managers to lead in a way that is supportive of employee mental health and well-being. 51 Taylor Adams et al., Mind the workplace: Work health survey 2021 , Mental Health America, 2021. They offer training to help managers identify, proactively ask about, and listen to employees’ mental-health and well-being needs. They also introduce mental-health “pulse” checks and incorporate relevant questions into the broader employee satisfaction surveys, to establish a baseline and track trends in how employees are feeling. Discussion on employee mental health and well-being can be incorporated into regular leadership meetings, including concerns, risks, and potential actions.

To encourage leaders to lead by example and increase their accountability, some employers embed employee mental-health support into leaders’ reviews based on anonymous upward feedback from their teams. Finally, some companies are exploring if they can go even further and tie incentives to short- and long-term employee mental-health and well-being objectives.

Are we effectively tackling stigma?

As noted in a previous McKinsey article , the majority of employers and employees acknowledge the presence of stigma 52 In the context of employee mental health, stigma is defined as a level of shame, prejudice, or discrimination toward people with mental-health or substance-use conditions. in their workplaces. Stigma has been shown to have real costs to workforce productivity, often exacerbating underlying conditions because of people being afraid to seek help for mental-health needs and driving down an employee’s self-worth and engagement.

We see several actions that organizations are taking to eliminate stigma. 53 Erica Coe, Jenny Cordina, Kana Enomoto, and Nikhil Seshan, “ Overcoming stigma: Three strategies toward better mental health in the workplace ,” July 23, 2021. Leading by example can make a difference, with senior leaders stepping forward to describe personal struggles with mental health, using nonstigmatizing language. 54 Evelien Brouwers et al., “To disclose or not to disclose: A multi-stakeholder focus group study on mental health issues in the work environment. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation , 2020, Volume 30, Number 1. Leaders showing vulnerability helps to remove shame and promote a psychologically safe culture. 55 Global thriving at work framework , MindForward Alliance, 2020.

Stigma can also be reduced by companies prioritizing mental wellness as critical for peak performance instead of rewarding overwork at the expense of rest and renewal—rewarding an “athlete” mindset instead of overemphasizing a “hero.” This can begin to shift perception of signs of burnout or other mental-health needs as being indicative of a moral failing. Finally, creating a dedicated role to support employee mental health and well-being and appointing a senior leader, such as chief wellness officer, will increase awareness and show commitment.

Do our resources serve employee needs?

Leaders should evaluate whether mental-health and well-being resources are at parity with physical-health benefits and how frequently they are being used by employees. An increasing number of employers have expanded access to mental-health services 56 Charles Ingoglia, “Now more than ever, employers must provide mental health support for employees,” National Council for Mental Wellbeing, May 4, 2022. ; however, research  shows that almost 70 percent of employees find it challenging to access those services.

In a previous survey , 45 percent of respondents who had left their jobs cited the need to take care of family as an influential factor in their decision (with a similar proportion of respondents who are considering quitting also citing the demands of family care). Expanding childcare, nursing services, or other home- and family-focused benefits could help keep such employees from leaving and show that you value them. Patagonia, long the standard-bearer for progressive workplace policies, retains nearly 100 percent of its new mothers with on-site childcare and other benefits for parents.

Never in history have organizations around the world devoted so much attention and capital to improving employee mental health and well-being. It is lamentable that these investments are not always providing a good return regarding improved outcomes. Employers that take the time to understand the problem at hand—and pursue a preventative, systemic approach focused on causes instead of symptoms—should see material improvements in outcomes and succeed in attracting and retaining valuable talent. More broadly, employers globally have an opportunity to play a pivotal role in helping people achieve material improvements in health. With collaboration and shared commitment, employers can make a meaningful difference in the lives of their employees and the communities they live in.

The McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) is collaborating with leading organizations around the world to achieve material improvements in health—adding years to life and life to years. As part of that, MHI is focused on improving employee mental health and well-being at scale—in a way that is good for business, for employees, and for the communities they live in.

To stay updated about MHI’s initiative on employee mental health and well-being, sign up at McKinsey.com/mhi/contact-us .

Jacqueline Brassey is a director of research science in McKinsey’s Luxemburg office, Erica Coe is a partner in the Atlanta office, Martin Dewhurst is a senior partner in the London office, Kana Enomoto is a senior expert in the Washington, DC, office, and Barbara Jeffery is a partner in the London office; they are all leaders with McKinsey Health Institute (MHI). Renata Giarola , in the Southern California office, and Brad Herbig , in the Philadelphia office, are consultants with MHI.

The authors wish to thank Yueyang Chen, Elena Chit, Aaron de Smet, Soheil Eshghi, Lars Hartenstein, Tom Latkovic, David Mendelsohn, Roxy Merkand, Isidora Mitic, Bill Schaninger, Wilmar Schaufeli, Jeris Stueland, Berend Terluin, Karen van Dam, and Marieke van Hoffen for their contributions to this article.

This article was edited by Allan Gold, a senior editorial advisor in Washington, DC, and Elizabeth Newman, an executive editor in the Chicago office.

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The Surprising Difference Between Stress and Burnout

A new study shows how to avoid getting caught in the chicken-and-egg cycle..

Posted November 18, 2020 | Reviewed by Gary Drevitch

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Stress and overload in the workplace are increasing worldwide, often considered a cause of burnout . But a new study questions that assumption.

In 1974 Herbert Freudenberger coined the term burnout . In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) reached a milestone, officially classifying it as a medical diagnosis, including the condition in its International Classification of Diseases , the handbook that guides medical providers in diagnosing conditions. It describes burnout as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” Three symptoms can help you recognize it: “feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy. Burnout refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life.”

The Difference Between Stress and Burnout

Now that burnout is officially a chronic workplace crisis, companies are taking the condition more seriously. It helps to understand that burnout isn’t the same as stress, and that you can’t cure it by taking an extended vacation, slowing down, or working fewer hours. Stress is one thing; burnout is a totally different state of mind. Under stress, you still struggle to cope with pressures. But once burnout takes hold, you’re out of gas and you’ve given up all hope of surmounting your obstacles. When you’re suffering from burnout, it’s more than just fatigue. You have a deep sense of disillusionment and hopelessness that your efforts have been in vain. Life loses its meaning, and small tasks feel like a hike up Mount Everest. Your interests and motivation dry up, and you fail to meet even the smallest obligations.

Here are the primary signs:

• Disillusionment/loss of meaning
• Mental and physical fatigue and exhaustion
• Moodiness, impatience, and being short-tempered
• Loss of motivation and a reduced interest in commitments
• Inability to meet obligations
• Lowered immunity to illness
• Emotional detachment from previous involvements
• Feeling efforts are unappreciated
• Withdrawal from coworkers and social situations
• Hopelessness, and a helpless and depressed outlook
• Job absenteeism and inefficiency
• Sleep deprivation
• Foggy thinking and trouble concentrating

Surveys show that more than 60 percent of work absenteeism is attributed to psychological stress and stress-related burnout. According to a 2018 survey, 40 percent of 2,000 employees said they were considering quitting because of burnout. Experts estimate that burnout translates into a loss of anywhere from $150 to $350 billion annually for U.S. businesses. That’s a chilling statistic for any manager, especially in a tight labor market: that your employees can’t put their best foot forward and out of desperation cut corners, call in sick, or quit—all in an effort to survive burnout.

New Research: Is Work Stress the Driving Force Behind Burnout?

"The most important burnout symptom is the feeling of total exhaustion—to the extent that it cannot be remedied by normal recovery phases of an evening, a weekend, or even a vacation," said researcher Christian Dormann, who led a study at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. "To protect themselves from further exhaustion, some try to build a psychological distance to their work, that is, they alienate themselves from their work as well as the people associated with it and become more cynical.”

The results of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz study questions the common notion that work stress is the driving force behind burnout. The research team analyzed 48 longitudinal studies (a total number of 26,319 participants) of burnout and work stress from 1986 to 2019. The sample was mostly comprised of males (44%) with an average age of 42 years from countries around the world.

The chicken-and-egg findings show that stress and burnout are mutually reinforcing. However, contrary to popular belief, burnout has a much greater impact on stress than vice versa. "This means that the more severe a person's burnout becomes, the more stressed they will feel at work, such as being under time pressure, for example," said Dormann. “Employees suffering from burnout should be timely provided with adequate support in order to break the vicious circle between work stress and burnout.”

The results challenge the common perception that work stress causes burnout. "Burnout can be triggered by a work situation, but that is not always the case," Dormann points out. Once burnout begins, it develops gradually, building up slowly over time. Ultimately it leads to work being increasingly perceived as stressful : The amount of work is too much, time is too short, and stress is too great. "When exhausted, the ability to cope with stress usually decreases. As a result, even smaller tasks can be perceived as significantly more strenuous," explained Christina Guthier, the first author of the article. "We expected an effect of burnout on work stress; the strength of the effect was very surprising," she noted.

This research has implications for how major organizations address job stress and burnout. The researchers suggest that when employees feel like they have a degree of control over their work and receive support from colleagues and superiors, the effect of burnout on work stress potentially can be minimized. What can companies do to break the chicken-and-egg cycle and reduce the effects of burnout on work stress? The researchers suggest the place to start is with how managers run their teams. It’s important that employees have the opportunity to give feedback to the higher-ups at any time and that management heed their call to provide adequate time for employees to recover from this cycle to mitigate the downward spiral.

Christina Guthier, Christian Dormann, Manuel C. Voelkle. (2020). Reciprocal effects between job stressors and burnout: A continuous time meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, DOI: 10.1037/bul0000304

Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz. "Burnout can exacerbate work stress, further promoting a vicious circle." ScienceDaily . ScienceDaily, 10 November 2020. < www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201110112522.htm&gt ;.

Bryan Robinson, Ph.D. , is a Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the author of more than 37 books.

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129 Burnout Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best burnout topic ideas & essay examples, ✍️ burnout essay topics for college, 🎓 interesting topics to write about burnout, ✅ good research topics about burnout, ❓ research questions about burnout.

• Burnout Among Healthcare Workers As for the latter, a leadership style that empowers the subordinates and support from the colleagues are negatively correlated with the instances of burnout in the team of healthcare workers.
• Preventing Nurse Burnout With Workplace Interventions This research will look at the origins and consequences of nurse burnout and identify strategies for preventing and managing burnout in the workplace.
• The Athena Bancorp Employees’ Burnout Issue To achieve success, a firm should select the strategy supported with the available resources and possess an improved understanding of the market and customers to generate a competitive advantage and create the basis for its […]
• Preschool Teacher Burnout Prevention This Qualitative study aims to come up with a design for a Stress Management Program for preschool teachers to be presented to school administrators in support of their greatest asset their teachers.
• Reflective Learning and Nursing Burnout The purpose of this evidence-based project is to evaluate the impact of the adaptation of reflective learning on nursing burnout in managing cardiac patients in a coronary care unit of King Fahad Medical City in […]
• Nurse Burnout and Leading Factors Thus, particular attention will be on the causes of nurse burnout and the factors of the work environment that lead to this condition.
• Healthcare Burnout and Its Impact It is challenging to get a precise and accurate picture of the prevalence of burnout in the general public due to the lack of a universally agreed diagnosis of the phenomenon of burnout, its complex […]
• Burnout and Staff Turnover: Substance Abuse Counseling The counselor explains the rules and procedures to the patient, monitors the patient’s performance, and participates in the use of sanctions to obtain patient compliance.
• The Buddy System Reducing Burnout Among Nurses The desired outcome for the buddy system implementation is the mitigation of nurses’ burnout. However, further comprehensive research is necessary for effective worldwide implementation of the buddy system to mitigate the nurses’ burnout.
• Spiritual Life: Avoiding Stress Burnout All I want to do is to be kind to people and believe that these people will be also kind to me.
• Professional Burnout Syndrome in Nurses Specifically, the studies aim to reexamine the problem of workplace burnout in the nursing context, identifying the issues that are likely to be the leading causes of the subject matter.
• COVID-19, Secondary Traumatic Stress and Burnout The second part of the hypothesis states that the levels of STS and BO among caretakers during the pandemic will be higher than before it.
• Nurses Burnout in the Emergency Department Team Before introducing the same approach proposed in this study, it is essential to inform nurses about the problem and the benefits of the intervention.
• Burnout Among Medical Workers During the Pandemic The primary parts of the study will be analyzed from the point of validity, methodology, relevance, and argumentativeness. It will enable the evaluation of the article and state what leads to burnout and how to […]
• Nursing Burnout in the Mental Health Field Therefore, burnout in the mental health field is a major problem because it has a high prevalence and affects the service delivery of employees in the mental health field.
• Burnout in ER Nurses: Biobehavioural Research Consequently, the study regarding ER nurses and the effect on their emotional stability was conducted to find out how the problem occurs and what are the common ways to avoid it.
• Law Enforcement Officers Overcoming Professional Burnout Hence, it becomes apparent how nervous and stressful the occupation of an Atlanta police officer is; this fact increases the need for seeking the most appropriate strategies to deal with professional burnout.
• Psychotherapy Impact on Nursing Shortage and Burnout The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has, by all means, affected the patterns of providing quality care and the well-being of nurses in general.
• Resilience and Burnout in Nursing and Social Work The medical community inside is also full of stigmatizing situations, and because of this, nurses and social workers are forced to keep their fears and concerns to themselves.
• Skill Development for Burnout Prevention in New Nurses The practice gap that the project will address is related to the limited understanding of teamwork promotion in reducing burnout rates in new hospital nurses and the lack of guidelines that would summarize burnout prevention […]
• Burnout Among Nursing Staff and Its Negative Effects The purpose of this work is to identify the ways to overcome the state of burnout among nursing staff while simultaneously considering the prerequisites for its development.
• Healthcare Workers’ Burnout Sources and Solutions The article “The science of health care worker burnout” by Rehder, Adair, and Sexton will be used to highlight how the subject of a study can be explained to an audience through proper usage of […]
• The Relationship Between Workload and Burnout Among Nurses The research question was to determine the main factor provoking the development of burnout; for the answer, there was a task in the form of a quantitative measurement of burnout level.
• Nursing Burnout During COVID-19 Pandemic At the heart of nurses’ burnout due to understaffing is the principle of competing needs, forcing them to disregard their psycho-emotional state to save patients with COVID-19.
• The Nurse Burnout Issue and Rational Solutions The effective and responsible performance of nursing duties requires compliance with a wide range of conditions regarding both the professional duties for this type of activity and the moral and ethical principles of work.
• Minimization of Nurse Burnout: Outcomes, Approach, and Budget The purpose of this paper is to introduce an approach reflected in the organization of yoga classes for health care providers and explain how it will contribute to the minimization of nurse burnout in clinical […]
• The Burnout Impact on Nursing Practice Therefore, the purpose of the analysis is to fully comprehend the concept of burnout and its relation to one’s health. The concept of burnout has a similar meaning in considerable fields.
• Employee Stress and Burnout at the Workplace This is done by giving outbreaks to those actively involved in the manufacture of the products and giving leaves for some time; the company has also created shift sessions that allow specified workers to take […]
• Burnout Syndrome Among Psychiatric Nurses There is a need to review the prevalence of burnout syndrome in psychiatric nurses to address this issue. In addition, it would also help organizations to identify the contributing factors of burnout and address them.
• Nursing Burnout as Silent Pandemic The American Nurses Association believes that nurses are vital to the health of the nation. The present paper proposes better staffing as a response to the silent pandemic that is nursing burnout.
• The Nursing Burnout: Causes and Consequences However, the lack of staff and the need to serve more patients leads to overwork of professionals and burnout. However, there is no study in the literature that looks at the effect of burnout on […]
• Nursing Burnout and Turnover Problems There are disparate strategies to mitigate burnout and turnover to retain nurses. The hospital can balance patient-to-nurse ratios to reduce burnout and turnover.
• Coping Strategies for Burnout and Turnover in Nurses Allowing nurses to transition between roles and improving their orientation and workplace environment all contribute to reducing the likelihood of their turnover. Such an approach would allow nurses to “…control clinical decision-making and, with managers, […]
• Critical Appraisal: Fatigue, Burnout, Work Environment The purpose of the study is to investigate the real-world application of literature on nurse fatigue, with information being useful on developing a support environment to reduce nurse fatigue considering that nursing burnout is commonly […]
• Nursing Burnout and Implications for Nursing Profession Against this backdrop, this study will seek to establish the factors behind high cases of burnout syndrome in the nursing profession and the implications therein.
• The Burnout in a Sample of Nurses Unfortunately, Garrosa, Rainho, Moreno-Jimenez and Monteiro, authors of “The relationship between job stressors, hardy personality, coping resources and burnout in a sample of nurses: A correlational study at two time points,” do not address the […]
• Nurse Burnout Across Army Hospital Practice Environments The authors of this article correctly note that American Army nurses have been deployed to some of the most dangerous parts of the world in the recent past due to the heightened need for global […]
• Mindfulness-Based Stress and Burnout Reduction in Nurses The qualitative stage of the study involved the analysis of 46 documents that were used to collect data from the study participants.
• Nursing Burnout: Increased Stress Experienced by Nurses The relevance of the key points in this paper has to do with the increased stress experienced by nurses working for more than one agency and serving many clients.
• Study-Work Conflict and the Risk of Burnout Among the first of the core, findings is that being married or a single parent does not seem to raise the odds of work-study conflict though this conclusion may have been weakened by the fact […]
• Employees’ Stress and Burnout One of the problems emanating from stress and burnout is the reduced productivity among employees and ultimately to the organization. This indicates how stress and burnout are devastating to both the organization and employees.
• Preventing Burnout in Preschool Teachers This follows with a decline in the immunity of the individual to fight the various common illnesses such as common cold, flu etc and in some cases gives rise to the blood pressure problem in […]
• Burnout as a Mental Health Issue in the Workplace The first step to address such a problem should be inducing and promoting employees’ awareness of both personal needs and healthy mental practices.
• Burnout in Sports Among Young Female Gymnasts Stress, anxiety, the necessity to develop professional skills, commitment, and motivation are primary psychological issues in sports performance; however, the problem of burnout or overtraining remains one of the most significant and serious concerns among […]
• ICU Nurses: Reducing Burnout and Increasing Job Satisfaction The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention aimed at reducing burnout and increase ICU nurses’ job satisfaction.
• Harm Reduction and Professional Burnout in Nurse Practice These ideologies imply the creation and maintenance of specific ideas, vision, mission, and goals that are to be achieved in medical institutions, especially those paying precise attention to substance abuse prevention and decreasing the treatment […]
• Burnout, Compassion Fatigue and Stress at Workplace Screening of professional quality of life and its analysis can be useful for the evaluation of a person’s condition and development of personal characteristics that can support compassion satisfaction and reduce the risk of burnout […]
• Special Education Teachers’ Burnout and Turnover It is a commonly accepted fact that the retention of teachers in their positions is a crucial area for research; however, the retention of special education teachers is of primary concern in the majority of […]
• King Fahad Medical City: Burnout Among Nurses The purpose of this evidence-based project is to evaluate the impact of the adaptation of reflective learning on nursing burnout in managing cardiac patients in a coronary care unit of King Fahad Medical City in […]
• The Caregiver Burnout and Long-Term Stress The physical and emotional exhaustion can lead to the situation when the caregiver cannot help the client because of symptoms of the burnout.
• Emotional Intelligence, Burnout, and Job Insecurity In order to measure the place of EI as assessed by the 33-item self-report scale in the context of the big-five structure, scores on the 33-item scale were associated with the big-five personality aspects. In […]
• Burnout in Professional Therapists As established in the study, burnout among the therapists engaged in the sample increased in consistency with an increase in the levels of interpersonal problems.
• Stress and Burnout in Organizations Stress may refer to a state of psychological and physical discomfort of an individual, which is derivative of the interaction of external and biological factors. This paper discusses the organizations’ and workers’ challenges related to […]
• Work Burnout Intervention in the Hospitality Industry Burnout in the industry is the result of a build up of anxiety and stress that last for long periods of time; and sometimes the stress and anxiety may be build within a short period […]
• Students & Burnout: A Critical Review Going by the research findings of the Finnish study, the author of this particular article does well to postulate that girls and boys react to school stress in different ways, but he is economical on […]
• Stress and Burnout in the Workplace This paper investigates the causes of stress and burnout in the workplace and suggests ways of minimizing stress and burnout. This will also result in stress and burnout, ultimately affecting the performance of the workers.
• Correlation Between Burnout and Test Taking Failures
• What Leaders Can Do to Mitigate Burnout
• What Is Burnout, and How Can You Cope With It
• Executive Burnout Symptoms
• Teacher Burnout: Causes, Symptoms, and Prevention
• Combating Caregiver Burnout and Compassion Fatigue
• Career Burnout and Its Effect on Health
• Faculty Burnout Is Everyone’s Problem to Solve
• Burnout and Stress Measurement in Police Officers
• Managing Stress and How to Avoid Teacher Burnout
• Dealing With Stress and Burnout in the Workplace
• The Relationship Between Burnout, Depression, and Anxiety
• Burnout, Depression, and Borderline Personality
• Career Burnout and Its Advantages and Disadvantages
• Burnout: Causes, Symptoms, and Prevention
• The Relationship Among Stress Related to Online Learning, Resilience, and Coping
• Burnout, Absenteeism, and the Overtime Decision
• Why Too Much Overtime Is Causing Employee Burnout
• What Is Nurse Burnout and How Do I Manage It
• Strategies to Help HR Professionals Overcome Burnout
• How to Avoid Burnout & Survive Long Term in Digital Marketing
• Parental Burnout: What It Is and How to Cope
• Managing Burnout When Caring for Someone With BPD
• Burnout Prevention and Treatment
• Burnout: Emotional Exhaustion and Self-Regulatory Goal
• Burnout in School Principals: Role Related Antecedents
• Compassion Fatigue, Empathy Burnout for Health Care Workers
• Coping With Faculty Burnout in the Pandemic
• Turning Burnout Into Balance: Profiling the Post-pandemic
• How Working Parents Can Spot Signs of Burnout
• What Burnout Looks Like for a Small Business Owner
• Death Anxiety, Depression, and Coping in Family Caregivers
• Burnout and Its Relation to Interpersonal Challenges
• Overscheduling Activities Can Cause Burn-Out for Children and Parents
• Altruism and Burnout and Pay It Forward Philosophy
• Job Burnout: How to Spot It and Take Action
• Connection Between Burnout and Emotional Intelligence
• Coping With Stress and Burnout Associated With Telecommunication and Online Learning
• Burnout in College: What Causes It and How to Avoid It
• How Do Burnout and Stress Affect How Employees Handle Retirement Readiness Decisions
• How Do You Explain Burnout?
• What Is Your Insight About Burnout?
• How to Solve the Problems of Burnout, Absenteeism and Overtime?
• What Is the Cause of Burnout?
• What Is the Greatest Risk Factor for Burnout?
• How Do You Deal With Burnout in Life?
• What Are Common Signs of Burnout?
• How Do You Explain Burnout to a Friend?
• What Is an Example of Nursing Burnout?
• How Does Nursing Staffing Affect Nurse Job Satisfaction and Burnout?
• Do Human Relationships Affect Professional Burnout?
• How to Minimize Professional Burnout?
• Does Self-Efficacy Moderate the Relationship Between Job Stress and Burnout?
• Who Suffers From Burnout the Most?
• Why Is It Important to Prevent Burnouts?
• Is Burnout an Individual Problem?
• What Are Some Consequences of Burnout on Both an Individual and an Organization?
• What Is the Relationship Between Burnout and Organizational Commitment?
• How to Measure Burnout and Stress Syndrome in Police Officers?
• How Does Burnout Affect the Body?
• What Is the Connection Between Burnout and Work Efficiency?
• Does Burnout Affect Your Thinking?
• Where Is Burnout Most Common?
• How Do You Treat a Burnout Without Quitting?
• What Profession Has the Lowest Burnout Rate?
• How Do You Refresh Your Brain After Burnout?
• Can Burnout Become Permanent?
• What Is the Percentage of Career Burnout Among Working People?
• Can a Caregiver Get Burnout and Compassion Fatigue?
• What Measures Can Be Undertaken to Prevent Burnout?
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How to Avoid Burnout in Your First Year of College: Proven Tips

Starting college is an exciting, but challenging, time. Between adjusting to a new environment, keeping up with classes, and trying to build a social life, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. If you’re a first-year student, you’re not alone—many students face burnout as they juggle these new responsibilities. In this blog, we break down the common signs of burnout and share practical strategies to help you stay balanced and thrive during your first year.

Understanding College Burnout: What Is It? 

Burnout occurs when the ongoing stress of balancing academics, new friendships , and personal responsibilities becomes overwhelming, leaving you emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted. It’s a chronic state of exhaustion that can drain your motivation, affect your mood, and make it challenging to keep up with the demands of college life . Left unchecked, burnout can significantly impact your academic performance, relationships, and overall well-being.

Every student should be aware of the following five signs of burnout.

1. lack of motivation or interest in coursework.

If you find yourself dreading assignments or procrastinating even more than usual, it might indicate that burnout is creeping in. The subjects that once intrigued you now feel like a chore, and you struggle to engage with the material, no matter how hard you try.

2. Feeling constantly tired despite sufficient sleep

One of the more frustrating aspects of burnout is persistent fatigue. Even after a whole night’s rest, you feel just as tired. This ongoing exhaustion can be physical, mental, or both, and it’s your body’s way of signaling that it needs a break from stress.

3. Emotional exhaustion or irritability

When stress levels are high, your emotional resilience tends to plummet. You may find yourself more easily irritated or overwhelmed by situations that previously wouldn’t have fazed you. Minor problems may suddenly seem impossible, and feelings of cynicism or hopelessness may creep in. 

4. Difficulty concentrating or staying focused

Burnout often affects your ability to concentrate on tasks. Even with the best intentions to focus during lectures or study sessions, you might feel your mind wandering or, worse, unable to absorb information. This lack of focus can lead to falling behind in classes, causing further stress and anxiety.

5. Avoiding social activities or withdrawing from friends

Social withdrawal is a common sign of burnout. You might notice yourself declining invitations from friends or avoiding social settings altogether. While some downtime is typical, consistent avoidance of social interactions could indicate that your stress levels are depleting your energy for connection.

You’re Not Alone: The Harsh Reality of Student Burnout and How It Manifests

Feeling overwhelmed by the demands of college life is more common than you might think. According to a recent report from WorldMetric.org, in 2024, 75 percent of college students reported experiencing burnout, with one in five saying it significantly affected their academic performance. The report highlights how burnout can manifest in various ways:

More than 50% of students

Experience overwhelming anxiety related to workloads 

67% of students 

stress about future job prospects

62% of students

feel overwhelmed by academic expectations, contributing to burnout 

Strategies to Prevent Early Burnout in College 

The good news is that burnout doesn’t have to define your first year. Below are tips to help you manage stress, boost energy, and maximize your college experience.

Make Self-Care a Priority. 

Building a consistent self-care routine is essential to maintaining your well-being during college. Self-care doesn’t have to be time-consuming—it can be as simple as incorporating small habits into your day, like short breaks between study sessions, daily exercise, or moments of mindfulness. Regular physical activity, such as a brisk walk or stretching, can increase your energy levels, enhance focus, and boost your mood. Similarly, meditation or deep breathing exercises can help reduce stress and promote emotional balance, allowing you to stay grounded in academic challenges. Prioritizing self-care not only helps prevent burnout, but also supports long-term success . 

At St. John’s University, students can access various wellness resources to help them maintain a balanced lifestyle. For instance, the  Student Health Services  offers guidance on maintaining healthy habits, while the  Center for Counseling and Consultation (CCC) supports stress management. These resources help you stay grounded and maintain your overall well-being throughout the academic year.

Jonathan W. Dator, Ph.D., MSCP, CGP, Director of the CCC, emphasizes the importance of making these resources accessible to students: 

“Simply letting students know that we exist is essential, that we are here, and we have unlimited appointments. There is no cap on how many times you can come. There is no waiting list for an appointment, and if you prefer a certain type of counselor, we will try to meet that request."

Related:  New Director Brings a Culture of Wellness to St. John’s Student Counseling Center

Learn Time Management Skills Early.

Managing your time effectively can prevent last-minute cramming sessions and help you feel more in control of your workload. Create a weekly schedule, set goals, and break large tasks into smaller, manageable steps. Apps like Todoist or Google Calendar can be lifesavers.

At St. John's University, students can use support services like the University Learning Commons (ULC). Alexandra Marquez, M.S.Ed., Director of Academic Achievement at the ULC, emphasizes: 

“At the ULC, we offer personalized support to help students develop essential skills like time management, organization, and study habits. Whether you need one-on-one guidance or group sessions, we are here to assist you in staying on track and feeling confident in your academic journey.”

Build a Support System.

It’s essential to have people around you who understand what you’re going through. Whether it’s a friend, roommate, or counselor, having someone to talk to can help relieve stress. Don’t hesitate to lean on the resources your university offers. At St. John’s, the Center for Student Success is a crucial resource for first-year students, offering personalized academic advising, peer mentoring through the E.P.I.C. Mentor program , and case management services to help you navigate any challenges you might face.

Joni O’Hagan, Executive Director of the Center for Student Success, explains how vital it is for students to build a strong network. 

“Transitioning to college can be an overwhelming adjustment. Having a support system can make the changes and challenges more navigable,” she notes. “From family to help you with things like financial aid, advisers who can help you understand new processes and systems, faculty who are here to help with class requirements, and in many ways, above all, friends who provide support socially as you discover new opportunities to get involved.”

To assist first-year students in building these essential networks, the Center for Student Success offers various programs, such as Buddy Quest, which pairs students biweekly to complete riddles that guide them to different places and activities on campus. “Buddy Quest is built on a foundation of Social Emotional Learning (SEL),” Ms. O’Hagan explains. Another initiative, Thought and Fare, provides students and faculty opportunities to connect outside the classroom and fosters a sense of belonging, which can help students feel more comfortable reaching out to professors. The “This Thursday” tabling series also offers activities, tips, and giveaways aligned with students’ first-year journey.

How to Stay Motivated Through the Semester

Motivation is vital to overcoming any form of burnout. Setting clear, realistic goals can help you stay focused and driven, even when the going gets tough.

Set Small, Achievable Goals.

Instead of focusing solely on long-term goals, break them down into smaller, more attainable steps. Celebrate your wins along the way, whether that’s completing a chapter of reading or acing a quiz.

Find an Accountability Partner.

One of the best ways to stay on track is to find an accountability partner. This could be a fellow student with similar academic goals or an academic adviser who can help you stay organized and motivated. By regularly checking in with each other, you can keep each other focused, remind each other of deadlines, and provide support when the workload gets heavy.

Final Thoughts  

Your first year of college is a journey of discovery and growth, but it doesn’t have to be synonymous with burnout. By caring for your mental and physical health, managing your time wisely, and building a supportive network, you can beat burnout and enjoy everything college offers. Remember, college is a marathon, not a sprint. Taking care of yourself along the way will help ensure that you survive and thrive during your first year and beyond.

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Burnout could be to blame for security failures around Trump, former Secret Service agents say

• Donald Trump survived an apparent second assassination attempt after the Secret Service intervened.
• Former agents say the department is short-staffed, leading to burnout that increases security risks.
• Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said after Sunday's incident it's time for "hard conversations" with Congress.

Incidents like Sunday's apparent assassination attempt against Donald Trump show the Secret Service is stretched so thin due to short staffing that potential dangers are becoming increasingly hard to respond to adequately, two former agents told Business Insider.

In a Monday press conference discussing the incident, the acting director of the Secret Service called for "some hard conversations with Congress."

The former president was unharmed on Sunday after a would-be shooter hiding in the perimeter treeline of the Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach was spotted and fired upon by a Secret Service agent. The suspect was able to flee the scene unharmed but, thanks to details from an eyewitness, was identified and detained by law enforcement shortly after the incident.

On July 14, Trump faced a closer call when he was wounded during a campaign rally after a suspect perched upon a rooftop overlooking the event fired his rifle into the crowd. A rally attendee was killed, and two others were injured in the shooting. A Secret Service sniper killed the suspect  in the July incident.

Kenneth Valentine, a former Secret Service Special Agent in Charge who served under three presidents, told Business Insider that security around the former president was ratcheted up after the July incident, and the Secret Service faced intense scrutiny for failing to prevent the shooting. He said agents should have been on high alert, making Sunday's near-miss far too close for comfort.

"Did we not have time, or did we not have the assets and resources to sweep that wood line and post it with a police officer ahead of time?" Valentine said. "It seems to me like that would have been great business to do."

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Still doing treasury business.

Valentine — as well as Jeffrey James, who spent 22 years in the Secret Service — told BI the agency has been struggling with staffing levels and adequate resources since it was rolled up under the Department of Homeland Security in 2003.

The agency, founded in 1865, had previously been under the purview of the Department of the Treasury with a mission to combat counterfeiting. Though the Secret Service no longer reports to Treasury officials, its agents have maintained investigative assignments related to credit card fraud and cybercrime.

"I believe the Secret Service should give up all of that and just be the executive protection arm of DHS," James said. "If I was making decisions, I would push them to eliminate all their investigations, aside from investigating threats toward people under Secret Service protection."

Instead, both Valentine and James said they believed the agents are stretched too thin, forced to work absurd amounts of overtime, and said there's an incredibly high rate of attrition in the field that the Secret Service can't keep up with. "We never hit a time in my career where we were fully staffed," James said. "We were always in a deficit because you're always playing from behind."

In his experience, many agents left the Secret Service before their retirement, James said — a natural occurrence in any field if people decide the gig is not for them — "but we were such a small agency that it really became a detriment."

"I will tell you we had people driving the president's limousine for enough hours in a day that if they drove a truck for Walmart , they would be told to park the truck and not drive anymore," James said, adding that agents were on the road for so long it was no longer safe for them or their passengers.

Word from the top

Valentine said that if you hear the top brass tell it, they'll talk about how the agency has been hiring at a rate exceeding all previous combined years.

"And it's like, well, yeah, that's true, but tell me about your attrition," Valentine said.

Officers work long hours, including weekends and holidays, and forego personal time to take on the Sisyphean task of risking their lives to protect the country's highest-profile people. Salaries start at under $70,000 annually, according to a 2021  pay scale.  

When reached for comment, a representative for the Secret Service directed Business Insider to comments made by Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe during a press conference on Monday following the second security incident involving Trump . In his remarks, Rowe indicated the Secret Service's leadership is aware of burnout among its agents.

"We have immediate needs. We have future needs, too," Rowe said, referring to counter-sniper training that the agency is petitioning Congress to approve. "We also have the need to make sure that we're getting the personnel that we have, and that requires us to be able to have the funding to be able to hire more people."

Rowe added: "You can't just give me money and say, 'Hey, we're going to make sure that everybody gets overtime.' Because the men and women of the Secret Service right now, we are redlining them."

According to agency statistics , the Secret Service employs about 3,600 special agents, including 1,600 uniformed division officers and roughly 2,000 administrative and support personnel. Of the Department of Homeland Security's $64.81 billion total budget , the Secret Service in 2024 was allotted $3.27 billion — increasing less than $400,000 since 2022.

Secret Service agents "are rising to this moment," Rowe said, but "We have to have it every day. We cannot have failures. And in order to do that, we're going to have some hard conversations with Congress, and we're going to achieve that."

Watch: How the Secret Service protected Trump after 'screwing up'

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