Employee Burnout: What it is and How to Tackle It Head-On

Updated: March 2025

Shifts in employee engagement and motivation can be key indicators that members of your team could be experiencing employee burnout. Because of this, it’s important to recognize the signs of employee burnout early to prevent long-term impacts on the employee’s well-being and, potentially, the entirety of your organization.

Let’s look deeper into the concept of ’employee burnout’– including exploring some key indicators that your employees may be experiencing it and looking at actionable ways leaders and companies can reduce its prevalence and foster a culture of well-being.

What is employee burnout?

Employee burnout, also referred to as ‘workplace burnout,’ was classified as an “occupational phenomenon” by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019. The organization defined it as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace or work-related stress that has not been successfully managed.

According to SHRM’s ‘Employee Mental Health in 2024 Research Series,’ 44% of the 1,405 U.S. employees that were surveyed experienced burnout at work while 45% feel emotionally drained and 51% report feeling “used up” by the end of the workday.

recognizing the signs

Employee burnout can happen within any industry or organization. According to the WHO, the following are early signs of the phenomenon for managers to look out for.

Chronic fatigue or depleted energy levels that seem abnormal
Growing mentally distant from their job
Openly sharing negative feelings about their job.
Reduced performance/professional efficacy.

RELATED: Preventing Healthcare Burnout

The Top five Contributors to employee burnout

People often assume that employee burnout is caused by working overtime too often, but burnout is usually associated with compounding factors that build up over time, which is why taking a vacation or using a sick day is usually not enough to reverse the symptoms. Burnout is tied more to how we work and not simply the amount of work we do.

So, what are the top causes of employee burnout?

1. High Workloads

When employees consistently feel like they’re buried in work, they’re more likely to report burnout. The good news is that managers can assist employees in setting, prioritizing, and reducing workloads! When managers adopt a top-down approach to helping employees navigate their workloads, they can take affirmative steps to mitigate the problem, including:

Understanding the full scope of the employees workloads and deadlines
Setting reasonable expectations for employee performance and output
Remembering that, innately, humans have productive days and not-so-productive days
Playing to the employees strengths when assigning tasks
Encouraging employees to take short breaks throughout the day to boost productivity
Helping employees pivot if a workload is unreasonable
Encouraging feedback loops with employees to share if they are feeling overburdened by their workload

2. Unclear Expectations and communication from leadership

It’s essential for managers to take action to explain tasks and expectations clearly, talk through processes, and share the impact of the employees’ work.

The first step: understanding what projects and deadlines each employee is responsible for and each of their strengths and proficiencies. Managers have to set defined expectations when assigning new tasks to help employees understand the the purpose, the role they play, the urgency of the deadline, and plan accordingly. But, of course, they can’t always anticipate situations that will trigger overload for their employee(s), so it’s helpful to implement an open-door policy! As employees need assistance working through an issue or brainstorming solutions, they should be encouraged to turn to their managers for support instead of staying silent as the problem grows and results in burnout.

Proactive managers help their employees avoid burnout by regularly discussing responsibilities, priorities, and performance goals to ensure that everyone is aligned and the employee feels set up for success.

3. Lack of Support

Proper managerial support is a key, physiological buffer to reducing employee burnout. Start creating a culture of support by implementing proven strategies, like:

Connecting an employee’s contribution to the larger organization’s or team’s mission
Championing employee’s opinions and skill strengths
Creating a safe, open dialogue between managers and their employees
Committing to at least one meaningful conversation a week with each team member
Assigning tasks or connecting an employee’s work to the individual’s innate competencies
Recognizing and rewarding excellent work
Caring about the lives and livelihood of employees outside of the workplace (within reason).
Helping employees develop their talents and investing in upskilling opportunities
Identifying opportunities for internal mobility or professional growth for the employee

4. Tight Deadlines

Tight deadlines can create workplace pressure which can, in turn, cause a domino effect to burnout. Take some time to understand your employee’s current projects and ensure that deadlines are achievable so that they feel ready to tackle challenges. This can be done by breaking workloads down into smaller subtasks and proficiencies and by monitoring performance metrics to see when deadlines are falling behind.

When organizations center their culture around employee well-being, they make managing and responding to burnout a corporate imperative. Taking steps to educate business leaders on the signs and symptoms of employee burnout is a key first step to creating a positive mental health workplace.