How to Avoid Burnout at Work: A Guide to Workplace Burnout

What is employee burnout?

Employee burnout is a state of physical or mental exhaustion caused by workplace stress or excessive work hours. Burnout typically builds gradually, until the employee experiences feelings of helplessness, failure, defeat, detachment and cynicism. Employees with burnout tend to feel less accomplished and less satisfied with their work.

Alexandra Suchman, CEO and co-founder of Barometer XP, cautioned that burnout can severely impact company culture. “Burnout works like a virus,” Suchman explained. “For each person who experiences burnout, a substantial burden falls onto their colleagues, who in turn feel stressed and slowly slip into burnout.”

The causes of employee burnout generally fall into three categories.

• Personality traits: The people most likely to burn out quickly are overachievers, perfectionists and pessimists.
• Poor work-life balance: If someone can’t achieve a positive work-life balance, their work and life will both suffer, increasing the likelihood of burnout.
• Work-related stressors: An overwhelming workload, increased job demands without commensurate benefits, a lack of recognition or feedback, and a loss of faith in leadership can all contribute to burnout.

How employers can prevent employee burnout

Whether you’re already noticing signs of burnout or want to avoid it entirely, taking action early can make all the difference. Here are 10 ways to be proactive about preventing employee burnout.

1. Elicit employee feedback.

As an employer, you must ensure your employees feel heard. Ideally, you would engage with team members well before burnout begins, but the day-to-day workload can sometimes get in the way.

“Ask directly about symptoms like exhaustion, cynicism and reduced efficacy,” said Dr. Dan Pelton, author of Rethinking Employee Resilience. “Then go deeper. What’s driving those symptoms? It might be workload or fairness, but often it’s a deeper cultural issue that your employees have spotted and can name.”

When burnout starts to show up, meet with your employee to get to the heart of the problem. In some cases, anonymous employee feedback is helpful. Sometimes the solution is obvious, and other times it’s more nuanced. You won’t know unless you ask — and listen.

2. Create reasonable workloads.

When employees are bogged down with too much work, they may feel they’re always playing catch-up. This can cause them to overwork themselves, eventually leading to burnout. 

To avoid this problem, assign fair workloads that set up each employee for success. Consider having managers track staff productivity and performance. If they notice an employee’s performance starts to slip, that may indicate the employee is approaching burnout and needs help.

3. Offer flexible scheduling and working arrangements.

Flexibility is a great way to support employees and minimize the potential for burnout. Consider creating a flextime policy or implementing hybrid and remote work plans to help reduce employee stress without lowering productivity. Team members will be able to manage personal responsibilities while working when and where they feel most focused. That kind of balance can go a long way in supporting their mental health and overall well-being.

For example, one employee might work from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the office, while another works remotely from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Others may prefer a compressed workweek that gives them an extra day off.

When employees can tailor their schedules and work environments to their needs, they’re less likely to burn out.

4. Promote mental health days.

Employees are more likely to experience burnout if they’re stressed out and struggling with their mental health. To help support your team, consider offering dedicated mental health days.

Let employees take these days when they truly need them — not just when they’re at a breaking point. When leadership openly supports mental health and models that it’s OK to take a break, employees are more likely to use their time off and come back feeling recharged.

5. Offer paid time off and encourage employees to take it.

Offer employees ample paid time off (PTO) so they can relax and recharge. The specific PTO policy you implement will depend on your business; some organizations can afford to offer only two weeks of paid vacation, while others can offer unlimited PTO. 

However, simply offering paid vacation is not enough. Encouraging employees to use their days off is equally important. Create a workplace that celebrates paid time off so employees don’t feel pressured to leave unused vacation days on the table. Time off allows employees to reset physically and mentally so they can come back to work ready to produce.

“Don’t just offer PTO — celebrate it,” Pelton advised. “Talk about it as a team, cover for each other, and create a culture that respects time away. For even greater impact, consider tying time off to performance metrics. That changes the system, and it works.”

6. Provide functional equipment and software.

Nothing is more maddening than having to use ineffective or slow software and tools. Not only does outdated equipment impact productivity, but the failure of management to recognize the need for upgrades can also create an air of helplessness. Frustration with tech tools is often an early sign of burnout, so solving this problem can go a long way in reducing work-related stress.

7. Treat your employees fairly.

Watching someone else receive preferential treatment or get credit they haven’t earned can significantly contribute to burnout. Even worse is unfairness that seems arbitrary. Pay inequality, random promotions and inconsistent recognition can all create animosity or a sense of despair in an employee. They’re made worse by the fact that, in most cases, the employee must bottle up their feelings.

“If workload is the top predictor of burnout, fairness is a close second,” Pelton said. “Seemingly small signals, like being left out of meetings, passed over for opportunities or subtly treated unequally, send quiet but damaging signals that erode trust and culture.”

8. Give your employees a voice.

When employees feel they have no say in organizational decision-making, burnout can be a natural or even expected consequence. These tips from Dale Carnegie on empowering employees have endured because they work:

• Challenge your team members.
• Stoke their passion for your company’s vision.
• Give them clear opportunities for advancement.
• Apply the same measuring criteria to everyone.
• Get out of their way and let them do their work.

9. Have fun.

Employees who enjoy coming to work will burn out far less frequently than those who loathe their job. So why not focus on building a more positive work environment? Stock the fridge with goodies, host lunch-hour parties, or offer half-days off before a holiday. These simple gestures can boost morale, lower employee turnover and help prevent burnout.

10. Recognize success.

No matter what they tell you, every employee wants to feel needed. An unexpected pat on the back or recognition in front of peers for a job well done can be a tremendous ego boost and go far toward stemming the onset of burnout in employees who feel underappreciated.

According to the O.C. Tanner 2025 Global Culture Report, a strong employee recognition program can reduce depression-related absenteeism by more than $8,000 per employee each year and even lower the likelihood of workplace injuries. And the benefits don’t stop there. When employees feel seen and celebrated, they’re 11 times more likely to stay with the organization, 16 times more likely to promote it, 24 times more likely to do great work, and 31 times more likely to report being satisfied with the employee experience.

“Public praise activates dopamine, the same brain chemical triggered by joy and reward,” Pelton explained. “Acknowledgment doesn’t have to cost anything. Just name what the person did, when they did it, and the impact it had. Everyone wants that moment, and everyone benefits from it.”

The impact of employee burnout

Burnout can have serious consequences for leaders, team members and the company.

Employee impact

Burned-out employees are less engaged and less healthy. According to The American Institute of Stress, workplace stress costs more than $300 billion annually in healthcare expenses, missed work and stress-reduction efforts. Common manifestations of burnout include increased anxiety, irritability, weight fluctuations, higher workplace absenteeism and greater susceptibility to illness.

Company impact

As an employee burns out, you’ll likely notice a drop in performance. They may feel overwhelmed and rush through work, resulting in more mistakes, or they may disengage altogether. Burned-out employees may miss work more and be likelier to quit, both of which can cost your business time and money.

“Burnout signals a broken workplace system,” Pelton explained. “Too often, we place the burden on individuals when it’s really an organizational issue. The World Health Organization defines burnout as the result of chronic workplace stress, which makes clear it’s the system — not the people — that needs to change. When that system fails, employees lose trust and motivation, which drives disengagement, turnover and widespread underperformance.”

The effects of burnout can ripple across your entire organization. Stressed employees may damage customer relationships or spread negativity to co-workers, creating a toxic environment.

As symptoms escalate, burned-out employees often shift their stress and workload to others. Many managers default to demoting or firing struggling employees, but this approach can backfire. When remaining employees are forced to pick up the slack, they may also burn out or begin to worry about job security.

How to identify workplace burnout

Perhaps you’ve been there: Work is overwhelming, and help is limited. Before you know it, your drive and determination have diminished, and all you can think about is how to get out of work. This is a typical case of workplace burnout.

“The problem with identifying burnout is that it is primarily identified by comparing to normal production and engagement levels,” said Suchman. “Not all employees are going to function in the same manner, and what might look like burnout for an ‘extrovert’ might be normal operations for an ‘introvert.'”

The best time to combat burnout is before it begins, but you can also stop it as soon as you recognize it. Here are some common signs an employee may be experiencing burnout:

• Physical, mental or emotional exhaustion
• Decreased productivity
• Reduced performance (more mistakes)
• Irritability, sensitivity or argumentativeness
• Disengagement or detachment from conversations or projects
• Consistently working long hours or missing work
• Sudden illness (fatigue, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, headaches)

Recognizing these warning signs early can make a significant difference in preventing burnout from escalating. To better understand and address potential burnout, it’s important to regularly assess the workplace environment and employee well-being.

“A few great ways to assess for burnout are to look at how many employees are actually hitting metrics (and if those metrics are reasonable), what kinds of conversations are going on in the workplace (if you’ve got a lot of ‘Man, I could use a vacation’ comments, something is wrong), and to provide monthly check-ins to determine how someone feels their performance has moved over the last month,” said Suchman.

Don’t let employee burnout become a problem at your workplace. Educate your staff on the signs and impact, recognize the symptoms and take action when necessary. You’ll be glad you did.

Amanda Hoffman contributed to this article.