Employee Burnout Signs:

How to Identify and Address Burnout

Much like a shadow lurking in the background amid the hustle and bustle of daily work life, burnout quietly seeps into the lives of countless employees. A Deloitte survey revealed that 64% of employees felt overly stressed and exhausted while at work. 

The COVID-19 pandemic further aggravated this issue as it led to major shifts in how we work, leaving employees grappling with a unique set of challenges. Now, more than ever, employee burnout signs are the red flags managers and business leaders can’t afford to ignore.

Burnt-out employees often suffer in silence, carrying the heavy burden of their struggles on their shoulders. The pressure to perform and meet deadlines, coupled with the difficulty of balancing work and life, becomes a constant tightrope walk.

Over time, burnout will affect their performance, happiness, and physical and mental well-being. For the organization, this may mean lower productivity and output levels, leading to dampened success.

So, as leaders, how do you spot the signs an employee is struggling with burnout, and how can you effectively address this for the well-being and success of your workforce and your organization?

In this article, we’ll go through the following topics to understand, identify, and tackle the growing concern of burnout in the modern workplace:

• Understanding Burnout

• The 4 Main Causes of Burnout at Work

• What are the Possible Effects of Burnout?

• Three Most Common Employee Burnout Signs

• Six Effective Ways to Address Burnout in the Workplace

• Three Ways to Help Remote Employees Avoid Burnout

Understanding Burnout

To recognize employee burnout signs at work, it’s crucial to understand that it’s not just a fleeting moment of stress or fatigue. It’s not occasional; it’s not temporary. Burnout is a complex issue involving physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion. It results from prolonged and excessive stress or dissatisfaction.

In our 'always on' work culture, it often occurs when employees find themselves constantly pushed beyond their natural limits to meet ceaseless demands or to pursue financial success. As they persistently work at an unsustainable pace and pressure continues to mount, they gradually lose the motivation and enthusiasm that initially drew them to their roles.

Even starting a new role can cause new job burnout if employees push themselves too hard and need to look after themselves properly. On the other hand, the lack of interesting tasks or purpose in work can also cause burnout. Employees stay engaged when they continually feel challenged and fulfilled.

Regardless of the type of burnout, it can have serious effects on both employees’ personal and professional lives when left unaddressed.

The 4 Main Causes of Burnout at Work

Before we discuss the effects of burnout, let’s explore what causes it in the workplace.

Misaligned People Strategy

One significant contributor to job burnout is the misalignment of employees' skills, strengths, and motivations with their roles. Even when they're committed to delivering high-quality work, if their professional strengths don't align with their responsibilities, they must exert more effort to adapt. Conversely, when people are in roles aligned with their natural strengths and motivators, they are more likely to be engaged and productive.

● an increase in errors as a result of lack of attention to detail 

● lost ideas and innovation

● a reduction in the quality of work that comes from an engaged team

● lost focus

● high-potential team members looking for an exit, taking their valuable knowledge with them

To prevent this, organizations must develop a strategy that puts the right people in the right seats. Understanding the unique motivators, strengths, and tendencies of your leaders and workforce can help you reach organizational goals by bringing the full potential of engaged and uniquely suited teams to the initiatives identified for success.

As talent optimization specialists, we can start with just one leader and team to illustrate your team’s strengths and potential blind spots. This allows you to see how each team member contributes toward your goals and where you may need to shuffle players for better results.

Typically, once we roll this out with one team, we gain valuable insights that many leaders find they want the same benefit across the organization.

Imagine if you could move a few employees into their best-fit roles instead of replacing them, which costs organizations one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary, according to Gallup.

Lack of Control

Another significant cause of job burnout is the need for more control that employees feel over their job-related decisions. This lack of autonomy can manifest in various ways, such as rigid work location requirements, strict schedules, or overwhelming workloads imposed by employers. For example, many organizations are rolling out ‘back to work’ policies, mandating when and how often their people must return to the office.

A recent study showed that fifty-nine percent of knowledge workers assert that work flexibility is more important than salary and other benefits. When digging into what they meant by ‘flexibility’, it came down to having the autonomy to choose according to their needs and preferences.

For example, they want the option to return to a traditional office when it works best for them and when the task at hand would benefit from face-to-face collaboration rather than being mandated by their employer. This lack of control that employees feel makes them feel that management isn’t receptive to their opinions, ultimately leading to feelings of disengagement and burnout. 

Even as the pandemic accelerated the shift to a hybrid or fully remote work model, many companies still overlook the benefits of asynchronous work (shortened to async). Simply put, async means allowing employees to work independently without the expectation of immediately responding to other team members.

Besides giving employees the flexibility to work on their schedule and the ability to hire remote workers across different time zones, async also allows different types of personalities to thrive in the workplace. For example, some prefer having enough time to process ideas before contributing, while others think on their feet. The asynchronous model can accommodate both types of personalities.

Furthermore, synchronous work can result in frequent interruptions, making it challenging to achieve deep concentration and critical thinking. A Harvard Business Review research shows that cutting back on meetings, which is a synchronous communication method, can boost employees’ feelings of productivity and autonomy.

By giving employees more autonomy over their work arrangements, organizations can help reduce burnout and enhance overall job satisfaction.

Unclear and Changing Expectations

Employees thrive on having clear expectations, which enable them to deliver high-quality work with confidence. When managers fail to communicate expectations effectively, employees may experience stress and anxiety as they are unsure of what their managers expect of them.

In today's fast-paced and evolving work environment, leaders must maintain clear and consistent communication, especially when shifting priorities. Developing a clear and well-defined action plan and regularly communicating expectations and employee goals can help alleviate stress and prevent burnout.

Poor Managers and Dysfunctional Workplace Dynamics

Managers who must be sufficiently trained and demonstrate poor leadership are the largest contributors to employee engagement and, thus, their potential burnout experience. Gallup’s Employee Engagement report emphasizes the importance of effective management, attributing 70% of the variance in engagement to the manager or team leader alone.

Poor leadership is demonstrated by failing to build trust, showing favoritism, taking undue credit for their team's work, imposing unreasonable time pressures, and employing a command-and-control leadership style. These adverse behaviors not only lead to disengagement but also foster office drama, gossip, and strained team relationships. Such issues increase workplace stress and unhappiness for all involved.

Three of the Most Common Employee Burnout Signs

Employee burnout doesn't develop overnight. However, when left unchecked, it can have dire consequences for the employee and the organization. The good news is that there are early warning signs of burnout at work, which gives managers time for proactive intervention and support. 

By spotting these common indicators, leaders can tailor their workplace wellness programs to prevent burnout from escalating.

Lower Productivity and Performance

Burnout is a silent saboteur that can affect even the most dedicated employees. When they feel unappreciated, exhausted, and mentally drained, they lose motivation to give their best effort at work.

When productivity and performance decline, this leads to:

● more errors due to a lack of attention to detail

● lost ideas and innovation that stem from disengagement

● reduction in the quality of work from disheartened employees

● loss of focus and dedication to the task

● high-potential team members looking for an exit, taking their valuable knowledge with them

Burnout often leads employees to believe their efforts need to improve, especially when they experience micromanagement or work for an inexperienced or ineffective manager. They believe that no matter how hard they strive, their efforts won’t be sufficient for what the role demands.

An item to note:  Contrary to popular belief, even highly passionate employees about their work can suffer burnout. A Deloitte survey revealed that even though 87% of employees are passionate about their profession, 64% still experience a high level of workplace stress. 

In our role advising leaders, we often see some of our most committed clients experience burnout, as they are typically perfectionists who hold themselves to high results. We liken this to the Energizer Bunny—they'll keep ‘drumming’ and performing until the battery wears out, and then they just fall over.

The worst possible course of action for a manager is to turn a blind eye to employee burnout signs. Leaders are often only aware of the severity of the situation until it is too late.  At this stage, reversing the situation can be difficult, and many leaders would prefer to write the employees off than make an effort to engage and retain them. As a result, burnt-out employees often leave the company.

Besides decreased productivity, the quality of their work may also take a hit. If you find an employee producing low-quality work at a slower rate than usual, this may be a warning sign of workplace burnout. Before these issues escalate, it's important to connect with employees one-on-one to determine if reduced productivity is due to burnout or other factors, such as a lack of team support.

Cynicism Towards Colleagues And Clients

Burnout not only negatively impacts an individual but also affects the organization’s net income. Each year, it costs the US economy more than $300 billion. Additionally, it negatively affects staff morale, employee well-being, the customer experience, workplace cultures, and a business's reputation.

When employees are dissatisfied, it's difficult to ignore. Their bad feelings show themselves through cynicism and irritation toward clients, employees, and management. Whether positive or destructive, emotions are contagious and have a ripple effect throughout the company.

Signs that an employee is dissatisfied with their job include:

● expressing dissatisfaction with clients

● becoming easily hostile, aggressive, and argumentative

● discussing the company openly in a negative light

● becoming uncoachable and unresponsive to feedback

Burnt-out employees may take criticisms more personally, reacting defensively or angrily. Constructive feedback, which is normal in many workplaces, can be blown out of proportion.

So to address this, leaders should engage in conversations with these employees to identify the root causes of their burnout.

Disengagement From The Company

Employee burnout isn't an instantaneous occurrence. It's a gradual process stemming from a series of events culminating in disengagement and emotional detachment. Burnt-out employees may physically attend work-related activities, but they are mentally absent. 

Signs of disengagement include:

● decreased participation in meetings

● avoidance of new projects

● neglecting to return phone calls and emails

● loss of enthusiasm for the job, leading to a decline in the quality of work

An engaged manager can detect disengagement through employees' lack of involvement and contribution. Burnt-out employees often take more sick days to escape stressful situations, while others may arrive late and leave early to minimize interactions with co-workers and managers.

They may feel that they can only contribute a little to their company and owe it nothing beyond their assigned tasks. If a burnt-out employee no longer feels a sense of purpose or belonging, this may lead to disinterest in company events and initiatives.

Have you noticed any of these employee burnout signs? If yes, it’s time to take action. In the next section, we’ll share effective ways to handle workplace burnout.

Six Effective Ways to Address Burnout in the Workplace

Recognizing employee burnout signs is just half of it; addressing employee burnout is the other half, and it requires a proactive approach from leaders. Here are six actionable strategies to support employees struggling with burnout symptoms:

1. With a focus on talent retention, senior leadership must actively support awareness of burnout and lead the way in reducing the causes.  

To address employee burnout, senior leadership is crucial in setting the tone and showing commitment to reducing its causes. This is especially important now that remote and hybrid work environments further heighten burnout risk.

In 2021, leading organizations such as LinkedIn, Twitter (before it was X), and Citigroup led the way in addressing workplace stress. They instituted designated days away from meetings to allow employees to focus on their work and have allocated resources to implement programs that tackle burnout.

These initiatives pay off, with companies implementing policies that significantly impacted employee stress levels, experiencing a turnover rate of just six percent, in contrast to the national average of 38% percent. With 52% of US workers admitting to calling in sick due to workplace stress and 42% changing jobs due to stress, it's clear that addressing burnout is critical.

As a senior leader, talk isn’t enough. It would be best if you led by example. Reducing demands for off-hours meetings and taking your vacation days are two examples of high-impact moves. Business leaders are also recognizing the impact of weekend email. When PwC employees check email over the weekend, a note pops up reminding them that it’s the weekend, empowering them to wait until Monday to enter work mode mentally.

As a leader, schedule weekend emails for Monday morning to avoid giving the impression that employees need to be available over the weekend. This one action can greatly reduce the unwritten demands that remove employees from their rest and recharge time.

Implementing programs that empower employees to prioritize, set limits, and take care of themselves to prevent burnout can be highly effective. For example, LinkedIn recently introduced an employee workshop called "The Necessity of No" that teaches employees how to talk to communicate with their managers when their capacity is nearly filled. Managers can especially benefit from burnout training to recognize the signs in themselves and their direct reports. 

2. Align your people strategy with your business strategy. 

Embrace a move to understand your team members’ qualities and what they do best. Each employee has particular strengths and is best suited for a specific type of role. Understanding each team member's unique strengths and aligning them with roles that best suit their abilities can prevent overstretching and workplace stress.

With the people data to understand these nuances, you can play to each person’s strengths and shuffle your team if necessary. This practice, known as talent optimization, is a proven tactic to align your business strategy with your people strategy. More importantly, it’s extremely beneficial to the organization’s net income.

In a survey of 500+ executives, results show that nearly all companies that practice talent optimization have been able to prevent significant financial losses during turbulent business years. Our team here at Leadership Impact Strategies can introduce you to this practice.

Investing in employee training and development is another valuable approach to preventing burnout. Encourage skill-building, career advancement, and personal development opportunities. By empowering employees to take ownership of their career growth and providing the necessary resources and support, you give them a sense of growth and purpose.

3. Develop your managers to enhance their leadership capability. 

The direct manager to employees is the first-level leader who plays a pivotal role and can help your team recover from burnout. Gallup identifies the root causes of burnout as unfair treatment, excessive workload, unclear communication from managers, a lack of managerial support, and time pressure.

All of these factors point to leadership and communication style issues. Hence, trying to manage a team without data on what drives them and how they best perform is like trying to navigate through your living room at 2 a.m. in the dark. Some managers naturally do well with intuition. Many others are going at it blind. Our management coaching turns on the light.

We provide managers with the tools and training to effectively lead and support their teams. One key way for managers to support their direct reports is by creating personal development plans, allowing them to have a say in their learning and upskilling opportunities that would benefit the organization. 

This practice directly impacts retention, as 52% of voluntarily exiting employees believe their manager or organization could have taken steps to keep them from leaving their jobs. Furthermore, 51% of exiting employees reported that in the three months before leaving, neither their manager nor any other leader spoke with them about job satisfaction or their future with the organization. No wonder they didn’t think they had a future at their company.

4. Managers, move away from thinking about your employees as a conglomerate “they” and focus on small groups and individuals. 

Treating employees as individuals rather than a collective group can significantly impact their engagement and motivation. It also makes the job of deciphering what your team needs to succeed becomes infinitely easier. Each person is unique, and your tailored approach to each team member has the potential to engage and motivate them.

Regular 1:1 check-in conversations with team members, focusing on their workload and productivity, and offering support when needed can make a profound difference. To champion workplace improvement, create a safe space for open dialogue, especially if you notice signs of burnout. Ask how your employees are and encourage them to share their challenges so you can work together to find solutions or improvements.
Demonstrating empathy in the workplace can positively impact employee retention, with 70% of employees attributing higher empathy to lower turnover rates.

5. Act on feedback from your employees. 

Many organizations actively collect feedback from their employees. However, many fail to make changes. Employees who feel heard and see meaningful changes in response to their input are more likely to stay engaged and motivated. Emotions like cynicism and frustration are contagious and, if left unaddressed, will move more employees toward burnout.  

Finding and fixing problem areas with employees’ well-being in mind is one of the critical activities top employers are doing to manage workplace stress. This includes allowing employees to have a say in designing their work experiences and implementing changes, such as remote work options or flexible hours. This approach, which enables work-life integration, can revive the workforce and foster trust within the organization.

While some employees may only need more appreciation or an extra day off, others require more advanced solutions. This might mean lighter workloads, increased team support, or bigger budgets, so be prepared to discuss these high-impact solutions.

6. Develop tailored corporate wellness programs.

Corporate wellness programs offer a valuable opportunity for employers to proactively address the issue of employee burnout and create a work environment that prioritizes stress management.

Instead of focusing solely on wellness challenges or health challenge ideas, leaders can incorporate elements of emotional, occupational, and financial wellness into their programs to provide a comprehensive approach to well-being. When thoughtfully designed, these programs will not only address stress but also prevent it at its source.

Three Ways to Help Remote Employees Avoid Burnout

The rise of fully remote and hybrid remote work offers flexibility and convenience to employees. However, as the line between professional and personal lives gets increasingly blurred, employees face new challenges, including the heightened risk of burnout.

For managers, this transformation in how we work makes it harder to detect burnout in remote employees. Here are some strategies for effective remote management and the prevention of burnout:

Encourage Work-life Boundaries

One common sign of burnout among remote workers is the compulsion to work at all hours. While some schedule flexibility can be beneficial, employees must find time to disconnect from work. If you notice employees sending work emails late at night or during weekends, you should address this issue through the following strategies:

● Encouraging them to create a clear separation between work and personal time by setting specific work hours.

● Promoting out-of-office notifications during non-working hours to let others know they are off-duty.

● Guiding time management and productivity techniques to help them complete their tasks more efficiently.

Promote The Importance of Taking Time Off

Taking regular time off to recharge is crucial to preventing burnout. However, remote employees may feel reluctant to take time off for fear of falling behind work or impacting job security. To encourage remote employees to take time off, you can consider doing the following:

● Emphasize the importance of vacations for mental and emotional well-being.

● Create a supportive company culture where employees feel comfortable requesting time off.

● Ensure there are systems for colleagues to cover for one another during vacations.

Monitor Performance and Engagement

As mentioned earlier, a significant dip in performance is often a telltale sign of burnout. High-performing employees who suddenly start missing deadlines and showing lackluster performance may be signs an employee is struggling with burnout.

Through performance and engagement monitoring, you'll be able to identify and address these issues early on. Here are some proven and tested ways to monitor and support employee performance:

● Conduct regular check-ins to evaluate job satisfaction and know how they feel about their workload.

● Provide opportunities for employees to discuss their problems and request support when they need it.

● Offer skill-building and professional growth opportunities to reignite their motivation and enthusiasm for their work.

● Recognize and celebrate employee achievements and milestones to boost morale and motivation.

Remote employees must monitor themselves for burnout signs proactively, but they also need proper leadership, effective remote management, and resources.

Final Thoughts

Addressing employee burnout is a shared responsibility among employees, managers, and employers. Employee burnout signs may be subtle, but their impact on individuals and organizations is undeniable. By recognizing these early warning signs and implementing the right strategies, leaders like you can establish a workplace culture that is both productive and supportive of the well-being of their most valuable asset: your people.

While stress in the workplace may be inevitable, the power to mitigate its adverse effects lies in the hands of good leadership, innovative practices, and dedicated resources. Leadership training for new managers can be pivotal in this context, equipping them with the necessary skills to spot the signs of burnout early and intervene effectively. With the right approach, the outcome will extend beyond employee happiness and save hundreds of thousands in turnover and replacement costs annually.  

We understand that every organization is unique, and the path to addressing burnout may vary. So contact us for a zero-cost consultation and let us help you navigate this issue by providing an actionable plan for your organization.