Employee Burnout Reports: Highest Point Since 2016 and What Managers Can Do to Help

Our latest Careerminds HR News Wire reporting explores recent studies that illustrate a disturbing truth: employee burnout is at its highest point since 2016. In this article, we will dissect these recent reports to uncover what has caused these record burnout levels, and what solutions employers and managers can employ to provide relief for their employees.

Burnout is more than merely an individual issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), burnout is included in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an occupational phenomenon. The WHO recognizes it as a workplace hazard, an occupational syndrome that results from workplace stress.

In this ICD-11, burnout is defined as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” Essentially, burnout is characterized by three indicators:

1. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
2. Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job
3. Reduced professional efficacy

While burnout is not defined as a medical condition, it is a major occupational phenomenon that has become increasingly important to monitor and address. The WHO has been increasing their focus on this issue, including it in their development of evidence-based guidelines on mental health and well-being in the workplace. So it naturally follows that other organizations would ramp up their reporting on this issue as well.

Now, a new report by Glassdoor reveals that burnout has only gotten worse. Mentions of burnout in Glassdoor reviews are at an all-time high since they began tracking the data in 2016. That’s an increase of 44 percent over Q4 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit hard on employers and employees alike. As the Glassdoor report states, that has “remained elevated since Q3 2021 when the labor shortage era was in full swing.”

To come to this conclusion, Glassdoor collects tens of thousands of employee ratings of their employers’ six-month business outlook (rated as “positive”, “neutral” or “negative”) each month to compile into an Employee Confidence Index report, along with ongoing Glassdoor reviews which paint the full picture of employee sentiment.

This is further verified by another recent report released by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) which surveyed 11,000 desk-based and frontline workers in eight countries across the world (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, the UK, and the US) and found that an average of 48 percent of them are currently experiencing burnout. That’s nearly half of the global workforce.

The result is a truly severe global burnout issue, making it more critical than ever to understand the root causes of this peak employee burnout, and what employers and managers can do to address it before it gets worse.

At Careerminds, we offer career and leadership coaching programs that help your leaders navigate these challenges, communicate more effectively, and support their teams to elevate the success and well-being of the entire organization. Click below to speak with our experts and learn more. 

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While these reported numbers are staggering on their own, the most interesting thing is that, despite knowing their teams are burning out, many managers are struggling to understand and address the primary causes.

This suggests that, even though everyone recognizes burnout as a problem that the majority of their workforce experience, it will likely only continue to worsen if managers cannot identify and improve the root of the issue, and could eventually cause additional problems like poor workplace culture, decreased employee engagement, and lower retention.

Let’s look at each of the key root causes that these recent reports indicate are contributing to the current record burnout levels.

The first major cause of the rapid rise of burnout levels cited in these recent reports dates back to 2021 and the Great Resignation, a period marked by a tight labor market and historically high quit rates. While this did give some workers more bargaining power, it also resulted in employers being short-staffed, causing remaining employees to feel overworked and under-supported.

The Great Resignation was then followed by a period of historically high layoffs and sluggish hiring through 2023 and 2024, leaving workers feeling stretched even thinner and more burned out. As Glassdoor’s lead economist Daniel Zhao puts it, “It does feel like employees haven’t had time to catch their breath over the past few years, as we’ve just jumped from crisis to crisis.” This has led to the highest unemployment rates since Oct 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It stands to reason that heavier workloads resulting from this understaffing would also increase burnout, and it absolutely does. However, many workers claim that the main source of burnout is actually a reduction of available resources and time to accomplish their work.

As anyone who’s ever had to get things done on a deadline knows, limited resources and timeline pressure can seriously damage productivity, making a heavy workload even heavier and harder to accomplish. It becomes a vicious cycle where employees feel like their work is never complete. Instead, employees feel unable to achieve adequate results, lacking sufficient time to work and resources to do the work well.

This period of layoffs, sluggish hiring, and rising burnout has also made remaining employees more likely to lose faith in their employers. The recent Glassdoor report shows a decrease in the percentage of burnout-related reviews from employees that note a “positive business outlook.” As Glassdoor’s Daniel Zhao adds, “If they feel like their leaders are not giving them the resources in order to succeed, then they’re going to blame that burnout on their leaders.”

Employees will be more willing to work hard for their employers if they know that their efforts will be supported with adequate resources and recognition. Without this, maintaining such a high level of productivity may come at the expense of employee engagement and well-being, further damaging productivity and the company bottom line, and hindering its ability to afford sufficient staffing and resources.

Essentially, the combination of all of these factors—understaffing, heavier workloads, reduced resources, and diminished faith in leaders—creates this perpetuating cycle of employee burnout that further impacts these same negative factors and results in even greater burnout.

While there is no quick fix to these root causes of employee burnout, there are many steps employers and managers can take to start improving the situation for their employees. Let’s look at each of the key solutions mentioned in recent reports that employers and managers can use to combat these record burnout levels.

Managers need to find ways to allow workers to actually work and focus to get their tasks done. This could mean building more breathing room into their deadlines and giving them more time and resources, such as helpful tools or equipment, to accomplish each task. It might also involve identifying inefficient workflows and unnecessary tasks that are slowing down the process. If workers are able to efficiently check things off of their list and feel satisfied with their work, they will be much better equipped to stave off burnout.

Of course, workloads are also a huge part of this. After all, if workloads weren’t so heavy, many workers would probably be able to handle the reduced resources and faster workflows. In one recent Inc. LinkedIn poll of more than 2,700 respondents, more than one-third agreed that easing workloads would be an effective way for leaders to alleviate burnout.

To that end, managers need to understand how their employees are fairing with how much is on their plate. They need to provide ways for employees to share honest feedback about how they are juggling their workload, listen to their concerns, and be willing to put some projects on hold or outsource them to other workers (including outside of the company when applicable) if necessary.

Clear and consistent communication from managers is also key to improving workflows and alleviating burnout, by making sure priorities and expectations are understood by everyone involved. This also includes conducting regular employee check-ins and team conversations to solicit their honest feedback on how things are going and what can improve. 

Leaders who are versed in more collaborative, democratic, and coaching leadership styles will be better equipped to utilize this communication, understand the work on employee’s plates, and decide how to best implement any helpful adjustments. It all starts with a consistently clear message of the goals your organization is trying to achieve, what you’re trying to prevent, and how everyone can participate in that process.

Along with clearer employee communication, another key solution to burnout is improved employee inclusion. Inclusion is central to building and maintaining a successful workforce. The Boston Consulting Group’s recent report also revealed that when employees feel included at work, burnout is halved.

This means greater efforts to help employees feel valued, respected, supported, and like they belong, which includes ongoing communication to understand the employee experience and address their pain points. More specifically, the BCG report indicated four sentiments that have the greatest impact on employees’ overall sense of feeling included:

1. Good access to resources
2. Senior managerial support
3. Psychological safety with direct manager
4. Fair and equal opportunity for success

These signal how much, or how little, employees experience inclusion in their workplace. When they feel that these sentiments are positively addressed, they feel more included and less burned out. They also overlap nicely with the other solutions we’ve mentioned. For example, “Good access to resources” directly relates to better managing workflows and workloads, while “Senior managerial support” and “Psychological safety with direct manager” align with clearer, more collaborative communication from leadership.

Finally, another great way to support employees struggling with burnout is to offer coaching services. Career and leadership coaching can help everyone learn how to understand and advocate for their own needs, as well as the needs of their coworkers and teams, to create a more cohesive and productive work environment.

Here at Careerminds, we believe in the power of our career coaching programs to empower and inspire your employees, help them navigate work challenges, and demonstrate your commitment to their success, all of which can help alleviate burnout.

Employee burnout has reached record high levels across the globe, according to recent reports from Glassdoor and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). This is a result of several compounding causes, from the Great Resignation of 2021 to high layoffs and slow hiring into 2023 and 2024, along with increasingly heavy workloads, reduced resources, and diminished faith in employers.

There are many possible solutions to address burnout and ensure the work still gets done without over-encumbering workers to their breaking point. These include better management of workflows and workloads, more clear and consistent leadership communication, improved employee inclusion, and additional employee coaching. Of course, these solutions will likely change based on the organization and its unique work and employee dynamics.

It will also be interesting to see what other reports come out that examine these causes and solutions for burnout in the future. As employee engagement and workplace culture continues to dominate headlines in the business sector, it stands to reason that burnout should also receive the same amount of attention.

At Careerminds, our goal is to foster both individual and organizational growth, ensuring everyone in your company can achieve their goals without compromising their health and well-being. If you’re interested in learning more about our career and leadership development programs, click below to connect with one of our experts and see if Careerminds is the right fit for your organization. 

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Rebecca Ahn

Rebecca is a writer, editor, and business consultant with over 10 years of experience launching, managing, and coaching small to midsize companies on their business, marketing, and HR operations. She is a passionate people advocate who believes in building strong people, teams, and companies with empowering culture, content, and communication that facilitates meaningful results at every level and touchpoint. In her spare time, Rebecca is an avid traveler and nomad who also enjoys writing about travel safety and savvy. Learn more on her LinkedIn page.