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Burnout culture is on the rise—42% of employees have reported that their burnout has worsened over the past year—and HR and L&D professionals predict the risk of burnout will be the same or higher in 2025.
As we explore in our report “Enterprise L&D in 2025: Predictions and Trends”, employee burnout is a highly complex and pervasive issue that undermines all the effort your team has put into building a positive work culture. Recognizing the signs of employee burnout is one of the keys to prevent employee burnout and prevent disengagement and staff turnover.
In this post we’ll explore the rise of burnout culture, employee burnout signs, and how to prevent employee burnout at your organization.
First, what is employee burnout?
Employee burnout is like a slow-burning fuse of physical and emotional exhaustion, and it often brings feelings of cynicism and detachment from work. It’s not just another stressful week or a slump—it’s something that creeps in over time and can seriously derail employee morale and performance.
Burnout usually kicks in when employees feel overwhelmed, under-supported, like they lack control, or like their work doesn’t matter. Burnout is not an individual employee’s personal problem; it’s an organizational issue that spreads and leads to burnout culture.
What is “burnout culture”?
Burnout culture is what happens when employee burnout is dismissed. It becomes a cycle where endless tasks, inefficiency, and the push for more and more output become the everyday norm. It’s where employees feel like they have to keep pushing themselves past their limit without enough breaks or recognition for all their hard work. In this kind of environment, breaks feel like a guilty pleasure, leading to a cycle of overwork that’s tough to escape.
This burnout culture is harmful to everyone and the company itself. It spreads throughout your team, damaging morale, building resentment, and slowing down both personal and company growth—and contributing to high employee turnover rates. But spotting burnout culture red flags gives HR and managers an opportunity to address them and work on employee burnout solutions, promoting a healthy, supportive team culture.
Recognizing the signs of employee burnout
In order to find employee burnout solutions, you need to be able to recognize the signs of employee burnout. Approaching these with empathy and hearing employees out when they express concerns is key to getting to the heart of the issues causing burnout.
Here are five key employee burnout signs you shouldn’t overlook:
- Exhaustion: When someone feels perpetually drained and lacks energy, especially when there are no personal factors fuelling that exhaustion, it’s definitely one of the signs of employee burnout.
- Reduced performance: You may see an employee who used to be at the top of their game now struggling with basic day-to-day tasks. This drop in productivity is a strong indicator they’re feeling overwhelmed and overworked.
- Detachment and isolation: Employees grappling with burnout might start feeling disconnected from their work and their teammates. They may start pulling away from social interactions, choosing instead to physically and emotionally distance themselves.
- Cynicism and negativity: If someone who was usually upbeat turns more pessimistic or cynical about their work, it’s definitely one of the signs of employee burnout. This shift in attitude can spread and dampen everyone’s spirits.
- Frequent illness: One of the major signs of employee burnout is increase in health issues, like headaches, colds, and other stress-induced ailments. High levels of stress affects how the body fights off illness, leading to more sick days.
By catching employee burnout signs early, managers can work with HR to make a plan to find employee burnout solutions before it gets worse, leading to reduced employee wellbeing, turnover, and poor productivity.
Contributing factors and how to prevent employee burnout
Now that we understand some of the top signs of employee burnout, let’s explore how to prevent employee burnout. Burnout is a tricky beast, often fueled by a web of interconnected factors and issues, and understanding these is crucial for tackling the problem. Let’s break down a few of the factors contributing to employee burnout and how you in HR and L&D can prevent employee burnout in your 2025 strategy.
Hot take: Unlimited PTO policies aren’t employee burnout solutions
In 2022, unlimited paid time off (PTO) was all the rage, touted as the perfect way to give employees the flexibility they wanted. Fast forward a couple of years and the popularity has dimmed—just 1.5 out of every 1,000 job postings mentioned unlimited PTO in July 2024, down from 3.1 in May 2022.
Why is that? On the surface, unlimited PTO offers the freedom to take time off as needed without the limits of traditional vacation days. However, studies show that no matter what form PTO policies take, U.S. employees don’t take enough time off. When considering your PTO policies, dig deeper into whether they truly address the issues of work-life balance and prevent employee burnout.
Help prevent burnout culture through employee connection
Burnout is a complex issue that is incredibly damaging to employee wellbeing, work culture, and company performance. Recognizing the signs of employee burnout like constant exhaustion, slipping performance, and growing detachment is key to addressing it before it spreads into burnout culture. By identifying factors contributing to burnout culture, you can create strategies to stop it in its tracks and build a workplace where everyone feels heard, supported, and inspired.
Combating burnout culture goes hand-in-hand with nurturing employee connections and building that supportive work environment. A mentoring program, peer learning, and employee engagement initiatives give employees opportunities to build relationships and trust with peers and leaders within your company all while breaking down silos. Together’s mentorship software aims to help HR and L&D teams create sustainable, scalable, and effective programs that nurture connections and contribute to a positive work culture.
Learn how Together can help you prevent burnout culture in your organization—book a demo today!
