The Big Burnout

Long hours, low pay and a lack of appreciation — among other things — can make for a stressful workplace and lead to burnout. It’s something we should all be concerned about, because over half of the workforce reports feeling it

- By Dr Dean Burnett. Photographs by Getty Images and Alamy

Burnout is mentioned a lot these days. But what is it, exactly? A disease? A disorder? A driving based video game? Actually, it’s none of these things (well, there is a video game but that’s not what we’re discussing here).

Burnout is the phenomenon where an individual’s health (physical and mental) and functionality suffers due to them experiencing excessive stress for extended periods, specifically from their job. As such, it’s officially classed as an ‘occupational phenomenon’ (see ‘What is burnout?’, p41).

There are those who may scoff at this. After all, hard work never hurt anyone, right? It’s character building! You’ve got to work hard if you want to succeed. You don’t get something for nothing, etc. Overall, there are many societal factors and assumptions that can, and do, lead people to assume that constant hard work only has positive outcomes.

The data tells a very different story, however. The reason burnout is mentioned so often is because surveys (conducted in the US) reveal that, pre-pandemic, 43 per cent of workers reported experiencing some form of burnout. Nearly half of the entire workforce.