Employee burnout has evolved from a wellness topic to a multi-billion-dollar operational risk for businesses worldwide.
Defined by severe physical and emotional exhaustion, it directly degrades productivity, increases absenteeism, and inflates healthcare expenditures, posing a significant threat to organizational performance.
The profound impact on individual well-being is clear, but the systemic nature of its causes—from unmanageable workloads to a lack of organizational support—demands a strategic, not just a tactical, response.
Acknowledging burnout as a systemic business problem, rather than an individual failing, is the critical first step.
And a problem understood is a problem half-solved.
To learn more about the other half of the equation, we reached out to HR experts and business leaders from the HR Spotlight community, posing to them the question:
What is the most prevalent contributing factor to employee burnout in your industry? What initiative or strategy does your organization implement to address this issue?
Read on!
Lucila Russo
Human Resources Director, Roar Media
Lucila Russo – Marketing
As the HR director for Roar Media , a multinational integrated marketing with 65 team members, I’ve noticed employee burnout often stems from the onslaught of tight deadlines and the “always-on” nature associated with this industry.
Which is why the agency addressed these challenges by systematically re-hauling our human capital management programs, listening to and prioritizing our team member’s individual needs.
As such, we developed programming and HR policies that offer flexible schedules, a “work away from office” policy that allows employees a degree of geographic autonomy, and 28 days of PTO in their first year.
In addition, we provide paid time off during the period of Chrismtas to New years and a Roar Media team employee appreciation day falling on the last day of spring break. We also initiated “No-meeting Thursdays” that ensures uninterrupted focus time.
We have also created a champion program across wellness, professional growth, team building and recognition. Our wellness champion’s program enables our team members to have access to year-round the a wellness and progressional development budget and resources that supports the team’s mental and physical health, as well as professional growth.
All these things work together to prevent burn out and foster a culture of collaboration and wellbeing.
Kevandre (Dre) Thompson
Director, Dre Thompson
Kevandre (Dre) Thompson – Recruitment
One of the most prevalent factors contributing to employee burnout in my opinion, is being stretched too thin within a lean team or having an overwhelming workload.
When workloads consistently exceed the capacity a manager, team, or individual contributor can deal with a multitude of things begin to happen. For example, stress levels rise, leading to exhaustion and decreased productivity in managing tasks, day to day duties, as well as other job functions.
Without proper support, employees struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance, which ultimately impacts engagement and retention overall.
To address this, I encourage employees to utilize their organization’s Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), PTO, and mental health days to recharge,regroup, and refocus.
Having regular check-in calls with managers fosters open communication, allowing employees to voice concerns before burnout escalates (and coming up with solutions to prevent burnout).
In addition, team-building activities help strengthen morale and create a supportive work environment.
Prioritizing well-being isn’t just a strategy, it’s imperative to sustaining a high-performing and engaged workforce.
Sara Thomas
Advisor, Mother Cover
Sara Thomas – Recruitment
One big reason employees burn out is the blurred line between work and personal life when a coworker goes on parental leave. When someone takes maternity or paternity leave, their work is usually spread across teammates who are already busy. This can lead to longer hours, constant emails, and difficulty unplugging from work.
Mother Cover solves this problem by bringing in skilled professionals to step in during parental leave. This keeps workloads balanced, helps teams avoid burnout, and allows new parents to fully disconnect without worrying about overloading their coworkers. It’s a simple but effective way to support both employees and businesses.
Sanju Zachariah
Owner and President, Portiva
Sanju Zachariah – Healthcare
In the healthcare industry, one of the most prevalent contributing factors to employee burnout is the relentless pace and emotional toll of patient care.
Staff often deal with long hours, high patient volumes, and the stress of ensuring quality service in an environment where resources can be stretched thin.
At Portiva, we address this issue by focusing on employee well-being through a combination of flexible work schedules, access to mental health resources, and fostering a culture of open communication. We prioritize creating a supportive environment where team members feel valued and heard.
Regular training on stress management and offering opportunities for professional growth are also key aspects of our strategy, ensuring our staff remains engaged and resilient in their roles.
Jean Christophe Gabler
Publisher & Founder, Yogi Times
Jean Christophe Gabler – Wellness
Burnout is frequently underestimated in the wellness sector, yet it can strike in unexpected ways. Long hours aren’t the only aspect of the job.
Holding emotional space for others is what it’s all about. Deep energy production is necessary for the profession, whether it involves coaching individuals through change, teaching a class, writing about personal development, or assisting someone in overcoming stress.
That emotional commitment and ongoing presence adds up.
Because their work is so closely linked to assisting others, many people in this field feel as though they are unable to move away. It is more difficult to pause when they are more concerned about their work.
We deal with this at Yogi Times by integrating rest into our daily routine.
Simply working too much does not cause burnout. They burn out because they never fully recover. Because we organize our work in cycles, there is real rest following bursts of creative activity.
When there are no outside interruptions during deep concentration hours, the work itself feels less taxing. Intentional communication keeps people from becoming overwhelmed by notifications. Because pointless chatter quickly depletes energy, meetings are kept to a minimum.
Simplified decision-making reduces mental exhaustion. People can remain involved without feeling exhausted when minor stressors are lessened because they accumulate over time.
Burnout isn’t usually immediately apparent. It develops when people repeatedly push past fatigue. Instead of waiting until someone hits a wall, the best approach to prevent it is to incorporate recovery into the process.
Richard Robbins – Technology
Burnout comes from employees working on things they don’t enjoy for long hours without feeling appreciated or valued for what they contribute. To combat this, we have fun employee gatherings where people can get to know each other and feel more connected.
We also try to consistently have our employees set goals that motivate them. Those goals are matched with incentives for achieving them.
For instance, we set a goal to take our management team on a cruise if we achieved a particular sales goal over the Christmas season.
Although that season was very busy, with many people working nearly twice as many hours as they were used to, achieving the goal and booking the cruise made it feel as if there was no burnout, and the time off while at sea was the perfect reset for our team.
Josh Norman
Principal & Chief Creative Officer, Texas Creative
Josh Norman – Marketing
Ad agency life is so often synonymous with the term burnout. Ask anyone in the industry. It often stems from the need for creativity on command, which means grueling 80-hour work weeks that blur all boundaries between professional and personal life. The constant pressure to produce innovative campaigns while managing client relationships and unrealistic deadlines leads to exhaustion no matter what area of the agency you work in. Pair that with the industry’s “always-on” culture of responding to emails at midnight and working weekends, a lot of people in our profession find their initial passion for creative work slowly replaced by fatigue and disillusionment.
After 40 years, our ways of working at Texas Creative have evolved over time. But one of the ways we currently combat burnout is with a simple Venn diagram that determines the type of work we’re willing to take on as an agency. We don’t accept every client that comes our way, but instead we look for clients that fit our culture.
In the three circles of the Good Client Venn Diagram we have the qualities that make a client GOOD — good work, good people, good value. At the center is the perfect client that meets all three. Good work means projects that we enjoy and can be proud of. It’s the fun tasks and the portfolio pieces that make us feel fulfilled. Good people is just that — kind, collaborative, good clients with excellent boundaries who we genuinely enjoy working with. Good value means that the amount of effort we put in is financially well-rewarded.
To have all three is ideal, but we won’t take on a client without an overlap of at least two. If it’s good work and good value, then we can handle a more difficult client. If it’s good people and good work, then the value lies in the feeling of joy we have in the project. And if it’s good people and good value, we can find joy in the most mundane of tasks when doing the work.
At the end of the day, we want our agency work culture to spark joy, not flames. So to avoid burnout, we just have to make sure the things we do at our agency are good.
Marco Manazzone – Construction
The most prevalent contributing factor to employee burnout in the construction industry is often long hours and high stress due to tight project deadlines and safety concerns. This can lead to both physical fatigue and mental stress.
To address this issue, our organization has implemented several initiatives, such as flexible scheduling to help workers manage their time, regular breaks to reduce fatigue, and access to mental health resources. We also conduct training sessions focused on stress management and resilience, empowering our employees to cope with the demands of the job effectively.
Gerard Virga
Founding Attorney, The Virga Law Firm, P.A.
Gerard Virga – Legal
At my firm, we lead with compassion for both our employees and our clients. Our approach to training new team members and junior attorneys goes hand in hand with a compassionate workplace culture. We’ve created a robust mentorship model that includes extensive shadowing opportunities.
New attorneys are paired with experienced team members, allowing them to observe real-world legal practice, client interactions, and courtroom strategies. This hands-on approach bridges the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. It also enables junior attorneys to learn how more senior staff members manage their caseloads and create healthy boundaries between their work and personal lives.
We cannot assume that employees automatically know how to have a strong work-life balance, especially in industries known for being fast-paced and demanding. Regardless of what opportunities you offer your team to combat burnout, you need to also ensure that everyone knows how to access and implement these opportunities into their lives.
For example, unlimited PTO is great, but it only works if your team knows how to take a vacation – do they know how and whom to shift their responsibilities so they have coverage while they are out? If they don’t, they won’t use the PTO.
In short, our firm prioritizes compassion in client service and workplace culture, ensuring new attorneys receive hands-on mentorship. We recognize that work-life balance isn’t intuitive, so we actively guide our team in effectively utilizing resources like PTO, helping them integrate healthy boundaries into their professional lives.
Josh Boardman
Founder, Hewes House
Josh Boardman – Creative
While many managers may think time off is the solution to employee burnout, I have found that time “on”, if directed towards a fulfilling creative task, can be just as rejuvenating.
My company has offered inspiring creative writing programs to put the pep back in the step of professionals who may feel robbed of creativity by the rigor of their jobs.
Not everybody needs a vacation — sometimes starting a new novel, the first steps of a memoir, or exploring poetry and short stories can occupy the mind and excite people even more effectively.
You’d be surprised how many people are experiencing burnout behind desks, people who once dreamed of being successful writers!
The HR Spotlight team thanks these industry leaders for offering their expertise and experience and sharing these insights.
Do you wish to contribute to the next HR Spotlight article? Or is there an insight or idea you’d like to share with readers across the globe?
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