Let’s start by looking at recent statistics to see burnout as a societal phenomenon.
In a 2022 Microsoft survey of 20,000 people in 11 countries, 48 % of employees and 53 % of managers reported feeling burned out at work. Those are high percentages. Think about your surroundings. Can it be that every other person there is dealing with or has dealt with burnout?
A Finnish study done in 2021 showed that burnout symptoms among workers in Finland have somewhat increased compared to pre-pandemic times. Similarly, a study from late 2020 shows that 60 % of Finnish university students are completely burnt-out or at risk of burnout. Many of them have recently entered working life — ready to burn out.
Longer working hours, less work-life balance, and online-meeting fatigue were to blame.
The COVID-19 pandemic made things worse. In a 2020 survey of American tech employees by the community app Blind, 68 % said they felt more burned out than when they worked at an office. Longer working hours, less work-life balance, and online-meeting fatigue were to blame.
Burnout doesn’t only cause suffering to the individual and their loved ones but has a huge cost for companies, too. At the latest, the big price tag of burnout should be a warning sign for companies to start building a healthy and sustainable work culture.
Employees who report they very often or always experience burnout at work are 63 % more likely to go on sick leave. In Finland, on average, one day of sick leave costs 350 euros per employee. In the tech industry, the cost is much higher.
Burnout has other costly consequences: lower productivity and decreased ability to concentrate.
Besides sick leaves, burnout has other costly effects: lower productivity and reduced concentration ability. When chronic stress is on, our focus is on the threats and on surviving those threats, not on the big picture.
Eventually, we get the doctor's appointment and are prescribed sick leave. We might start feeling better within a few weeks if we go there early enough. If we go too late, we might need months to recover. To sum it up, burnout has a high cost. Prevention is much cheaper. And it’s our human responsibility.
Now that we have a statistical understanding of the crisis, you’re probably hungry to learn why burnout is such a huge phenomenon. Before we list a few explanations, ask yourself...
Reflection exercise 1
What do I think is the biggest reason people burn out? If you have a colleague next to you, ask their opinion, too.
Check if your answer is related to the reasons researchers have found out:
Work-life has become more intense: more information, more channels, more stimuli, and a faster pace.
Management practices are unfair, inconsistent, or don’t support well-being.
Workers set demanding goals in many areas of life at the same time.
Lifestyle doesn’t support recovery and healthy habits (sleep, regular exercise, good nutrition).
Company culture (e.g., what’s expected or rewarded) doesn’t align with people’s values.
Psychological needs, e.g., appreciation, aren’t met at work.
This is a rather short list. There are plenty more. Let’s dig deeper into the phenomenon and its risk factors in the coming sections.