While once a corporate buzzword, burnout is now recognised as a serious health condition resulting from chronic workplace stress. ‘Workplace’ being key; burnout is unique among health and wellbeing topics as being a condition that stems – at least primarily – from an employee’s work situation. It can affect productivity, life satisfaction, work-life balance, sleep, and happiness. 

What is burnout?

Burnout is recognised as a state of physical, emotional or mental exhaustion, caused by a number of work-related stress factors. As one of our experts notes, it has three dimensions. Along with overwhelming exhaustion, it manifests in feelings of negativity or cynicism for the job and reduced effectiveness at work. It occurs when stress levels go beyond the point of occasional spikes and simply won’t subside, becoming something you’re constantly carrying. These feelings and emotions among employees can understandably affect workplace productivity, particularly when they lead to emotional and physical withdrawal from work.

Employee self-esteem and stress

Our findings show that, since 2019, employees think less positively about themselves. They also think more negatively about themselves. In fact, self-esteem has declined significantly in the past five years. Based on the responses we received, 42% of employees fall into the low self-esteem group, compared to only 26% in 2019.

Our insights also indicate a connection between low self-esteem and high stress. 70% of employees who described their lives as very stressful also find themselves within this low self-esteem category.

Our findings show that dissatisfaction with life as a whole has steadily risen among employees since 2019, from 33% in 2019 up to 43%.

All of this affects an individual's capacity to address and manage their work-life balance. And with such high, ongoing stress levels being identified by our experts as a key indicator of burnout, it’s vital for your company to be aware of these correlating factors like self-esteem and dissatisfaction.

Access to supports

The good news is that there is a willingness to get access to support. 60% of employees told us that they are interested in receiving digital support or attending mindfulness courses or counselling for burnout through a workplace wellness programme.

However, our findings also tell us that only 14% have access to helpful guidelines around mental health issues such as stress, anxiety and depression in the workplace. This might indicate a timely opportunity for your company to consider burnout-related content as part of any employee wellness programme.

* Please note some services and benefits are plan dependent.