Burnout in the Workplace: Signs, Causes & Ways to Prevent It
Last Updated on March 27, 2025 by Prath
Reviewed by April Justice, LICSW
- Published on 27 March 2025
Odds are you’ve experienced burnout and workplace stress at some point in your life: Waking up tired, blanking out at an empty screen, unable to form a cohesive thought during meetings, and feeling irritated and stressed out for not having accomplished anything at the end of the day.
Then, you reach home to find another set of strenuous tasks like laundry, cooking, and cleaning. It’s like you are a soda bottle that is shaken too much, ready to explode, yet the lid is screwed on so tight that nothing comes out.
Right now, this feeling is burnout. If left unresolved, it can quickly lead to withdrawal, depression, or anxiety.
The good news is that dealing with workplace exhaustion is possible. Let’s look into the signs, causes, and a simple approach to overcome burnout.
This Article Contains:
Understanding Burnout & Workplace Stress
Job burnout is harmful and distressing not only to employees but also to employers and organisations.
Have you heard of the proverb ‘For Want of a Nail’?
“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”
― Benjamin Franklin
Just like in the saying, small mishaps – like neglecting an employee’s work stress – can snowball into major consequences, like losing the collective strength of the company.
The truth is that burnout is a systemic failure. As we explore later, organisations can address employee well-being through preventative rather than reactive fixes. (See section: Workplace Burnout Prevention)
What is Burnout?
Burnout is an occupational phenomenon. For example, employees may experience burnout when job demands (ie workload, long working hours, interpersonal conflict) are chronically disproportionate to job resources (ie EAP support, job autonomy, healthy work environment).
You may have burnout and workplace stress if:
- Every workday feels like a bad day
- You don’t have the energy to think about any aspects of your personal life
- You’re emotionally and physically drained all the time
- Nothing you do feels rewarding or worthy of appreciation
“Employers tend to overlook the role of the workplace in driving employee mental health and well-being, engagement, and performance.”
Signs of Employee Burnout
Burnout and workplace stress can affect you both mentally and physically – just like every other psychological condition.
For example, people who have generalised anxiety may often experience stomach aches or a condition known as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Research shows that any mental distress can activate the central nervous system and affect the digestive processes.
You may have also noticed the opposite. Like having thyroid issues or diabetes can increase stress or cause mood swings.
The body-and-mind connection makes it all the more important for organisations to invest in employee well-being. To that end, let’s look at some of the common mental and physical signs of employee burnout.
1) Mental Burnout Signs
a) Emotional Exhaustion
On a daily basis, do you feel:
- Drained to cope with the demands of work and personal tasks?
- Lethargic and unbothered about your career?
- Like your brain is stuffed with information and thoughts you can’t seem to grasp?
- A pervasive sense of being overwhelmed?
- Like you want to cry all the time, even when you receive minor admin-related tasks?
You may be emotionally exhausted if you say yes to most or all of the above.
b) Dissociation
Do you regularly tend to:
- ‘Space out’ to such an extent that you don’t feel familiar with the world or yourself when you snap back to reality?
- Put off work tasks by mentally escaping or chronically imagining an idealised version of yourself?
- Forget important details or information related to work or personal life (eg deadlines, birthdays, or meetings)
- Feel like you’re watching yourself from a third-person perspective?
If yes to most of the above, you may experience dissociation. The signs can be hard to spot without professional help. Hence, we strongly recommend you talk to a TYHO Therapist who is well-qualified in workplace counselling.
c) Increased Irritability
Do you find yourself:
- Getting irritated every time you have to work on something new at work?
- Feeling angry at everyone around you, especially at home?
- Unable to handle difficult situations?
- Frustrated to do daily personal tasks like cooking or cleaning?
If you say yes to all of the above, it could indicate that your increased irritability is due to workplace burnout.
EAP support reduces sick leaves by 33%, lost time by 40%, and work-related stress by 65%.
2) Physical Burnout Signs
a) Gut Problems
We may all have heard of the gut-brain connection. In fact, many go a step ahead to say that the gut is the second brain.
What does that mean? Next time you feel nervous or excited, notice where you find that emotion first. For most people, it is the gut.
To date, it’s still a debate whether we experience emotions or bodily reactions first – and for a good reason. That’s why the emotional impact on the gut is of such significant importance.
Some common gut-related issues you may experience due to burnout include:
- Abdominal cramps
- Heartburn
- Loose stools
- Uncontrollable bloating
- Abdominal pain
b) Muscle Pain and Tension
Often, you may feel stress-related pain in your neck, face, shoulders, or back. When excessive workplace stress adds up, the muscle pain can become chronic.
For example, have you heard that it’s common to clench your teeth at night due to anxiety? Or that it’s common to get headaches at the center of your head due to stress?
Research shows that some of the most common types of chronic pain (eg rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and migraines) and mental health disorders share biological mechanisms and are, therefore, interconnected to each other.
c) Fatigue
Experiencing burnout or workplace stress can cause the brain to activate the nervous system and leave it on at all times.
Imagine never turning off a light in the room. Perhaps after a year, the battery may run out, or the light may start to dim or turn off entirely. Your nervous system is like a tube light. If the brain never switches it off, the body may have to shut down by itself.
The phenomenon that occurs when your body turns off its functionality is known as fatigue.
When you experience fatigue due to burnout, you may not have the energy to do simple tasks like brushing your teeth. However, the starting stages of fatigue may appear in much smaller increments: Tiredness or sleepiness all day, muscle weakness, slow reflexes etc.
What to Do if You're Stuck in a Functional Freeze Mode
Being in a ‘functional freeze’ mode due to burnout means that you’re unable to perform or carry out certain tasks or struggle to make decisions due to a mental block.
A mental freeze feels like being stuck in a room without windows or doors. It is frustrating, painful, and lonely. However, you can train to remove yourself from the room. You can train to unfreeze yourself.
Here are two strategies that can help:
1) Forest Bathing
Forest bathing, or ‘Shinrin Yoku’, is a Japanese tradition of immersing oneself in forests. Unlike active immersion, like trekking or mountain climbing, forest bathing focuses on slowing down through gentle activities like strolling, being mindful of the smells and sounds of the surroundings, and exploring the nearby areas.
Try this: If you don’t live near forests, find a park near your residence and take long walks every morning. Nature thrives everywhere – the more you try to notice it, the more it becomes present in your life.
2) Laughter Yoga
Combining laughter with yogic breath work leads to surprisingly positive benefits such as uplifting moods, reducing stress, removing yourself from the freeze mode, and inducing a state of peace.
Try this: Invite a friend or family member to try laughter yoga with you. After all, watching your loved ones laugh for no reason can be the quickest way to get yourself to join the fun!
Causes of Job Burnout
If you relate to the signs we explored in this article yet feel like there’s no way you fit into this issue, we want to remind you of this gently: Anyone can experience burnout.
You may love your job, but taking over 3 people’s workload as a single employee can lead to stress. You may have reasonable tasks or deadlines, but working under a toxic manager can lead to exhaustion.
A varied combination of factors can lead to burnout and work stress. Hence, it’s important to be kind to yourself and analyse your symptoms and causes from a place of love and care.
Below are some of the most common causes of burnout:
- Lack of support and understanding from management: If you work under a manager or a team that doesn’t give importance to developing interpersonal relationships, you may more likely experience burnout.
- Lack of clarity in the role: Research shows that, globally, only 60% of workers have clarity in their work. If you struggle to understand what is expected of you, or if management compels you to work on tasks you were not previously informed of, you may experience intense stress trying to figure out the logistics of everything.
- Unmanageable workload: When you have so many tasks to do that you can’t fit into your work hours, it may eventually lead to burnout. An unmanageable workload can make employees feel incompetent, unmotivated, and stressed.
- Discrimination or harassment: Discrimination in any form and place harms a person’s mental health. The effects are more so detrimental when they occur in the workplace, where you may spend most of the time in a day.
Workplace Burnout Prevention
Finding solutions to work-related stress management requires careful consideration of the employee, employer, and the workplace.
Whether you are an employee or an employer, think about these two questions:
- “Who is burning out?”
- “Why am I/is this person burning out?”
Which of the above do you think is the right question?
Remember that it is in the ‘why’ of everything that we can deconstruct the roots of any problem. So, if you’ve already guessed it, the 2nd question is more impactful.
Preventing burnout also depends on the relationship between the job and the person.
Do you, as an employee, have a positive and healthy work environment where you can thrive?
If yes, then burnout may depend on other personal factors such as relationship issues, an existing condition such as obsessive-compulsive disorder or other neurodevelopmental conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
If no, then burnout may directly depend on causes stemming from work – like lack of employee support and well-being, work overload, or lack of soft skills training.
No matter the cause of your burnout, there are things you and your employer can do to prioritise employees’ mental health.
1) Employers Can
- Make use of surveys or free questionnaires such as the burnout assessment tool (BAT) to measure the occurrence of burnout once or twice a year
- Periodically conduct self- or group-reflection activities to assess workloads, working hours, bandwidth, and team dynamics
- Evaluate their workplace values and whether the company is following through with them.
- Look into employee assistance programs (EAP) to provide regular mental health counselling to their employees.
At TYHO, we provide EAP services such as talk therapy, empathy circles (ie small group discussions), workshops, seminars and on-site support for crisis situations. Feel free to book a demo of our program.
2) Employees Can
- Take notice of whatever is within their circle of control: Self-care, setting boundaries, prioritising mental and physical health, saying no, being assertive
- Prioritise social relationships by suggesting ways to improve team dynamics at work
- Seek professional counselling to learn scientific skills to cope with their burnout and work stress
- Talk to their companies and pitch the idea of investing in an EAP program
Sometimes, the reason for an unbalanced workplace could be that no one is aware of the existence of stress.
So, simply being proactive about your needs as an employee can not only help you receive benefits such as talk therapy, but it may also highlight your value to the company.
A win-win for everybody.
Key Takeaways
- Burnout and workplace stress affect employees, employers, and the entire organisation. The causes and effects are systemic rather than personal.
- Burnout can lead to mental and physical symptoms.
- Mental signs include emotional exhaustion, dissociation, and increased irritability.
- Physical signs include gut issues, chronic pain, and fatigue.
- Common causes of workplace burnout are lack of support & clarity in role, heavy workloads, and discrimination.
- Workplace burnout prevention is possible when both employees and employers act proactively and seek professional EAP support.
