Why You Should Care About Burnout (Even If You Don't Think You Have To)

Every year, we collect so much data through our Community Surveys that it is impossible to touch on everything in one report. This is the second in a series of quick dives into our 2021 Workplace Well-Being Report data to discuss interesting findings that caught our eye and deserve some of the spotlight, but didn't quite find their way into the final report.

Let’s get this out of the way first:

You should care about burnout because your people deserve to be cared for.

That’s it. That’s the post.

But... we understand it's not always that simple. If you’re a leader juggling tight budgets, competing priorities, and board questions about ROI, I get it — you might need more than that. Maybe you’re trying to make the case for investment in employee well-being. Maybe you’re hoping to convince someone above you. Or maybe you’re just trying to understand what the real impact of burnout actually is.

Whatever your reason, this Short Report is meant to highlight some of the important ways that burnout can affect your organization and your bottom line – because that does matter too.

If You Care About Turnover, You Should Care About Burnout

One of the clearest takeaways from our 2021 Workplace Well-Being Report was the staggering rise of burnout in our workplaces.

73% reported feeling burnout at least "sometimes" in the last three months. Only 11% said they hadn't experienced it at all. These numbers are considerably higher than anything we had seen before the pandemic, but they are just numbers. How do they factor into your bottom line?

Burnout is a key factor in the “Great Resignation”.

Organizations are losing talent at unparalleled rates and struggling to replace talent, with teams continually left to do more with less. This is a costly problem for organizations - research suggests that the cost of losing just one employee can range from tens of thousands of dollars to over twice the employee’s annual salary. Because of this, organizations are doing everything they can to address their talent management challenges.

This trend was front and centre in our report. 34% of respondents had started a new job during COVID-19, and another 25% were either expecting to leave or open to leaving their job in the next six months.

So where does burnout fit into all of this? Well, strap in. We examined responses from the 1,221 respondents that had not changed jobs during the pandemic looking to understand the relationship between burnout and the percentage of employees considering leaving their job. We got our answer.

Of the employees who hadn’t changed jobs during the pandemic:

• Only 8% of those who weren’t burned out were considering leaving
• Almost 30% of those who were burned out “often” — and almost 50% of those burned out “extremely often” — were thinking about quitting in the next 6 months

Let that sink in: half of your most burned-out employees are already looking for the door. 

We talk a lot about the Great Resignation, but too often we miss the root cause: people are leaving to protect their well-being.

When we asked respondents why they were considering leaving their job, more than half identified a reason linked to improving their personal well-being – feeling burnt out, feeling overworked, or feeling under-appreciated. It was far and away the most common theme.

This is a critical takeaway. Many leaders approach employee well-being and turnover as if they are two distinct and separate issues, but our data suggests that they are inextricably linked. And if this data is anything to go by, it’s possible that supporting employees’ well-being and preventing burnout is one clear strategy to help retain top talent.

If You Care About Your Reputation, You Should Care About Burnout

We often view burnout as strictly an internal issue — but it affects how your employees talk about you externally.

We looked at burnout scores alongside employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) — a metric that reflects how likely someone is to recommend your organization as a place to work.

The results?

• Employees experiencing frequent burnout had eNPS scores well in the negatives
• Those scores mean there are more detractors (employees actively speaking negatively about their organization) than promoters

What does this all mean in simple language? It means that not only does burnout play a role in employees’ experiences of their work, it also plays a substantial role in how employees talk about their work experiences in their community. And in a world where organizations are actively fighting to attract talent, that reputation matters. 

That negative buzz is a real liability. Especially when job seekers are explicitly looking for workplaces that support well-being.

So Where Should You Start?

We believe data is only powerful when it leads to action, so where should you start? Here are some strategies to focus on:

1. Measure Burnout - Not Just Engagement. Burnout has become one of the most important indicators of organizational health, but most companies aren’t measuring it directly. Our team at YMCA WorkWell is trying to fix that. We developed a 5-question burnout add-on that can be added to our standard WorkWell Insights Survey. It gives you clear, actionable data to go beyond just measuring employee engagement and digging deeper into burnout levels, which teams are most affected, and what employees need to support their well-being.
   
   
2. Take Workload Seriously. Here's the hard truth: unmanageable workloads were the #1 driver of burnout in our 2021 Workplace Well-Being Report. And yet, it's often the thing leaders feel least equipped to tackle. We know that workload is often considered an “untouchable” challenge or one that can only be addressed through hiring. But the solution isn't always hiring, it's rethinking; effective prioritization, combatting inefficient processes, and dropping or automating low-value work. If we want to be serious about burnout, we have to be serious about workload too.

The Bottom Line

I'll end this post where I started: You should care about burnout because your people deserve to be cared for. But if you are looking for more reasons, here they are:

• Burnout drives turnover
• Burnout damages your reputation
• Burnout is costing your organization time, energy, and money

You can’t afford to ignore it. And you don’t have to solve it alone.

Book your free consultation with our team today to see how we can help you measure and combat burnout in your organization.