Career Well-Being: Is This the Antidote for Workplace Burnout?

Despite unprecedented investment in workplace wellness — from mental health apps to financial counseling — American workers are burning out at alarming rates. Some studies show 66% of workers experienced burnout in 2025, a 32% increase from the previous year.

Burnout can stem from many sources, including physical, lifestyle and social factors. Traditionally, employers have focused on financial and mental well-being and offer robust programs to manage these stressors. For example, financial well-being programs may focus on money management to ease financial stress, while mental well-being initiatives may provide emotional support and psychosocial safety.

But one area employers often neglect to address organizational wellness is career well-being, which centers on the workplace factors shaping the employee experience and mitigating the factors that frequently lead to burnout. From the employer’s perspective, career well-being focuses on developing strong leadership, regular recognition, flexibility, belonging, psychological safety and meaningful work in how the organization manages its people. The ultimate goal is to enable workers to experience daily personal and professional fulfillment.

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The Nature of Workplace Burnout

Burnout manifests differently for individuals in the workplace. It could be the result of:

• Excessive amounts of work without recognition;
• Inconsistent leadership
• Few opportunities for career growth; and/or,
• A mismatch between their strengths and assignments.

Addressing these issues requires “interoperability” across the workplace — with HR and total rewards (TR) leaders working in collaboration with business leaders and people managers to integrate benefits, learning and talent development in every decision impacting the employee experience.

Individual managers are often the first line of defense in mitigating burnout with their direct reports. With regular touchpoints on performance, engagement and stress, managers can inform leadership and HR/TR on employee progress and ensure proper resources are available and in place to support holistic career well-being.

Beyond managers, HR/TR professionals play an important role in setting organizational strategy to mitigate burnout before it spreads. They can work with corporate leaders to create policies or offer tailored support where it’s needed. Additionally, insights from training and career development can help align employees’ desired work interests with business needs. When considering supplemental benefits offerings like financial wellness and employee assistance programs (EAPs), reviewing utilization data also can help further align employee interest and need.

Promoting Career Well-Being

HR/TR professionals, in coordination with business leaders, can implement a variety of strategies to support career well-being across the organization. These include:

• Integrating leadership development. Leaders set the tone for organizational culture. Their thoughts, decisions and behavior affect not only employees’ day-to-day experience but also how much stress those workers feel. Managers themselves are at risk of burnout, so investing in their mental fitness is just as critical as training them to support others. Organizations can help managers develop skills to lead with empathy, notice employees’ strengths and assign meaningful work. When managers are supportive and attentive, it can encourage learning, treat mistakes as chances to grow and create a safe environment where employees feel comfortable speaking up.
• Developing recognition and purpose systems for all levels of accomplishment. Recognition works best when seen as part of the organization’s foundation, rather than a perk. By embedding it into daily routines like meetings, reviews and project milestones, it becomes a constant source of connection, trust and purpose that helps guard against burnout. It’s especially powerful when peers, not just managers, recognize each other — building stronger teamwork and a sense of community. Regular recognition helps employees see how their work contributes to the organization’s larger mission beyond daily tasks.
• Aligning career development with employee aspiration. Career development (i.e., mentorship programs or skill-building initiatives) can help employees grow in their roles while showing that their goals and aspirations are prioritized. It can give employees room to advance in ways that align with their career path and help continuously build skills, so they don’t feel as if theirs are stagnant. Supporting career well-being also may include redesigning work to allow for creativity, re-energizing and active recovery. This can allow employees to feel more engaged, cognizant of their value, and equipped to contribute meaningfully to their work.

The Path Forward

Career well-being isn’t another HR/TR initiative to check off a list — it’s a core business objective and, perhaps, the missing link to solving workplace burnout. With burnout affecting two-thirds of American workers, an emphasis on career well-being can represent a well-rounded, organization-wide strategy to improve the work experience at all levels.

The path forward requires interoperability across every function that touches the employee experience. When executives, HR/TR, learning and development, people managers, and operations align their efforts around career well-being — integrating benefits, development programs and workplace practices — organizations don’t just reduce burnout. They build resilient workplaces where employees may thrive, contribute and stay engaged for the long term.

Editor’s Note: Additional Content

For more information and resources related to this article, see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics:

• Employee Benefits
• Employee Recognition
• Well-Being
• Workforce Engagement