The High Cost of Burnout for Employees and Employers

Organizations’ pursuit of more (output, revenue, etc.) and employers’ perceived experience of less (recognition, backing, favor) is generating increased tension. It’s perhaps not surprising then that, according to a new survey report by consulting firm Robert Half, U.S. workers are feeling more burned out.

In the survey of nearly 2,000 working Americans, 36% of respondents stated they feel burned out and 33% reported feeling more burned out than a year ago. Their top contributors of burnout in the workplace include:

Heavy workloads and long hours (40%)
A lack of support or recognition from their manager (30%)
Few professional growth opportunities (27%)

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How Employers Can Help Prevent Burnout for HR/TR Leaders

A separate Robert Half survey of more than 1,600 hiring managers found employee burnout:

Delayed project timelines (39%)
Decreased productivity of existing staff (37%)
Had higher employee turnover (36%)

There are financial implications associated with a stressed and overworked workforce.

Employee burnout is likely costing organizations millions of dollars each year, ranging from approximately $4,000 to $21,000 per employee in the U.S., according to a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. That means a 1,000-employee company in the U.S. would, on average, be losing about $5 million annually as the result of this issue.

Using a computational simulation model, the researchers found burnout costs:

$3,999 for an hourly non-manager;
$4,257 for a salaried non-manager;
$10,824 for a manager; and,
$20,683 for an executive.

“Companies should view [these findings] less as a cost and more of a need for investment,” said Bruce Y. Lee, a professor at the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy and the senior author of the study.

This article discusses how employers can address employee burnout and take meaningful action steps before burnout affects their bottom line.

What’s Causing Burnout?

Several factors may affect an employee’s well-being, said Cathleen Swody, an organizational psychologist and managing partner at Foster Talent Consulting. These include:

Chronic overload
A lack of control
Unclear priorities
Stalled development
Ineffective leadership

“It results from a mismatch between what people are being asked to do and what they have the capacity, clarity or control to manage,” Swody said. “It’s either [employees are] feeling burned out because they’re chronically under a microscope, or they feel they’re on their own because they don’t have somebody guiding them.”

Swody said leaders should watch for subtle signs of burnout, like emotional distancing, disengagement and decreased initiative.

“Over time, it can escalate into absenteeism, low productivity, cynicism or turnover,” she said. “It’s also culturally contagious, affecting team morale and collaboration.”

Hybrid work also can contribute to burnout. According to a Deloitte survey of 1,274 American workers, constant connectivity and blurred boundaries disproportionately impact women and younger workers, increasing their fatigue and stress levels.

“While employees truly value the flexibility that remote and hybrid work can offer, without cultural support and structural norms, that flexibility can quickly turn into overwork rather than providing the balance it promises,” said Michael Gilmartin, a senior manager and lead researcher at Deloitte Consulting.

Addressing Employee Burnout

Instead of viewing burnout as a failure, employers can consider it a business challenge they can solve with resources and an improved corporate culture.

“Preventing burnout requires more than adding wellness programs — it means tackling the systemic factors that contribute to it in the first place,” Gilmartin said. “That includes rethinking job design to promote growth and purpose, cutting back on low-value meetings, aligning tasks with employees’ strengths, and setting clear team norms around communication and flexibility.”

Additionally, Deloitte’s 2025 Human Capital Trends Report found 40% of managers said their mental health declined when they took on a managerial or leadership role, signaling a need for employers to better support leaders who are experiencing burnout themselves.

“Leadership is one of the most influential levers in burnout prevention and workplace culture,” Gilmartin said. “Harmful behaviors such as micromanagement, lack of recognition and emotional unavailability can accelerate burnout, while positive leadership can catalyze meaningful cultural transformation.”

To mitigate burnout, Swody offered these strategies for employers:

Train managers to empower others instead of defaulting to micromanagement.
Structure work so leaders are not the sole decision-makers, thus creating a bottleneck.
Leverage employee engagement surveys to identify precursors to burnout, creating psychological safety for people to say, “I’m stuck” or “I need help.”

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