Staff burnout. How to identify and fight it.

Burnout is a state of mental and emotional exhaustion that can occur in employees as a result of stress and overwork. It can lead to reduced productivity, deteriorating team relationships, and the loss of valuable talent. Employee burnout is a serious problem for companies around the world.

In this article, we will look at:

  1. the consequences of employee burnout and how it can affect business;
  2. identifying employee burnout with the help of a test;
  3. methods of combating employee burnout.


Consequences of employee burnout for business.

  1. Decreased productivity. Tired and exhausted employees may not be able to perform their duties at full capacity, which leads to a deterioration in the quality of work.
  2. Deterioration of health. Fatigue, stress, and bad mood can cause physical and psychological problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, depression, and anxiety. As a result, employees may take excessive sick leaves, be absent from the workplace, miss project deadlines, etc.
  3. Reduced quality of work. Failure to perform work at full capacity can lead to the loss of customers and a negative impact on the company's reputation.
  4. Reduced employee motivation. Fatigue and stress can lead to feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness, which can affect relationships with colleagues and the mood in the team.
  5. Loss of talent. Often, the best employees leave precisely because of a high level of burnout.


It is very easy to identify employee burnout. For this purpose, there is a specialised test in the Smart Way online personnel testing platform - Level of Professional Burnout. The test is fully automated, HR just needs to send it to the employee, the employee takes it online (you can do it from your phone in your free time), and HR receives a report in the system with the employee's burnout level. The average time to complete the burnout test is 15 minutes.

The report describes two parameters of employee burnout:

  1. The level of psycho-emotional exhaustion. This indicator reflects the level of fatigue and emotional stress that an employee experiences while performing their duties. The psycho-emotional level of exhaustion includes such components as emotional overload, deterioration of health, low mood, feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness. If this level is high according to the test results, it indicates that the employee is in a state of burnout and is not capable of full productivity.
  2. The level of personal alienation. This indicator reflects the degree of alienation and distance of an employee from their work and relationships with colleagues. Personal alienation includes such signs as job dissatisfaction, lack of interest in professional activities, disagreement with management's attitude toward employees, and other similar manifestations. If the test results are high, this indicates that the employee feels emotionally and psychologically distant from their work and colleagues.

If the test results are low, then you have nothing to worry about, your employees are full of energy.

If the results are average, you already need to work on reducing employee burnout.

If the results are high, then your business is already losing money, and you need to make appropriate decisions.

To effectively assess the level of staff burnout, testing should be conducted systematically at least once every six months. It is also extremely important to conduct a burnout test for candidates when hiring, otherwise you risk getting a “burnt out” employee immediately.

So, staff burnout testing is a necessary step in implementing an effective human resource management strategy.


But it's not enough to just test your staff for burnout. You need to manage the burnout process itself.

To do this:

  1. Identify the main factors of burnout. These can be stress, overwork, low job satisfaction, etc. If you identify the main causes of burnout, you can focus on preventing them.
  2. Analyse the test results. Test results should be analysed to identify the most vulnerable areas in your workforce. This will help you focus on preventing and improving them.
  3. Plan actions based on the results. Based on the results of the test, develop an action plan to prevent burnout and improve the condition of your staff.


After testing your staff and identifying “burnt out” employees, a logical question arises: how to deal with and prevent employee burnout?

Here are the main and effective methods:

  1. Create a positive working atmosphere. The team needs to feel supported and understood by each other and management. Providing comfortable working conditions, opportunities for development and growth, and motivational programmes will help reduce the risk of burnout.
  2. Allow employees to change their tasks. Monotonous and routine work can lead to fatigue and loss of motivation. Give your employees the opportunity to participate in a variety of projects to avoid burnout.
  3. Introduce flexible working hours. Employees need enough time to recover and rest. To prevent burnout, allow employees to work flexible hours that fit their needs and capabilities.
  4. Provide support and education. Training and development programmes will help employees maintain high performance and stay motivated. Professional development, educational courses and training sessions will ensure employee development and reduce the risk of burnout.
  5. Support healthy lifestyles. Encourage employees to adopt healthy lifestyles, such as regular physical activity, healthy eating, and healthy sleep. Give employees the opportunity to attend sporting events and competitions, and provide them with opportunities to rest and recover after a hard work period.
  6. Develop a stress management policy. Stress is a major cause of employee burnout. Develop a stress management policy that includes methods and approaches to reduce stress in the organisation. Provide opportunities for employees to rest and relax, organise stress management and psychological support trainings.
  7. Create a system to monitor burnout through testing. Employees' performance and mood indicators should be monitored to detect signs of burnout in a timely manner and take the necessary measures. Develop a system for monitoring employee mood and satisfaction to ensure that problems are addressed immediately.


Employee burnout is becoming an increasingly serious problem for companies and can seriously affect their efficiency and success. Applying the above-mentioned methods and approaches can help a company avoid this problem, keeping employees healthy and motivated, and ensuring sustainable business development.

Remember that burnout is difficult to detect in the early stages, so it is necessary to conduct regular staff testing and create conditions to support employees' psychological well-being.

Testing your staff for burnout is an important part of a successful company's resource management strategy. It will help to detect and prevent employee burnout in time, maintain their psychological well-being, and increase business productivity in general. Take care of your employees: it will be the best investment in your business productivity.