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Burnout red flags: What you might be missing

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Published 17 Jul 2025

Despite efforts to address job burnout, many employees are still hitting a wall. And the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace may be adding to the stress. Understanding burnout is a first step toward avoiding it.

Burnout — a state of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion — affects one in two workers globally, according to a recent report by BCG. In the US alone, a majority of respondents in the 2024 Work in America survey (67%) reported experiencing, in the last month, at least one sign often associated with workplace burnout, such as lack of interest or motivation, low energy, and feeling lonely or isolated. 

What is burnout and why are workers really worn out?

“Burnout is a response to prolonged stress. It is typically chronic and severe,” said Elizabeth Jung Rowlinson, a Counselling Psychologist and Corporate Wellness Advisor at The Fortitude Partners in Hong Kong.  

Our workplaces can be epicenters of stress. Heavy workloads, long hours, and toxic work environments are common contributing factors to burnout.  

Sally Clarke, a burnout coach and author of Protect Your Spark: How to Prevent Burnout and Live Authentically, stresses that the problem is more than just too much work. 

“Burnout is about not enough recovery, not enough agency and not enough meaningful interaction,” she said. 

For example, employees who lack a sense of belonging at work or feel unable to surface concerns about stressful conditions—due to fear of retaliation or humiliation—may be at greater risk of burnout. With this lack of psychological safety, stress and frustration build up over time and intensify feelings of exhaustion, powerlessness, and cynicism.  

Signs of burnout you may not know

Burnout can be difficult to recognize, as signs vary from person to person. Some people may not realize they are already burned out until it has taken hold, while others may even downplay the feeling. 

“A lot of people who are on track to burn out very quickly enter a state of denial about it in part because the behaviors that are driving them towards burnout are also driving them towards career success or are otherwise validated in the work culture that they find themselves in,” said Clarke. 

In the office, common markers of burnout include decreased productivity, reduced performance or absenteeism. 

“In the finance industry, when employees identify strongly with their capabilities in their work environment, it can be scary to start to see that they’re perhaps making more mistakes or are not able to perform in the way that they used to. It can have almost an existential quality to it,” she explains. 

But burnout can also manifest physically – through persistent fatigue, difficulty sleeping, frequent headaches, skin rashes or digestive issues. People experiencing it can exhibit increased irritability, social isolation or cynicism. This may even appear as bitterness towards colleagues, customers or the company itself — behaviors that can be highly damaging. 

Physical Emotional Behavioral
  • Feeling tired or
    exhausted most of
    the time
  • Reoccurring
    insomnia and
    sleep disturbances
  • Frequent
    headaches
  • Muscle or joint
    pain
  • Gastrointestinal
    problems, such as
    feeling sick or loss
    of appetite
  • Frequent illness
    due to lowered
    immunity
  • High blood
    pressure
  • Issues breathing
  • Feeling helpless,
    trapped, and/or
    defeated
  • Self-doubt, feeling
    a failure or
    worthless
  • Feeling detached
    and alone in the
    world
  • Feeling
    overwhelmed
  • Feeling
    demotivated,
    having a
    cynical/negative
    outlook
  • Lacking sense of
    satisfaction and
    achievement
  • Loss of interest
    and enjoyment
  • Persistent feelings
    of dread, worry
    and anxiety
  • Procrastinating
    and taking longer
    to complete things
  • Difficulty
    concentrating
  • Decreased output
    and productivity
  • Becoming isolated
    and withdrawing
    from people,
    responsibilities etc
  • Reliant on food,
    drugs or alcohol to
    cope
  • Irritable and short-
    tempered, likely to
    have outbursts
    and take
    frustrations out on
    others
  • Increased
    tardiness, being
    late for work
    and/or higher
    absenteeism

Source: Mental Health UK

If you feel something, do something

With such a diverse range of potential signs of burnout, experts say employees should listen to their own bodies when something starts to feel off. 

“I'd say as soon as you start to notice these symptoms, it's really important to start to prioritize fiercely your own wellbeing,” said Clarke, who herself experienced burnout in her previous career as a finance lawyer. “This can be a little bit of a countercultural or counterintuitive thought when we see a lot of other people around us in a highly competitive work environment, simply working crazy hours and pouring all of ourselves into our work. But if we don't take steps to make our work and our career sustainable, we will very likely find ourselves in a place of deep burnout, which can take months, if not years, to recover from. Prevention really is better than the cure.” 

Setting boundaries (e.g. saying “no”), exercising assertiveness, taking a break from work, seeking professional help, and engaging in self-care activities can help prevent burnout. Some people have taken to “quiet quitting” in response to stress by putting less effort into or disengaging from work. However, Jung Rowlinson warns that this could have a domino effect on co-workers who end up taking up the slack: “It can impact team morale and turnover, and brings in various organizational and reputational risks.” 

How individuals can prevent burnout

  • Set boundaries 
  • Practice assertiveness 
  • Take breaks off work 
  • Seek professional help 
  • Engage in self-care activities (e.g. exercise, meditation, hobbies) 

Without addressing the root cause of the problem, whether it’s specific to the person or situational, burnout will continue to be a risk.  

“It's not like, well, I left that job and I'm fine now. I see a lot of clients who are terrified to go back into the workplace after experiencing burnout,” Jung Rowlinson added. 

Burnout in the age of AI

After the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated burnout, organizations have tackled the problem by implementing flexible work arrangements, wellness plans, employee assistance programs, training, and open communication, among other incentives.  

However, a new disruptive force threatens to erode gains: artificial intelligence (AI). 

While automation frees up people from menial tasks and can be a motivational force for innovation, it could also lead to more work as companies reprioritize roles and workflows, as well as anxiety over job security and sense of purpose. 

“The introduction of AI to the workplace may cause stress and in the long run, burnout,” said Yehuda Baruch, Professor of Management, at the University of Southampton Business School in the UK, who has studied links between AI adoption and job burnout. He adds that ambiguity around what tasks AI can or cannot do causes a lot of anxiety. 

“Knowledge is the best solution — it’s important to prepare people for AI, to communicate and explain why human input is needed,” he said. 

At the end of the day, Clarke says, burnout is a human condition and should be addressed with human-centric solutions.  

“As much as AI is becoming very much the dominant topic in the workplace, we need to, I think, keep coming back to the fact that work is inherently human and to that human conversation around creating sustainable workplaces,” she said.  

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