Moss and I spoke about the root causes of burnout, how to spot it in your teams, and some practical solutions to help your teams alleviate—and prevent—burnout. According to Moss, it’s critical for leaders to be aware of when and why team burnout occurs. Three key reasons Moss identifies in her book are: unsustainable workload, lack of relationships, and lack of recognition and autonomy from team leaders.

Burnout has become a global phenomenon that affects a wide range of professions, reduces productivity and hurts the overall economy. It also takes a social and psychological toll on those who suffer from it. Moreover, trying to simply decrease stress and schedule relaxation time is not working to stop what Jennifer Moss calls, the burnout epidemic.

While burnout can stem from many sources, a key contributor is feeling lonely at work. Many of the leaders I talk to report heightened feelings of loneliness in our hybrid and remote workplace world. Consider this question: when is the last time you felt like you had friends at work?” You may have been fire hosed with the message: “work is for work: find your friends elsewhere.” Yet friends can greatly improve your experience of your work - not to mention, your effectiveness.

Back in the old days - you know, pre-pandemic - 'burnout” was a term often tossed around to describe the condition of people who were simply tired of (or from) their jobs. In today’s workplace, burnout is a real deal condition that’s dangerously affecting millions of people. In addition to the horrendous cost to employee engagement and productivity, burnout literally has life and death implications for the people who suffer from it.