How to Spot Burnout Early: the Warning Signs hiding in plain sight in your Workforce.
In today’s high-demand, always-on work environment, we’re past the point of burnout being a risk, it’s an all too common reality for most professionals balancing the demands of work and home.
As HR and C-level professionals face increasing pressure to retain talent, boost productivity, integrate AI to accelerate innovation and maintain employee wellbeing in an uncertain economic climate, knowing how to spot burnout early is a critical skill. Left unaddressed, burnout leads to substantial, sometimes hidden costs to organizations.
Let’s break it down.
Key Signs of Burnout in Employees
Burnout shows up long before an employee resigns. The challenge is recognizing it in time to course-correcting action:
Emotional exhaustion: Employees appear drained, irritable, or cynical
Decline in performance: Once high-performers begin missing deadlines or making uncharacteristic mistakes
Withdrawal behaviors: A drop in participation, camera-off behavior in meetings, or avoidance of collaborative tasks
Physical symptoms: Headaches, fatigue, or frequent sick days
Loss of motivation or engagement: Minimal interest in development, a sense of detachment from purpose
Managers are your first line of defense, often seeing signs HR doesn’t. But they need training to recognize burnout cues early and respond appropriately. Teaching managers to perform regular check-ins, look for subtle behavior shifts, and ask stress-aware questions is foundational.
Managers On the Front Lines
Managers shape the everyday experience of work. They're uniquely positioned to:
Notice performance changes and mood shifts
Normalize conversations around stress
Reprioritize and rebalance workload as needed
Create the conditions for psychological safety
Set the tone for expectations around ongoing role design and wellbeing
Equipping them with burnout awareness training and response tools not only reduces potential costs, it fosters stronger, more innovative teams and morale - critical for driving the right business outcomes in an increasingly complex and hyper-competitive environment.
The Cost Breakdown of Burnout
According to Gallup and the American Psychological Association, burnout contributes to:
$300 billion+ annually in lost productivity
2.6x higher turnover risk for burned-out employees
63% increase in sick days per affected employee
To estimate the costs in your organization use our Burnout Cost Calculator
In 2025, amid ongoing economic pressures and talent shortages, HR leaders can no longer afford to treat burnout reactively.
Antidotes to Burnout: What Works
unBurnt’s solutions provide organizations with tools to recognize and interrupt burnout before it escalates. Based on science-backed behavior shifts, and a deep understanding of opportunities and blockers in fast-moving organizations, the unBurnt framework supports:
Micro-moment recovery practices for employees to pause, scan for stress triggers, and reset throughout the day
Manager training to recognize early burnout and respond with empathy and systems support
Burnout diagnostics and cost-of-burnout insights to help HR quantify risk and act strategically
HR professionals looking to protect people and productivity need new playbooks. Early identification is the first step in building workplaces that are not just high-performing, but human-sustaining.
Get in touch for a Free Discovery call to learn how unBurnt can help you evaluate and implement the right strategy for your organization.
Sources:
Linkedin, American Psychology Association
Kaiser Permanente, Gallup insights on Burnout + Quiet Quitting
HBR, Burnout is About your Workplace, Not Your People
Time, Work is the New Doctor’s Office
Spring Health, How to Prevent Employee Burnout at your Organization