Are you feeling overwhelmed and exhausted at work, or knows someone who does? In today’s fast-paced world, more people are getting burned out. In Managing Employee Burnout, Shauna Moran offers practical, evidence-based strategies to address burnout in the modern workplace. Her advice helps prevent personal burnout and create a supportive work environment that increases productivity, reduces turnover, and enhances employee engagement. In this free Managing Employee Burnout book summary, we’ll (i) explore the concept of burnout and (ii) share Moran’s advice on how to deal with burnout.
These tips are helpful for both individuals and people leading teams, especially for those engaged in some form of remote work.
What is Burnout?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), burnout is a syndrome that occurs when chronic workplace stress is not managed effectively 🔥. Unlike normal fatigue, burnout causes persistent exhaustion that doesn’t go away even with breaks or vacations. It often leads to detachment from work and negative thoughts about work. A 2021 Deloitte survey found that 77% of workers have experienced burnout.
Remote workers are more susceptible to burnout because they struggle to disconnect from work, often lack healthy boundaries, and feel more isolated due to a lack of face-to-face interactions and social activities.
Burnout has significant financial and emotional costs. A Harvard Business Review article estimates that employee burnout leads to annual healthcare costs of $125-$190 billion in the U.S. and 120,000 stress-related deaths. Burnout affects the whole organization, leading to higher employee turnover, reduced productivity, and increased healthcare costs.
Our 15-page Managing Employee Burnout book summary explores the following insights in great detail:
• The causes and stages of burnout; and
• Strategies to address burnout at the individual, leadership, and organizational levels.
Let’s look at some of the highlights from our full book summary.
Understanding Burnout
The Stress Cycle 🧠
The stress cycle explains how we cope with stress, and how burnout develops in high-stress environments.
• Stress is triggered by stressors, which make us feel like we’re missing something essential for survival, physically or emotionally.
• The brain processes the stressors to decide if they are threats.
• If a stressor is perceived as a threat, the body initiates a stress response, with the fight-or-flight reaction at the core.
• Prolonged activation of the fight-or-flight response can lead to burnout.
The 5 Stages of Burnout 😩
There are many opportunities to stop the stress cycle since burnout doesn’t happen overnight. It develops gradually over 5 stages:
• Honeymoon phase: You start off on a new job/task feeling energetic, productive, and motivated. You might volunteer for extra tasks but risk overworking and neglecting self-care.
• Onset of stress: Stress begins to build up, and cracks appear. You start to skip meals, work late, and have less time for personal activities. You might experience headaches, difficulty focusing, and some anxiety.
• Chronic stress: Stress symptoms worsen, leading to a decline in job performance and cognitive abilities. You feel guilt or shame, and get stuck in a cycle of procrastination and overworking. You miss deadlines and feel overwhelmed even by routine tasks.
• Burnout sets in if stress is not managed. Productivity drops, and you may dread work and fall sick easily. You are likely to feel strong emotional and physical responses like hopelessness, despair, headaches, digestive problems, and sleep issues.
• Habitual burnout: You feel totally burnt out, and are constantly disengaged, fatigued, and resigned in all aspects of your life.
How to Deal with Burnout: At Individual, Organization and Leadership Levels
Shauna Moran presents a comprehensive solution to burnout, recognizing the systemic nature of the problem. She stresses the need for individuals and organizations to play their part. Leaders play a crucial role in supporting their team members, but they also need organizational support to perform their roles effectively and to avoid burning out themselves.
Here’s a quick overview of some of the key ideas covered in the book. Do check out our complete version of the Managing Employee Burnout book summary for a breakdown of each strategy with specific tips and examples.
HOW TO DEAL WITH BURNOUT AS AN INDIVIDUAL
Know the Signs of Burnout
Before we can address burnout, we must first recognize its signs.
• Burnout can manifest as:
(i) Sudden dislike for work you previously enjoyed;
(ii) Lower engagement and productivity; and/or
(iii) Persistent negative thoughts about work and colleagues.
• Ask these questions:
(i) Have you become more cynical, disconnected, or resentful towards your job? Do you feel more irritable or impatient towards colleagues or customers?
(ii) Are you overreacting emotionally to work situations that you used to handle calmly?
(iii) Do you struggle to switch off from work? Do you feel too tired to be productive?
(iv) Are you experiencing unexplained physical issues like headaches, stomach problems, or changes in sleep patterns?
(v) Are you using food, drugs, or alcohol to cope with job stress?
Know the Strategies for Recovery
Burnout recovery varies among individuals and can take months or years. Some strategies for recovery include:
• Becoming aware of your stress triggers and levels, so you can manage your responses deliberately.
• Getting emotional support from friends, family, and colleagues.
• Make healthy lifestyle adjustments like sleep, diet, exercise, and engaging in joyful or fulfilling activities.
• Setting clear boundaries during recovery, e.g. saying no to social invitations or extra responsibilities to protect your energy and focus.
Build Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence
Studies show that employees with emotional intelligence (EI) perform better at work and are less likely to experience burnout. Self-awareness and EI are especially crucial for remote workers, who must manage their own schedules and environments, and cope with team dynamics in a virtual setting.
In our complete Managing Employee Burnout summary bundle, we dive into specific strategies to manage your needs, emotions, and interactions with others.
Improve Your Remote Work Practices
One of the key advantages of remote work is its flexibility. Ironically, remote workers are also more prone to burnout.
In our full book summary, we present specific strategies to design your schedule based on when/how you work best, along with a range of wellness tips improve your productivity and avoid burnout.
ADDRESSING BURNOUT AS AN ORGANIZATION
Burnout is a systemic issue that requires organizational changes and support. It cannot be resolved at an individual or talent management level alone.
Address Key Reasons for Burnout
A Gallup survey identified 5 key reasons for burnout at work:
• Unfair treatment: Discrimination, harassment, and bullying contribute to job burnout. Employees who feel unfairly treated at work are 2.3x more likely to experience burnout.
• Excessive workload leads to poorer performance, decreased confidence, and more stress.
• Role ambiguity: Without clear roles and responsibilities, employees can feel confused, stressed, and overworked.
• Lack of managerial support: When leaders are overloaded, they can’t effectively support or connect with their team members.
• Too many unrealistic deadlines can create a snowball effect, where a delay on 1 project affects all other projects.
In our 15-page book summary, we provide strategies for addressing each of the key reasons for burnout above.
Shauna Moran emphasizes developing a work culture that is conducive to managing work while taking balance needs into consideration. In our full summary, we also explore Moran’s ideas for developing healthy work cultures and optimizing remote team processes to improve employee wellbeing and productivity, while reducing the risks of burnout.
HOW TO DEAL WITH BURNOUT AS A LEADER
Leadership impacts 70% of employee engagement. It’s crucial to equip leaders with the right skills and resources to manage people effectively. In our full Managing Employee Burnout summary, we’ve distilled insights on the skills leaders need to address burnout in 4 parts:
• Build trust and psychological safety;
• Provide emotional support for team members;
• Guide teams through effective coaching; and
• Role-model healthy behaviours
Getting the Most from Managing Employee Burnout
When employees thrive, organizations flourish. This book presents many examples, case studies, detailed tips, and best practices for managing burnout and helping the workforce stay happy and healthy. If you’d like to deep-dive into the ideas and strategies above, with detailed insights, examples, and actionable tips, do check out our our full book summary bundle, which includes an infographic, 15-page text summary, and a 24-minute audio summary.
You can purchase the book here or visit shaunamoran.com for more details.
Do also check out our Emotional Intelligence summary which explores the idea of understanding and managing emotions for personal and professional benefits. Our summary of Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before also offers practical advice and psychological insights to help you manage your mental health, build resilience, and navigate life’s challenges with greater understanding and self-compassion.
About the Author of Managing Employee Burnout
Managing Employee Burnout: How to Develop A Happy, Healthy, and Engaged Workforce was written by Shauna Moran. She is an author and leadership coach who specializes in preventing burnout and improving organizational health. She founded Operate Remote, a consultancy firm that develops remote and hybrid work strategies for companies. Focusing on team performance and employee well-being, Shauna offers practical insights for leaders to foster supportive work environments.
Managing Employee Burnout Quotes
“There’s a difference between working remotely and being genuinely effective at remote working.”
“Employee burnout is preventable, not inevitable, because burnout isn’t a personal failing, it’s often a sign that an employee isn’t receiving adequate support.”
“If everything is urgent, then nothing is urgent.”
“It’s not about how much time you have, but rather how you can bring awareness to spend some time on yourself before you spend time with the outside world.”
“By being aware of your feelings, you have the power to change your emotional reactions to situations.”
“Too often, leaders are trying to support and coach their team members to help them reach their full potential without necessarily doing that for themselves first.”
“To truly reduce burnout in our teams once and for all, we need to be willing to be uncomfortable and take ownership as an organization and as leaders.”
Click here to download the full infographic & summary
