Burnout In The UK: The Hidden Crisis Undermining Productivity And Mental Health

Burnout in the UK

Burnout is the slow and insidious unravelling of our capacity for connection – to our work, loved ones and ultimately ourselves. This reflects not just the individual’s struggles but the systems we inhabit. In the UK today, we are wrestling with a submerged and smouldering burnout epidemic that threatens both our mental health and the fabric of our productivity. And yet, this crisis appears to quietly continue under the radar, often dismissed as a personal failing as opposed to a collective call to action.

The Quiet Rise of Burnout

The data speaks for itself. According to Employment Hero’s Wellbeing at Work report, 65% of UK workers experienced burnout in the Summer of 2024. That’s more than 16 million full-time employees—a figure that has surged by 11 percentage points since 2022. These numbers reflect individual exhaustion and an overwhelmed workforce facing increasingly challenging conditions and expectations.

Beneath the surface of these statistics lies an unsettling reality:

Work-life balance is eroding: One in five workers now rates their work-life balance as poor or very poor, a jump from 14% in 2022.
Stress is pervasive: 57% of workers feel stressed multiple days each week, and 15% report experiencing stress daily.
Burnout is disrupting work: Over one-third of workers (35%) have taken leave due to stress or burnout, doubling leave days in the past year. A 2023 report by AXA UK estimated that work-related stress and burnout cost the UK economy £28 billion annually through absenteeism, reduced productivity and the cost of employee turnover.

Burnout is a mirror of our workplaces, societal expectations and how we handle our responsibilities and self-care. To address it, we must first understand what it truly is.

What Burnout Is (And Isn’t)

Burnout is not just a bad day at work or the pressure of a looming deadline. It is not the feeling of fatigue after an intense week. Patterns of intensity and recovery, the contrast of good days to bad ones, are a part of natural rhythms that occur when balancing work and personal life. Burnout is the persistent, gnawing sensation that your efforts have lost meaning and significance. It is going to bed and waking up with a sense of dread, feeling trapped in a cycle where every action feels futile.

It is a level of exhaustion that no weekend or holiday can remedy. Burnout seeps into the moments meant for recovery, leaving individuals unable to relax despite best efforts. This vicious cycle takes both a mental and physical toll, increasing susceptibility to illness accounting for an increase in sick days and a drained, uninspired workforce unable to function optimally. This is not about weakness or lacking adequate resilience; it is a feeling of disconnection from meaning, agency, purpose and renewal.

How Employers Can Make a Difference

Employers profoundly influence whether burnout can take root or be prevented. And yet, nearly half of workers in the UK (48%) rate their employer’s commitment to wellbeing as average or poor.

Here are some meaningful approaches employers could consider:

Start with Awareness: “How are you?” is a question that often receives a perfunctory response. Create spaces where employees feel safe to answer it honestly. One-to-one check-ins are valuable when employees feel safe, but anonymised surveys can provide a more honest picture. These insights can reveal whether workloads are manageable or overwhelming and what systemic issues could contribute to burnout.
Reframe Workloads: Burnout doesn’t equate to completing too many tasks. At times, it can be about feeling that what you do lacks purpose. Ensure that tasks have clear and meaningful objectives and are manageable. Employees thrive when they feel their contributions have meaning and align with a larger mission. Reframing the focus from the amount of work to setting work that matters can make a difference.
Challenge Assumptions About Generational Values: The narrative that younger generations, particularly Gen Z, are “work-shy” misses the mark. Whilst younger generations in the workforce report the highest burnout rates, they are also keen on meaningful responsibility. These employees want to make an impact, not simply do their hours. Work that inspires rather than depletes could make all the difference.
Prioritise Flexibility: A rigid workplace can lead to manageable stress to build up into full-blown burnout. Long commutes and late hours can amplify the strain of the working day. Offering remote or hybrid working options can empower employees with a sense of agency and control. This encourages integration of work into their lives rather than vice versa.

Active Steps Employers Can Take to Address Burnout

To proactively address burnout and other mental health challenges, employers can seek professional resources that provide safe and meaningful support for their workforce. This demonstrates care for employees and a commitment to addressing their mental health and well-being.

At Leone Centre, we are committed to supporting employers’ and employees’ mental health and well-being. Based in London, our specialised and integrative counselling centre offers experienced therapy services in person and online. Through our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), employers can select from various customisable packages designed to support employees and their families, including individual, couples, and family therapy. Additionally, our organisational consultancy, leadership and executive consultancy services are designed to strengthen company infrastructure, address the underlying causes of burnout, and prevent it in individuals leading their teams.

How Therapy Can Help

Therapy can provide a structured, supportive and confidential environment to explore the underlying reasons for burnout and develop ways to regain balance. Here are some of how therapy can help:

Identifying Root Causes: Therapists can help uncover specific burnout triggers, such as work overload, lack of control, or conflicting values, as well as harmful patterns like perfectionism and poor boundaries.
Developing Methods for Managing Burnout: Therapists can guide individuals through mindfulness and time management to reduce stress and improve balance.
Enhancing Emotional Resilience: Therapy provides a safe space to process emotions like frustration, anxiety, or helplessness and builds resilience in individuals to be better able to bounce back from emotional challenges.
Improving Relationships: Therapy can help individuals build the assertiveness needed to maintain healthy boundaries in personal and professional relationships. Couples and Family counselling can also support the healing of strained relationships caused by stress-induced irritability or withdrawal. Individuals can better maintain balance when they build confidence and security within their support systems and relationships.

Why We Must Act

Burnout is an issue not to be ignored. The ripple effects are profound: absenteeism, high turnover, and a disengaged workforce unable to operate at full potential. However, the impact is reaching a greater extent than productivity alone. Burnout erodes our ability to connect, create care, thrive and embrace life at work and home.

Burnout is a complex and far-reaching issue that our responsibility is to address. The EAP at Leone Centre provides employers with a range of mental health services, including workshops, seminars and consultancy, as well as counselling services for individuals and their families, to meet the specific needs of your workforce. Together, let’s reimagine how we live and work. Burnout doesn’t have to be a crisis faced alone.

About the Author
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Cristina Vrech

Co-founder and director of Leone Centre, 20+ years of experience supporting people, and offering valuable knowledge through Couples Counselling and Individual Counselling. Before becoming a therapist, I worked in the financial sector.