Recognizing Burnout and Moving Forward: Let’s Fix This Together

Burnout feels like getting stuck in the Swamp of Sadness (Artax! Noooooo!). You’re pushing hard to climb out, but instead of making progress, you’re sinking faster. It’s not just feeling tired. It’s a full-on energy drain: mental, emotional, and physical until even the small tasks feel insurmountable. The kind of exhaustion doesn’t go away with the weekend off under a weighted blanket while watching The Land Before Time just to feel something again.

Burnout is real. Whether you’re an individual contributor or a team leader, it’s likely closer than you think.

How to Tell If You’re Burned Out

For Employees:

• You wake up feeling like you didn’t sleep … again.

• Work feels like dragging a boulder uphill, even if you used to love it.

• Your brain is in a fog. Deciding what to have for lunch feels like solving a Rubik’s cube.

• Little annoyances set you off.

• You’ve got mystery aches and pains. Knots in your shoulders? Check. Random headaches? Double check. A reserved spot every Friday with your chiropractor? Def.

For Employers or Team Leaders:

• You’re playing whack-a-mole with resignations. People are leaving faster than you can onboard replacements.

• Sick days are up, productivity’s down, and you’re this close to panic mode.

• Deadlines? What deadlines? Projects are late, and the quality isn’t what it used to be.

• Team meetings feel like funerals.

• Morale is so low it’s practically underground.

According to Gallup, burned-out employees are 2.6x more likely to seek a new job and 63% more likely to take a sick day. That’s not just a wellness issue. That’s a business risk.

What Employers Can Do to Help

1. Create a Culture of Safety:

Your team won’t tell you they’re drowning if they’re scared of the fallout. Normalize asking for help. Start simple: “Hey, how’s your workload this week?” Keep it casual but consistent.

2. Lighten the Load:

If one person’s handling the work of three, no wonder they’re burned out. Think of your team as a seesaw. Redistribute the weight so everyone’s balanced. Balance isn’t a luxury. It’s efficiency.

3. Encourage Breaks and Mean It:

Saying “take a break” is easy. Making it possible? That’s leadership. Block off 30 minutes on the calendar for everyone to unplug. Walk, nap, meditate, or do whatever helps them recharge. Recharge isn’t optional. It’s performance insurance.

4. Celebrate Wins:

Big wins, small wins, random wins. Celebrate them all! Did someone crush a deadline? Give them props, somehow, someway. I have PTSD from Teams, but there are alternatives, like Motivosity. Celebrating isn’t just for birthdays. It’s motivation fuel.

5. Invest in Real Support:

Mental health matters. Offer access to therapists, wellness apps, or even bring in a meditation coach. These aren’t extras. They’re essentials. Show your team you’ve got their backs. Support isn’t performative. It’s policy.

What Most Leaders Miss About Burnout

Burnout isn’t always about too much work. Sometimes, it’s about the wrong kind of work, in the wrong environment, with no way out. Even the most empathetic leaders often overlook the deeper shifts that help people recover.

Here are four strategies to consider:

1. Redesign the Role

It may not be just the workload. The problem may be bigger than that. Instead of taking a task or two off someone’s plate, look at the shape of the role itself. Can you co-create a clearer, more focused scope? Can you give them ownership over something meaningful and permission to drop what’s not?

2. Signal Real Permission to Set Boundaries

If people are afraid to say “no,” they’ll keep pushing until they snap. Publicly normalize healthy feedback. Model it yourself. “You don’t have to say yes to everything here. That’s now how we lead.”

Words aren’t enough.

If a leader says the right thing but rolls their eyes, sighs, or later penalizes someone for setting a boundary, people get the real message: “It’s not actually safe to speak up.” That disconnect is worse than silence. It breeds distrust, burnout, and quiet quitting.

You earn permission with consistency, not statements.

3. Name the Pattern and Create a Path

Avoid vague check-ins like, “How are you holding up?” Instead, name what you see: “You’ve been carrying a lot. Let’s build a reset plan together.” Give them a structured way to step back and rebuild. That goes way longer than “take care of yourself.”

4. Offer Temporary Decompression without Stigma

Not everyone needs a leave of absence. Sometimes they just need relief. Create short-term options to scale back client load, meetings, or projects without career consequences. A 30-day recalibration could save six months of fallout.

Moving Forward

Burnout isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s a signal that something needs to change.

Leaders: Take care of your people. When you care for your team’s capacity, you protect your results.

Employees: Protect your energy. It’s the best long-term investment you’ll ever make.

What’s Your Burnout Story?

Employers: What’s working for your team?

Employees: How are you finding your way back?

Let’s trade strategies in the comments. We’re all in this together.

At Luminspire, we help scaling organizations rebuild sustainable momentum without burning out the people making it all happen.