Statistics about Employees Burnout in the Workplace – Update 2024

Is burnout a familiar or unknown term to you?

It is estimated that 5% of adults in the United States do not know what burnout is and 15% have heard the term but do not know what it is.

Therefore, we are going to give you an introduction to this syndrome and then move on to the actual statistics and how it relates to employment.

First things first: What’s burnout syndrome?

Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:

• Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion.
• Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job.
• Reduced professional efficacy.

Burn-out refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life.

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In this employee burnout statistics roundup, you’ll learn:

• Burnout and Stress General Statistics in the US
• Coping resources of stress by gender
• Stress and age groups
• Stress by States in the US.
• Burnout and Employment
  • Burnout and employment: generals
• Symptoms and expressions of burnout in the workplace
• Organizations support and reactions
• Burnout Costs
• Having children and employment-related stress
• Covid impact on workplace burnout
• Most and less stressful jobs

Workplace Burnout Statistics (Editor Pick)

• 8 in 10 Americans are afflicted with stress.
• Three out of five employees in the US are stressed.
• Workplace stress is estimated to cost the U.S. economy more than 500 billion dollars, and each year, 550 million workdays are lost due to stress on the job.
• The age group reporting the least stress is the one over 65 years old with 24%.
• The most recent survey of stress in the United States found that the states with the highest levels of stress are Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas.
• Only 27% of people receive a positive response or reaction from their supervisors when they are diagnosed with burnout. And from their colleagues, it is only 31%.

Sources: Statista, WHO, Gallup.

Burnout and Stress: General Statistics in the US

• 65% of people with a high risk of burnout feel stressed.
• 62% of the people on the onset of burnout feel worn out and have no energy.
• 61% of people, either with a high risk of the onset of burnout would like to reduce their daily stress. 
• People at serious risk of burnout prefer the following strategies to avoid burnout:
  • Less pressure at work: 63%
  • Having a hobby: 58%
  • Exercise: 55%
  • Stable family life: 55%

Sources: Statista, Surveys.

Coping resources of stress by gender

• 55% of women with burnout go to their family and friends, while men only go to family and friends a 48%.
• Only 20% and 19% of women and men respectively go to a medical service due to burnout.
• 32% of women use counseling or psychotherapy to treat burnout while men use it 4% less.
• While 19% of women prefer not to ask for any kind of support or help, men keep the burnout for themselves a 26%.

Sources: Statista Survey Burnout and Stress

Stress and age groups

• People aged 30 to 49 years experience the most frequent stress, reporting 56% of affirmative responses.
• The age group reporting the least stress is the one over 65 years old with 24%.

Source: Gallup Survey

Stress by States in the US.

• The most recent survey of stress in the United States found that the states with the highest levels of stress are Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

• While the states with the lowest stress levels are Minnesota, Utah, and Massachusetts.

Sources: WalletHub.

Burnout and Employment

Let’s dive deeper into the data for employment and its relation with burnout and stress in different areas and topics:

Burnout and employment generals

• Three out of five employees in the US are stressed.
• 75% of workers have experienced burnout, with 40% saying they’ve experienced burnout specifically during the pandemic.
• A Gallup survey reports that managers are slightly more likely to suffer frequent or constant burnout than individual contributors. (26% of managers vs. 24% of individual contributors).
• 76% of respondents of a survey agree that workplace stress affects their mental health.
• Burned-out employees are 23% more likely to visit the emergency room.
• Burned-out employees are 63% more likely to take a sick day and 2.6 times as likely to be actively seeking a different job.
• By a wide margin, employment or work-related stress and financial stress cause the greatest concern in the U.S. population. Financial worries stressed 41% of the people and situations at work stressed 39%.
• Income also plays a role in experiencing stress. People earning less than $30,000 suffer 7% more stress than those earning between $30,000 and $75,000 and 10% more stress than those earning more than $75,000.
• A survey revealed that by 2020 only 15% of employees in the US consider the level of job stress to be low. 58% of workers consider it to be moderate while 26% report high levels of stress.  However, in 2016 reports were higher across all categories with 18% for low, 54% for moderate, and 29% for high.
• The greatest source of work stress is generated by workload with 39% according to a survey. This is followed by people issues with 31%.

• 23% of those who work less than 30 hours per week experience frequent stress while 30% of those who work more than 51 hours report frequent levels of stress.
• 81% of US employees say that work stress affects their relationships with family and friends.
• 63% of workers believe that work stress causes them to practice unhealthy behaviors.
• According to Gallup and contrary to what many might think, unemployed people, report less stress than those who are employed. Specifically, 16% less compared to those who are employed.
• The food and beverage industry is the industry that causes the most unhealthy behaviors among workers due to stress.

Sources: FlexJobs survey, Gallup, Gallup Burnout, Statista, Gallup, National Business Group on Health, CompPsych, Statista, Mental Health America, The Faas Foundation.

Symptoms and expressions of burnout in the workplace

88% of employees at high risk of burnout have negative thoughts about their jobs.

• 65% of the population feel irritated by their colleagues or work team.
• 95% of people feel that they are not getting what they want out of their jobs.
• 90% feel they are in the wrong organization or profession.
• 83% feel they are frustrated in their jobs.
• 68% feel that there is more work to do than they practically have the ability to do.

Sources: Statista Survey.

Organizations support and reactions

• Only 27% of people receive a positive response or reaction from their supervisors when they are diagnosed with burnout. And from their colleagues, it is only 31%.
• In addition, women receive 7% less positive feedback from their supervisors and 4% less from their colleagues compared to men.
• 36% of employees said their organization isn’t doing anything to help with employee burnout.
• Only 21% of workers say they were able to have open, productive conversations with HR about solutions to their burnout.
• 56% said that their HR departments did not encourage conversations about burnout.
• 56% of workers said having flexibility in their workday is the best way their workplace could better support them. Encouraging time off and offering mental health days were second and third at 43%. And 28% felt that better health insurance was the next best way to provide support.
• 25% of the companies do not offer any type of burnout program. Thirteen percent offer reintegration programs such as coaching and flexible schedules and another 25% offer prevention programs.

Sources: Statista, Eagle Hill Consulting, FlexJobs, Statista: Burnout Prevention.

Burnout Costs

• Workplace stress impacts mortality and health costs in the United States leading to nearly 120,000 deaths.

• Workplace stress is estimated to cost the U.S. economy more than 500 billion dollars, and each year, 550 million workdays are lost due to stress on the job.

Sources: Harvard Business Review, American Psychological Association.

Having children and employment-related stress

• Employed people with children experience the most stress, with statistics of 59%, while unemployed people without children experience the least stress, with only 33%.

• In addition, the statistics also show that people with children have more stress regardless of their employability status.

Sources: Gallup.

Covid Impact on workplace burnout

• According to Indeed, one of the largest employment websites worldwide, 52% of people are experiencing burnout in 2021. An increased percentage compared to the pre-covid survey which showed a 43% who said the same.
• 67% of the working people say burnout has worsened during the pandemic, while 13% believe it has gotten better.
• 37% of employed respondents say they are currently working longer hours than usual since the pandemic started.
• 61% of remote workers and 53% of on-site workers find it more difficult to “unplug” from work during off-hours after covid onset.
• Before the pandemic, just 5% of employed workers and 7% of unemployed workers said their mental health was poor or very poor. Now, 18% of employed and 27% of unemployed workers say they are struggling with mental health issues.
• This led to an increase in numbers when it comes to mental health and employment statistics.

Covid also impacted the generational groups in a particular way. Generation X employees were the most impacted and Millennials the least but these are still the most affected. While Generation Xers increased their stress by 14%, Millennials suffered only a 6% increase.

• 53% of Millennials were already burned out pre-pandemic, and they remain the most affected population, with 59% experiencing it by 2021.
• 58% of Gen-Z report burnout now but just 47% said the same in 2020.
• Baby Boomers show a 7% increase in burnout from pre-pandemic levels (24%) to today (31%).
• 54% of Gen-Xers are currently burned out. A 14% increase from the 40% who felt this way in 2020.

Sources:  Indeed, FlexJobs, Indeed US.

Most and less stressful jobs

• A 2019 survey revealed that the job with the lowest reported stress levels is diagnostic medical sonographer, followed by compliance officer.

• At the same time, the most stressful jobs are those of enlisted military personnel and closely followed by firefighters.

Sources: CareerCast Website

Conclusions

The statistics for occupational stress are worrying in the country and, in addition to generating high costs, they impact the different areas of workers’ lives. For example, health is highly affected in a direct way, such as the effects of stress on biological functions; and indirectly by the harmful practices used to cope with stress.

In addition to the above, covid had a high impact on all population groups, with the impact and differentiation between generational groups being particularly striking.

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