Causes of Corporate Burnout

There are many causes for burnout, all of them related to overdoing something (usually work), but I will focus on burnout in working in a corporate environment, because that is where my expertise and experience comes from.  Corporate roles are often seen as “cushy” white color jobs, but they can be particularly conducive to burnout due to several factors.  These include the following:

Workload and Pressure

While salaried corporate roles are often sought after positions, they can come with unexpected drawbacks. These include unrealistic deadlines and performance expectations that can lead to constant pressure and stress.  The unrealistic nature of these roles is often linked to the ambiguity of what is expected or what it will take to get the job done. As an HR professional, I often saw job postings and coached managers who were writing job descriptions that were several jobs smashed into one.  I once personally talked to a hiring manager who was looking for a Principal HR leader (sounded good so far), who had expertise in HRBP work, would act as a chief of staff, could identify, design, develop, and implement AI and Tech advanced learning curriculums and standards, and do analytics for a tech organization.   I had to point out to the hiring manager that this requirement actually encompassed four different and distinct jobs, and while it sounded interesting and I had some expertise in some of these buckets I would not be interested in trying to do them all in one job for one salary.  At least I recognized a recipe for burnout before I jumped into that one.    

Besides ambiguity and pressure, salaried roles (in the U.S.) often exceed the standard 40 hour work week. Extended work hours and the inability to disconnect from work can contribute to fatigue and exhaustion.  With the evolution of technology, including the smartphone and laptops, corporate employees are now more tethered to their jobs than ever before. Even when I wasn’t working from home (way before the pandemic), I would often take my laptop home in the evening “just in case.”  This was common practice among many teams I worked with. “Just in case” some work needs to be done during what would normally be off hours.  This practice is 100% modeled by the leader of the team. When leaders model autonomy and the ability to keep personal boundaries, their teams do also. It is when well meaning, but workaholic managers send emails or respond to work issues during evenings, off hours, and weekends, that an unspoken pressure begins to build on the team. It’s unfortunate that this happens, when tools like scheduled emails and responses are available. As a global leader, when I had teams reporting to me from Europe, India, and China I would do my best to schedule emails during their office hours, and adjust my availability as well. The more global the team, however, the tougher it is.  In retrospect, leading a multi-regional team across that many time zones is not a good idea for the manager or the team. 

Multitasking is another challenge. The demand to juggle multiple tasks simultaneously can reduce efficiency and increase stress levels.  Before I left corporate not too long ago, I was always surprised by the sheer volume of emails and meetings. This was not just because I was on a global team. I had many days where I was in meetings for 8-10 hours straight. Back-to-back meetings, where I would eat lunch during a meeting, excuse myself to run to the restroom, and be back online. It left either no time to respond to email, or more likely, like everyone else, I would be responding to email while in a meeting on another topic and not giving either my full attention.

 Lack of Control

When I started my corporate career, many years ago, entering corporate from a role in operations, I was impressed with the amount of autonomy, freedom, and trust from my leaders. As long as the objectives were met, and I showed my face in the office, I had a lot of leeway.

Unfortunately, sometimes managers lack thorough and effective leadership training and think they need to micromanage[4] their team in order to get results.  When a leader lacks skills, the excessive control and lack of autonomy they push, can make you feel powerless and frustrated. It can feel like your manager doesn’t trust you, or worse, thinks you are incompetent. For those who struggle with Imposter Syndrome, this type of management can make everything worse, including affecting your self esteem and then, like a self-fulfilling prophecy, your performance too.

Unclear job expectations, similar to job pressures can also lead to burnout. When ambiguity in roles and responsibilities is high, and there is no clear direction from a leader, or worse a micromanager, it can cause added and unnecessary confusion and stress. If you don’t know what your role expectations are, how can you possibly deliver on them?  Worse than unclear expectations, is constant changing priorities.  I once had a job where I experienced four organizational changes, which triggered five different roles and expectations for me within an 18 month period. I don’t think I need to tell you what my stress level was (HIGH) and my performance (questionable) because even my manager didn’t know what I was responsible for anymore. It was like a mixture of “guess who” and gaslighting. I would come to my manager excited to report on results, and would walk away with confusion and frustration on why I hadn’t delivered something different (that I didn’t even know I was responsible for). Needless to say I did not stay in that role very long.   

Insufficient Reward and Recognition

I once heard a leader say that our recognition was our paycheck. If you are a leader, please DON’T say this to your team, even if you think it. It is immediately demoralizing and unmotivating. Yes, pay and benefits are the main perks of any job, but everyone likes to be acknowledged and appreciated. Appreciating someone and actually meaning it can go a long way. Employees who feel appreciated and cared for will most likely go above and beyond. Rewards and recognition like prizes, certificates, gifts, and even simple recognition at team meetings are simple and very effective. In some countries recognition is even an expected part of the job.

Then, of course there is also the actual pay. Adequate compensation is a requirement. I am a huge fan of pay transparency, though very few companies practice it.  The ones that do, however, have high levels of satisfaction about pay. Knowing what the pay range is and knowing that others in similar roles get the same pay, gives you a feeling of fairness. The opposite happens if there is pay discrepancy, and it comes to light. And believe me, it often comes to light. Employees talk.  As they should.  Feeling underpaid, whether real or perceived, can cause financial stress and resentment.  Once you lose that trust, it’s almost impossible to gain it back. 

Which brings me to a little side bar about retention bonuses, or as we used to call them at Amazon, “dive and saves.”  These increases in pay, or one-time payments, to try to keep an employee once they have decided to leave are historically and predictably ineffective.  We once did a study and found that more than 75% of retention pay recipients didn’t stay with the company for more than 18 months.  It’s so much easier to offer fair pay up front and say heartfelt thank you’s along the way.

Poor Work Relationships

When you spend most of your time at work (more time than you do with your spouse or your family), the relationships you have there matter. Not everyone needs to be your work bestie, but it is generally a better experience when you are on friendly terms with your colleagues.  On the flip side, negative interactions with colleagues, supervisors, or clients can create a hostile work atmosphere.  If interactions that leave you stressed and affected negatively, it is or can quickly devolve into a toxic work environment.

These environments frequently have a lack of support. Absence of a supportive network within the workplace can leave you feeling isolated and stressed.  It is always better to have a good relationship with your manager to be able to discuss your concerns, support needs, and obstacles. Afterall, a manager’s job is literally to remove obstacles for their team. It is also nice to have camaraderie with coworkers whether they become your friends or not. I have always found that my colleagues filled my social bucket.  Many of my colleagues became friends over the years. In good work environments we could share the joy. In bad ones, we would commiserate to make the time more tolerable. If you don’t have someone to do either with, it can feel lonely and isolating, adding to your already stressful situation.

Work-Life Imbalance

I am not a huge fan of what has become a corporate buzz word: “work-life balance.”  There are many entrepreneurs who believe it doesn’t exist. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, was one who said he doesn’t believe in work-life balance, but work-life harmony. I don’t prefer either term. I personally believe there are seasons in life and in work, and you work really hard in some seasons, and reap the rewards in others. What becomes problematic is when you only work hard and are never able to reap the rewards or take a break.

Some reasons this can happen is due to over work and overcommitment. Excessive work commitments, either because they are unreasonable due to a lack of resources or because you are trying to do too many things at once, can encroach on personal time, leading to a poor experience at home. This is less of an issue in the beginning of your career when you are single and trying to prove yourself. Once you have family or other commitments, however, too much work can make your home and social life miserable. This unnecessary stress can add up to or contribute to burnout. I work with clients on defining what season they are in, to help them determine if they are acting within their values.  If they have had a long career, but are still working like they are an intern with something to prove, they are definitely out of balance.

Another common cause of burnout that I see with clients is a blurring of boundaries.  Difficulty in separating work from personal life, especially with remote work setups, can lead to constant stress.  This became obvious during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we went to work from home, we no longer had commutes, but we also no longer had boundaries between work and home. Many of us also had children trying to school from home.  Oh what fun times. I had a kindergartner, a sixth grader and an eighth grader.  I’m just glad to be able to say we survived. Not only COVID, but living, schooling, and working from home for almost two years.

The point here is that it is far better to have rituals that help you shut down your work for the day, and be present with your family. Answering emails in between bites at dinner, and working on your phone while reading a bedtime story is a disaster waiting to happen. Even if you don’t have a family, mixing work with your home life leaves you feeling “always on.”  This feeling doesn’t allow you to shut down, relax, and recover. Not even robots can function when they are always on. Even robots need to recharge.

Organizational Culture

I used to believe it was only your manager that made the difference in your work experience. I still believe managers play a huge role. But after experiencing some toxic cultures, I realized that even a great manager can’t save you from a toxic organization. I worked in a company that is known to work on adrenaline and sheer will. In and of itself, it was not a problem. Within that company, I had many good experiences on good teams and internal organizations over my almost decade there.

However, an organization that uses stress (and especially manufactured and unnecessary stress) to get results, rather than to properly plan and resource, is a ticking time bomb. A corporate culture that prioritizes productivity or cost savings over the well-being of its team will eventually face burnout. I was in one such organization, and right before I left there was something close to 20% of the team on medical or other type of leave.   That is an astronomical number. Almost a quarter of the team was dealing with medical issues. It doesn’t take a genius to realize there was a problem.

Many times, organizational stress can come from lack of planning, unclear expectations, or even more common, lack of resources.  If you don’t plan your resources adequately, or if you have a bunch of turnover and don’t replace the people that have left, you are asking to burn out your team. Insufficient resources and support to perform tasks effectively not only leads to frustration and burnout, it can lead to an exodus of talent.  In the long run, this costs the company more money in recruiting and hiring. So why not take care of the resources you already have?

Lack of fulfillment

Last but not least, you might have the right workload and pressure, the right amount of autonomy and control, great rewards and recognition, good work-life balance and a great organization, and STILL get burnout. I see this one occasionally in my coaching business.  It happens when your values change, or the impact you were hoping to make doesn’t hit like you expect it to. It can be spiritual in nature or just a misalignment to values. It can happen if you have a life changing event, like a health scare, accident, or death of a loved one. The work you were once proud of can seem pointless, and working hard to what you now see as an unfulfilling outcome can wear on your spirit. This one requires taking a new and current inventory of what is important to you and realigning to that. It can mean changing jobs or industries, but in most cases it just takes some reframing. For some it means putting less importance on their profession as their identity and finding out what makes them special as a human, not just a worker. 

As you can see, stress and burnout are multifaceted issues that can severely impact individuals, teams, and even companies.  Recognizing the symptoms and understanding the causes are important steps in recovery and prevention. By creating a supportive work environment, promoting realistic expectations, boundaries between work and home life, and providing adequate recognition and resources, organizations can help mitigate the risk of burnout among their employees.  If you find yourself in an organization that is not doing these things on a regular basis, you may want to seriously consider finding one that does. You may be replaceable in your job, but not in your family, or in your life. 

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