Have We Given Up on Caring Whether People Burn Out?
Stress isn't going away, so maybe the next challenge is how we look at it
Burnout had its moment in the sun a few years back. Yet now it feels a little bit like another buzzwordy concept we used to care about, but one that is quietly being banished to the back room of “things we don’t talk about anymore” - as focus needs to go into more pressing issues.
From my perspective, I’ve noticed a marked decrease in the number of organizations looking to talk about burnout. A few years ago, I was booked month after month for short talks on burnout, well-being, and how organizations could help their people take care of themselves and, hopefully, avoid burning out. It was definitely the trend of the moment. But I haven’t had this topic requested once this year.
Much of that initial boom was definitely born out of the COVID pandemic, when care-minded organizations were scrambling to come up with whatever they could to support their people. It was an urgent need, and in many cases, a well-being workshop probably felt like the best band-aid most had at the time. It made sense. Doing something is better than nothing at all.
But where is burnout in the conversation now? In my world, it feels like it evaporated into thin air.
I found myself wondering if it was simply a case of bigger fires burning that have diverted attention in a new direction? Or then again, maybe it was time to move on from burnout being a key part of our organizational vernacular, and it had simply done its dash?
Did the Business World Actually Move on From Burnout?
It feels like the question used to be - how do we balance all the important things? But that it has shifted to feel a little something more like: how do we ensure we keep up in a world that will probably never slow down again?
Pulling out the Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends series for the last three years is fascinating fodder for my hypothesis.
In 2024, Deloitte was addressing burnout directly, identifying work stress as a top concern, and using framing including “human sustainability”.
In 2025, they moved to talking about workplace stress and declining manager mental health as part of a broader set of “tensions” that leaders must navigate between business performance and human well-being, and how leaders need to find the right balance between each of these polarities.
And by 2026 (the report was released in March), the narrative has shifted strongly to speed, nimbleness, and maintaining competitiveness in an AI-powered world. There is a brief mention of “change exhaustion” as they highlight that the pressure on leaders is intensifying, but, notably, it feels like burnout and well-being have fallen off the agenda and been replaced by the need to keep up.
On the other hand, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in its 2026 State of the Workplace Report listed stress and burnout as among the most pressing workplace needs. My experience doesn’t suggest this is marrying up with the market demand right now.
It feels a bit like we have a gap between what HR professionals perceive as needed to take care of people, and what the market is demanding in terms of adapting to new realities.
The Pressure Hasn’t Decreased
What we do know is that the stress itself hasn’t actually decreased. In fact, there are many indicators suggesting the challenges facing leaders are only accelerating and coming in thick and fast. COVID was a moment in time that required rapid pivoting, and while it was a really whacky moment, leaders are now facing increasing business pressure, flattening organizations, and the challenge of adopting AI in a world that won’t let them forget it.
And the middle management “squeeze” is real. This is that tough spot where it can often feel like leaders don’t have high levels of control or influence, but that is paired by high expectations, and that can feel extra tricky and icky.
Recent data supports the idea that leader stress hasn’t abated. DDI’s 2025 survey found that 71% of leaders reported increased levels of stress, which is up from 63% in 2022.
Another recent stat based on Gallup’s Future Forum 2025 data (as reported by BTS) stated that 45% of middle managers report burnout, which is higher than any other employee group. And only 21% say they’re thriving.
So what is clear is that stress, and its exhausted equivalent, burnout, haven’t actually disappeared. But we also haven’t somehow become immune.
Maybe Moving on from a Burnout Fixation is Healthy?
I’ve always had a problem with how we’ve framed stress as a society. The pendulum swung so far that we’ve literally reached a point where people get stressed about the risk of being stressed. We collectively built up a fear around something that is a very natural, even adaptive, and helpful human response.
I’m not advocating for pushing people to unsustainable levels for unreasonable amounts of time. I am absolutely an advocate for employee well-being and building workplaces that value human contribution in a way that is sustainable. We need healthy businesses and healthy human contributors.
But I am also here to say that being uncomfortable, feeling a little overwhelmed maybe even stressed at times, having some constraints put on us, and pushing ourselves outside our comfort zone isn’t something we should be afraid of. In fact, it’s the very thing that can help us thrive as humans.
Eustress is the side of stress we don’t talk about enough. It’s the fact that most things we do that feel truly worthwhile and like a real achievement are intimately interwoven with stress.
When I ask people about what they are most proud of, they will always look back at things that stress cannot be separated from - raising children, completing college, or a huge work project that they initially thought might be beyond their capabilities. Every single one of those things is stressful, and that is part of what also makes it feel fulfilling and meaningful.
Naming burnout so readily did give us a label for a problem that had long been overlooked - and that was overdue. But it can also keep us stuck in the predicament. Labeling almost everything as feeling burnt out can trap us, purely because it casts stress as an enemy.
And an ongoing fixation on avoiding stress is like looking straight into a black hole and trying not to be sucked in. We tend to do better if we focus on what we do want and seek, rather than on what we want to avoid.
Just like self-care was never going to be a one-way track out of burnout-ville, nor is a workplace with no pressure ever going to be realistic.
Instead, it’s time to start focusing on the skillsets and mindsets we need to build in ourselves and our teams that foster flexibility, help us approach challenges with a sense of empowerment and hopefulness, and move toward the obstacles that come our way rather than shrink in fear of them.
One word for that would be resilience. Another might be adaptability.
And, ironically, this is what I’m now being asked for by organizations and very much aligns with Deloitte’s 2026 Trend Report. I call it adaptability; Deloitte calls it nimbleness - but I’m pretty sure we can all appreciate that is just a game of semantics.
Burnout appears to have had its moment in the sun, but great organizations will keep doing the work of building healthy workplaces and creating environments that support well-being. I’m confident that it won't fall off their agenda.
And it also feels timely to put the focus somewhere else - into building the skillsets and mindsets that will help us thrive in a world that will keep throwing challenges our way. That is taking a future-focus and building toward what we all need.
We can all benefit from being more aware of our stress mindsets and focusing on flexing with ebbs and flows of life and work. But according to the stats, leaders have the most to gain, not just because of the example you can set, but also the payoff to your own well-being.