For most companies, increasing profits and decreasing costs are the dream outcome at the end of every quarter, which typically requires relying on top performers to work harder for longer.  And that is likely to lead to burnout.

In the Burnout Report 2025 survey, published by Mental Health UK, more than a third of respondents said they are “experiencing high or extreme levels of pressure or stress.” Meanwhile, 91% said they felt pressure or stress at some point in 2024.

Meanwhile, employees feeling burned out aren’t taking enough vacation time. “When you’re working hard to achieve your career goals, taking time off can feel like a secondary priority — even if you know you need the rest,” Renee Onque of CNBC reported in February.

That prevents companies from realizing their full potential. “The output and productivity of the team are impacted when a teammate is stressed, exhausted, or dealing with burnout,” noted Priyal Agrawal, founder of StandWeSpeak, a rights organization.

To guard against mental meltdown caused by work pressures, employees must be aware of their energy levels, attitudes toward their surroundings, and physical and psychological health.

Performance booster

According to Onque, some employees (and employers) avoid taking vacations, believing they might hinder progress on designated projects, ultimately harming the organization and their standing with their superiors.

In reality, taking a break from work “improves productivity.” According to an internal study by Ernst & Young (EY), “For each additional 10 hours of vacation employees took, their year-end performance ratings improved 8%, and frequent vacationers also were significantly less likely to leave the firm.”

To maximize performance, Tasha Eurich, author of “Shatterproof: How to Thrive in a World of Constant Chaos,” said employees should never “force themselves” to work beyond their limits. Job performance dips significantly as one approaches burnout, and during it, meaning that taking a break is inevitable. Accordingly, it’s better to disconnect from work when burnout signs appear, thus maintaining maximum efficiency and effectiveness between rest periods.

The challenge, especially for high performers and top executives, is to “give yourself permission” to take the rest you need, noted Onque.

Energy signs

Eurich said the first burnout sign employees often notice, but usually neglect, is their “energy is low at work … for days at a time.” It is most evident when “you’re doing something that you typically enjoy, but you have less energy, and you are less motivated.”

The extreme scenario is when persons “deplete the well of energy that keeps [them] going, [making] balancing day-to-day tasks … feel exhausting,” said Onque.

During energy dips, frustration creeps in. It is evident when the person is “unusually worked up” about a minor issue, “such as the copy machine jamming,” Eurich said. “Not being able to emotionally regulate in tedious situations that you’ve handled well before can indicate you’re overwhelmed.”

The consequence of protracted energy depletion and rising frustration is that “usual coping mechanisms [stop] working,” Eurich noted. Onque said an effective solution is “to give yourself a longer break.”

However, as one approaches burnout, a typical vacation may not be enough. “When [stress-relievers] start to feel like one more thing you have to do, [rather] than giving you relief, that’s a really good clue that your resilience is running on empty,” said Eurich. 

Attitude stress

When starting a business or a new role, most people tend to push themselves to work harder for longer. Jodie Cook, founder of Coachvox, a developer of AI-powered tools, warned there is a delicate balance between sustainable excitement and a one-way ticket to burnout.

“Powered by motivation, enthusiasm, and sleep, you’re an awesome business owner. Fueled by adrenaline and [stress hormones], you’re a ticking time bomb,” said Cook. In the latter case, “business decisions lead to firefighting and burnout instead of strategic thinking and sustainable growth.”

It is therefore crucial to identify the “difference between excitement and overstimulation,” Cook stressed. “Sometimes it’s healthy when your mind races with ideas, other times it’s a sign you need some calm.”

Key characteristics of overstimulation include “treating non-urgent things as urgent, checking notifications like they’re going to disappear, … rushing around each day, snapping at people for no reason, and increasing how often you pick up your phone,” Cook noted.

Another sign of potential burnout is when employees start “fantasising about other work,” Cook noted. In normal work conditions, Cook argues employees usually realize that “when you trade in your operation for someone else’s thing, you get their problems too. New problems that you don’t yet know how to solve.” When people are burned out, they only see the positives of the other job.

Lastly, Cook noted that burned-out employees no longer see “happiness [as] a journey, [but] a destination.” That comes with being “fixated on the end goal and foregoing the present.” She noted that “unsustainable practice creates a strong case for needing a break.”

Body, mind stress

A significant difference between tiredness and burnout is whether the person can function normally or not. “If taking a small break for a few hours or a day, connecting with friends, and eating good food helps, then we are likely talking about tiredness,” Sneha Janaki, a Mumbai-based counseling psychologist, told Vice, an entertainment platform, in 2022. “When you are tired, there is some decrease in functionality, but when you are burnt out, it also shakes your sense of purpose and identity, perhaps both personal and professional.” 

Prolonged burnout can affect physical health, as the body enters a protracted state of “fight or flight.” According to a paper from the American Psychological Association, “Continuous activation of the nervous system due to stress negatively impacts other bodily systems, causing wear and tear on the body.”

High exhaustion levels also can impact one’s thought process and perception. “While going through or edging toward burnout, chances are that positive thoughts and motivation will be in short supply,” Mumbai-based psychiatrist Syeda Ruksheda told Vice. “One [becomes] negative and pessimistic about things most of the time, and … misinterprets social cues.”   

Other burnout signs that impact psychological health, according to Ruksheda, include “forgetting things … unable to focus … problem-solving and decision-making skills decrease, … unable to be present … always anticipating what might go wrong and more irritable, angry or anxious than usual.”

As these signs intensify, it will become increasingly difficult to fall asleep, as burnout increases stress that eventually leads to insomnia, according to a 2019 research paper from the Department of Educational & Social Policy at the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts at the University of Macedonia in Greece.

Diagnosis responsibility

The big challenge in preventing burnout is it falls to individual employees to self-diagnose whether they are burned out or simply tired. “Often, employers don’t recognize there is a difference between pressure, which can serve as motivation, and stress, which can happen when pressure reaches an unhealthy level,” Agrawal said.  

Accordingly, those starting to experience burnout should strongly request time off, and employers should oblige, even if it temporarily delays work on a project. “Employees [have to] take mental health leaves, even if for ‘selfish’ reasons,” Ruksheda stressed, “[As a boss] I [need] to see that my work gets done better, and for that, I need my employees to be in better health.”