According to Gallup, we’re losing $500 billion annually to workplace stress. For every $10,000 of salary, companies are losing $3,400 due to burnout. This isn’t just a problem. It’s a massive economic black hole…

People become burned out because of a driving need—their’s or the company’s—to always accomplish more. The irony is that the accompanying long hours and overwhelming workloads eventually drive performance in the other direction.

Burnout isn’t a mystery. It appears in predictable ways:

– Absenteeism and turnover go up.
– KPIs and employee engagement scores go down.
– Meetings become silent. Innovative ideas decrease.
– Employees who used to be your creative powerhouses seem flat and disengaged.
– Performance starts to slip, not from lack of skill, but from a deep emotional and mental fatigue.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘄𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱.

Every business problem is a leadership problem, and burnout is no exception. If you have led your team into burnout, you’re the only one who can lead them out.

The good news is that most leaders understand burnout exists. They see it happening and understand the impact. They just feel trapped—believing exhaustion is the cost of doing business in a high-pressure world.

Thankfully, there is clear data that shows we don’t have to tolerate burnout. For instance, a RAND Corp study found that companies investing in wellness programs see $1.50 return for every dollar spent. This isn’t soft science—it’s hard economics.

Burnout isn’t inevitable. It’s a system design problem—and systems can be redesigned. That redesign can only happen through reimagination.

Productivity and talent attraction are going to continue to be top priorities for the foreseeable future. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: you can’t achieve either by running your team into the ground.

What can you do? Here are three action steps:

– Create reasonable boundaries to keep work from overtaking your colleagues’ personal lives.
– Be the boss who makes your employees take vacation. And go to lunch. And take their breaks. (By the way, it helps to model these yourself).
– Actively monitor for warning signs. A big part of leading is noticing and you don’t want to be the last to find out that burnout is creeping into your team dynamics.↳Add this goal as a continuing item on your regular 1-1 meeting agenda

Your culture is either actively preventing burnout or silently encouraging it. There’s no middle ground.

It strikes me that the most expensive wellness program is the one you don’t have—or the one undermined by a culture that glorifies exhaustion.

The choice is yours: lead the change, or manage the consequences.