Burnout has become one of those workplace words that risks losing its meaning precisely because everyone recognizes it. Someone has a terrible week and says they’re burned out. A team survives a difficult quarter and management worries about burnout. An employee who’s stopped caring about work gets described as burned out even when nobody has asked what changed. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety is more specific. It describes job burnout in terms of exhaustion, cynicism or detachment, reduced feelings of accomplishment and, in some cases, a sense of depersonalization. It also points to workplace factors such as unreasonable demands, lack of control, unclear expectations, dysfunctional workplace dynamics, poor support and an absence of work life balance. Burnout isn’t formally treated as a medical diagnosis, but that doesn’t make it a vague lifestyle complaint. It’s better understood as a response to chronic workplace stress, which means the workplace itself has to be part of the conversation.
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