What Managers Can Do About Burnout

Large numbers of American workers are reporting feeling stressed and exhausted on the job. Some of that is beyond the reach of the workplace—people have been living through more than two years of a global pandemic, and, more personally, most people have stressors at home that are hard to leave behind when the workday starts. But some elements of burnout do lie within an employer’s control, because they can result from the way jobs and workplaces are structured. And, practically speaking, burned-out employees will turn to their managers, who need to be able to guide them. What can leaders do to help workers who are feeling perpetually stressed out?

I talked with Jakada Imani, the