Mental Health UK’s Burnout report for 2025 found that an overwhelming 91% of UK adults experienced high or extreme stress at some point during the past year. With 34% experiencing stress ‘always’ or ‘often’, the same score as 2024’s report. 1 in 5 (20%) of workers have burnout-related absenteeism.
Dr Hannah Nearney, a psychiatrist and UK medical director at Flow Neuroscience, explains that burnout is not a formal medical diagnosis, but it’s something that can be identified by a state of feeling highly stressed and overwhelmed to the point of complete depletion of energy.
We only have to listen to or read the news to understand some of the triggers for stress, anxiety and burnout. Even if we filter out the noise of what’s going on in the world today, we only have to reflect on our own lives; balancing work and home commitments, financial concerns, feeling lonely and isolated from kin and communities, feeling as if we don’t fit in, or don’t feel our usual confident self, too much work and not enough time.
But an even scarier statistic from Mental Health UK is that 19% of workers do not disclose their high levels of stress, often due to the fear around how it will be received and the stigma still surrounding mental health.
As managers, leaders and parents, we need to look long and hard at how we create an environment that encourages mental health issues to be raised, listened to, and supported. Burnout doesn’t appear overnight, it builds slowly. By noticing the signs early and creating spaces where people feel safe to talk, can help prevent stress from escalating.
What one small change can you put in place to open up conversations at work and at home?
Whilst many of us are busy and feeling stressed and overwhelmed on a weekly basis, we need to notice the persistent behaviours related to long-term stress in order to prevent burnout.
Signs of burnout include:
Emotional – Feeling irritable, having mood swings or being more negative and cynical more often.
Cognitive – Lack of enthusiasm for work, poor concentration, decision fatigue,
Behavioural – Taking longer than usual to complete everyday tasks, decreased productivity, feeling withdrawn and detached, wanting to leave.
Physical – Feeling overly tired, exhausted, and having poor sleep patterns. More frequent headaches, joint pain, and low immune system making you more susceptible to frequent colds and illnesses.
For neurodivergent colleagues, the constant need to mask or compensate for executive function challenges can make burnout even more likely. Creating inclusive environments is vital. And as we see signs of the colder weather approaching, it’s a good reminder that burnout often increases over the winter and the colder months.
Burnout is not inevitable.
Each of us can take one action, by asking a colleague how they are, encouraging family members to rest, or by sharing our own challenges to help normalise conversations around stress and not coping. We can notice and name the signs of burnout and hope to protect our wellbeing at work and at home.
If you’d like to talk to us about helping with your wellbeing plan and improving the resilience of your people, then get in touch as we’d like to help.