How employers can prevent growing rates of burnout during COVID-19

Published Updated 3 Min Read

The coronavirus pandemic has upended work and life routines, straining employee mental health and leading to high rates of burnout. Seventy-five percent of people have experienced burnout at work, with 40% saying they’ve experienced burnout during the pandemic specifically, according to a new survey by FlexJobs, an online job service for professionals seeking flexible work, and the nonprofit Mental Health America.

Burnout, when not addressed, can lead to serious mental health conditions and costs employers $125 to $190 billion in lost productivity and healthcare costs, according to Gallup. Despite the risks of ignoring burnout in the workplace, 56% said their HR departments did not encourage conversations about burnout. Only 1 in 5 (21%) said HR offered productive solutions to burnout issues, according to the FlexJobs survey.

Evelina Nedlund
Associate editor

Evelina Nedlund is an associate editor of Employee Benefit News and Employee Benefit Adviser. She can be contacted via email at evelina.nedlund@arizent.com.


For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.


More From Employee Benefit News

Sign Up Form

Login Modal Form