Burnout, Stress, & The Need to Redefine Success

Asana’s Anatomy of Work Global Index 2022 surveyed over 10,000 global knowledge workers “to learn what’s working—and what’s not—in their organizations.”

And when I read the report, alarm bells went off in my head. They found that 42% of workers experience burnout and imposter syndrome at the same time, with the highest rates of burnout among Gen-Z, who entered the workforce during a period of heightened isolation.

But perhaps even more alarming: 40% of those surveyed “think burnout is an inevitable part of success.”

Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2022 Report, which looked at whether employees were engaged and/or thriving, gives us another concerning glimpse into the wellbeing of workers. Gallup reports that, globally, only 9% of workers are both thriving and engaged — and a staggering 57% of the global worker population is neither engaged nor thriving.

Wellbeing was on a slow-but-decades-long upward climb globally, but stalled when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and stress reached another all-time high in 2022.

Of those who are not engaged and not thriving, 57% responded that they felt stress yesterday, 56% felt worried, 33% felt pain, and 31% felt angry — and these numbers are “46% to 83% higher than an engaged person would report.”

Things aren’t a lot better for those who are engaged but not thriving, either, who “have a 61% higher likelihood of ongoing burnout than those who are engaged and thriving.”

The Leading Cause of Stress: Bosses

I know leaders are aware that there is an issue — but I don’t think many acknowledge their role in perpetuating the biggest problems.

We hear a lot of talk about flexible hours, location independence, and other attempts at work-life balance. And while these things are important and have a role, Gallup finds that it’s what people are doing at work that makes them miserable — because the reality is that, for most of us, work and life are already integrated.

Gallup performed one of the largest studies of burnout and found the biggest source was “unfair treatment at work,” followed by “an unmanageable workload, unclear communication from managers, lack of manager support, and unreasonable time pressure.” And what do those five stressors have in common? “Your boss,” writes Jon Clifton, CEO of Gallup.

In the most recent report that came out from the U.S. Surgeon General’s Framework for Workplace Mental Health & Well-Being, they have formally recognized the connection between work performance and well-being. ”In addition to the many impacts on the health and well-being of workers themselves, workplace well-being can affect productivity and organizational performance.”

And let’s not forget the experience gap that we know exists — the difference between what executives believe in terms of delivering a great employee experience and the realities of what employees believe.

All of this is important context when we’re talking about how to improve not just organization outcomes but life outcomes for the people in our organizations.

The New Workplace Imperative

One of Gallup’s key conclusions was that “employee wellbeing is the new workplace imperative.” I’ve been championing this idea since I published The State of Work and Career Success 2022 and I’m thrilled to see more hard data coming in to help give leadership a clear image of what it’s like to be a worker right now.

Moreover, Gallup’s data repeatedly reinforces how connected our work and the rest of our lives are; stress and burnout affect both our physical and emotional health, while our overall wellbeing affects our likelihood of ongoing burnout and rates of engagement. Conversely, when employees are engaged and thriving, they experience less stress, anger, and health problems.

I want to go back to that stat from the Anatomy of Work Global Index 2022: 40% of workers think burnout is an inevitable part of success. And, as things are now, they might be right. But how can we change that?

Asana, Gallup, and myself all came to the same conclusion in our reports — change is necessary and change needs to be structural. Leadership needs to stop thinking about getting the most out of their employees and start thinking of this relationship as a mutual value exchange.

Redefining Success

What people want, what people need, and the paths people take to find success aren’t the same as they were even a few years ago. Their career goals aren’t centered around money but rather meaning. They prioritize ensuring their life has purpose.

To bridge the gap between what your organization needs to be successful and what your workers need to be successful, you have to ask them what they need — and more importantly, you have to listen. This is also an iterative process, as the answers to all of those questions will change depending on the circumstance. This is all valuable information to help you identify the right approach to help engage them better, and it might not be the same approach you take for another worker.

And I know it’s possible. 21% of workers globally already work in organizations like this, according to Gallup. “They still have days with stress, worry and pain — but at half the rate as people who are actively disengaged at work. In fact, 95% of people who are thriving at work report being treated with respect all day and 87% report smiling and laughing a lot.”

It’s going to be a lot of work, and it’s necessary for the sake of our families and communities, but it is also likely to contribute to the bottom line. Gallup saw businesses with engaged workers have 23% higher profit when compared to businesses with miserable workers, in addition to significantly lower absenteeism, less turnover, fewer accidents, and higher customer loyalty. Similarly, we saw organizational outcomes improve across the board for engaged workers in the State of Work and Career Success.

So remember: for your organization to be successful, to create that forward movement together with your talent, it’s time to listen, learn, and understand the voice of this changing workforce. It’s that discovery work that will help identify the what and why to get to the how.