Workload is rarely the only driver, and often not the primary cause of burnout
The most common thing I hear from colleagues and coaching clients who are experiencing burnout is that they feel that they, “just need to work less and get more rest.” However, it’s a myth that burnout is caused solely from working too hard. Leaders who reduce their hours still feel depleted, and high performers come back from vacations just as flat. This is because workload is rarely the only driver, and often not the primary one.
In the first article in this series, we explored burnout as a progressive condition with three defining hallmarks—exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced efficacy—and mapped three stages, from onset to full burnout. This article is the next step, because before we can address burnout, we need to understand what is really causing it.
Misalignments leave us depleted
Researchers identify six distinct drivers of burnout. Each represents a misalignment between a person and their work or personal life. Essentially, each driver has the ability to boost us and contribute a net gain of energy but, where alignment is poor, we feel depleted as our energies are drained and burnout risk increases. In a healthy workplace, individuals experience more energy gains than losses so that they stay in an energy surplus. Burnout occurs when energies are depleted over time and not replenished.
Understanding these drivers (especially as they relate to the workplace) matters for individuals seeking to guard against or recover from burnout, but also for leaders who have the responsibility and leverage to change the working conditions that create burnout in the first place.
The six drivers
1. Workload
When the volume of demands at work consistently exceeds the time, capacity, and resources available to meet them, depletion follows. In the nonprofit sector, this is common because of structural under-resourcing where teams are asked to “do more with less.” Without adequate resources, people carry too much which results in a net energy drain.
2. Control
Burnout risk rises when people have little or no say over how they do their work. It is a fundamental human need to be creative, to exercise judgment and use our knowledge. When people are unable to bring their experience and skill to their work, they are less resilient and energy can drain quickly.
3. Recognition
Recognition is not only about formal rewards or salaries, although these things matter. Feeling “recognized” is also the daily experience of feeling seen and valued for one’s contribution. In mission-driven organizations, there is often an expectation that the work itself should be enough reward. This ignores the fact that people need to be recognized for their efforts in ways that have meaning for the individual otherwise, over time, they will feel depleted.
4. Fairness
Unfair practices like pay inequity, inconsistent application of policies, favouritism in advancement, and inequitable workloads contribute to burnout. People can tolerate a great deal when they believe the environment is fair. When they do not, the stress caused by misalignment of desired fairness and the reality of unfairness leads to energy depletion.
5. Community
The quality of relationships at work has a direct bearing on burnout. Where there is trust, psychological safety, and a genuine sense of belonging, people are energized. Where there is, for example, conflict, isolation, or code-switching, there is a net drain of energy resulting in burnout. Remote and hybrid work have made this driver more difficult to attend to, and yet more important to intentionally address.
6. Meaning
“Meaningful work” is often cited as a reason people stay in the nonprofit sector despite lower compensation and/or poorer working conditions. But, when the connection to purpose is weakened or broken by poor leadership or mission drift, the damage can be profound and energy declines.
A systems problem requires a systems lens
Understanding how these drivers operate in the workplace helps to illustrate that the causes of burnout originate in organizational conditions, not individual deficits. A person experiencing burnout is not failing. Rather, they are (in many cases) responding predictably to an environment that has failed to support them.
This is an important reframe in perspective for leaders.
Misunderstanding the causes of burnout means that solutions centred only on self-care fail to help employees. When burnout is understood as a systems problem, different solutions arise: reorganizing workloads, mandated autonomy, bringing an equity lens to policies and processes, and creating the conditions for community and meaning to flourish.
Reflection: Where are the energy drains and gains in your organization?
Consider the six drivers in the context of your organization. Where are the misalignments? Which drivers can you address with individuals now and which require broader conversation or structural changes?
This article is the second in a four-part series on burnout in the nonprofit and charitable sector.
Next month: Burnout is not only a mental experience. We explore how physical, emotional, social, and spiritual energies are drained and what nonprofit leaders can do to replenish them.
Lucy White is a certified coach specializing in burnout recovery and mental fitness for nonprofit and charitable sector professionals, and a skilled nonprofit executive with over thirty years’ experience leading associations and other nonprofit organizations. Lucy is a Certified Positive Intelligence Coach and a Certified Burnout Coach. She completed the Positive Intelligence Mastery Program and is a member of the International Coach Federation. She can be reached at lucy@lucywhite.ca or www.lucywhite.ca
