Workplace burnout, along with anxiety and depression rates are skyrocketing globally, and one of the common causes of burnout is constantly feeling overwhelmed. As workers navigate today’s business world, many employees are asked to do more with fewer resources and it’s taking a toll on engagement, well-being and retaining talent. However, learning and development (L&D) leaders can make a positive impact by designing sustainable workplace cultures that prioritize employee well-being.

Paula Davis, founder of the Stress and Resilience Institute, makes clear that burnout is a manifestation of chronic workplace stress in her book, “Beating Burnout at Work.” In addition, The World Health Organization reports that burnout refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life. While a massage or a restorative yoga class outside of work can be helpful, these experiences will not conquer the root causes of burnout in the workplace.

Burnout Is Complex

Burnout is driven by factors found in the workplace environment: how a manager leads, the quality of a team and macro-level issues like changing industry regulations that shift organizational priorities, which influence how managers lead their teams and impacts how front-line workers work. Burnout in the workplace can be caused by:

1. Lack of autonomy: having little to no choice as to how and when you perform the tasks related to your work.

2. High workload and work pressure: this can be particularly problematic in combination with too few resources.

3. Lack of leader/colleague support: not feeling a sense of belonging at work.

4. Unfairness: favoritism and/or arbitrary decision-making.

5. Values disconnect: what you find important about work doesn’t match the environment you’re in.

6. Lack of recognition: receiving no feedback and employees rarely, if ever, hear “thank you.”

Workplace Mental Health and Well-being

The U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., M.B.A. released a report to provide a framework for workplace mental health and well-being. The report is a call to action to lift the voices of all workers and to protect their health and well-being in the workplace.

The data focuses on solutions that are implementable in any work environment. Centered on the worker voice and equity, these five essentials support workplaces as engines of well-being. Each essential is grounded in human needs shared across industries and roles. Creating a plan can help your people reimagine the workplace as an engine of well-being. Let’s take a look at the five essential keys to supporting workplace well-being.

1. Protection from Harm 

• Prioritize workplace physical and psychological safety.
• Normalize and support mental health.
• Operationalize diversity equity, inclusion (DEI) and accessibility norms, policies/programs.

2. Connection and Community 

• Create cultures of inclusion and belonging.
• Cultivate trusted relationships.
• Foster collaboration and teamwork.

3. Work-Life Harmony 

• Provide more autonomy over how work is done.
• Make schedules as flexible and predictable as possible.
• Increase access to paid parental leave.
• Respect boundaries between work and non-work time.

4. A Sense of Purpose

• Provide a living wage.
• Engage workers in workplace decisions.
• Build a culture of gratitude and recognition.
• Connect individual work with organizational mission.

5. Development Opportunities

• Offer quality training, coaching and mentoring.
• Foster clear, equitable pathways for career advancement.
• Ensure relevant, reciprocal feedback.

L&D’s Role in Culture Building

Most culture change initiatives fail because leaders view it as a one-and-done project. Sure, culture change begins with letting go of what is not serving employees and the company well. But it doesn’t end there — it’s a continuous process. Enacting culture change is an ongoing collaboration between employees and leaders that is always evolving. L&D leaders play a critical role in designing and developing culture and their insight on employee engagement is essential to this process.

Designing and evolving an organization’s culture is an all-hands-on-deck opportunity. When employees have buy in inside a strong culture, they enjoy where they work and are successful on an individual level, which scales to the success of the company at large.

Connect Strategy and Purpose to Culture

It’s time to put company values into practice and create workplace environments where values are experienced though the employee lifecycle. Redesigning workplace culture is a continuous process and requires lifelong development. In her book, “Re-Culturing: Design Your Company Culture to Connect with Strategy and Purpose for Lasting Success,” Melissa Daimler, chief learning officer of Udemy, shares some tips for making culture building a continuous journey:

Hiring — Ensure prospective talent understand company values, behaviors and culture during the interview process.

Onboarding — thorough orientation, training and immersion into the behaviors of company culture to create a sense of belonging that lasts.

Talent management and development — create a learning lab environment where individuals can achieve mastery in key areas, and ongoing professional development. This builds a strong internal bench for succession planning and advancement opportunities.

Offboarding — Savvy leaders know that employees who leave can continue to be positive brand ambassadors — or not. Stewarding relationships with former employees can lead to knowledge transfer, business development and boomerang talent that returns with new and valuable experiences down the road. How an employee exits your organization matters.

Continuous Culture Evolution

A commitment to creating a culture of well-being takes intentionality of leadership. It’s not only about engagement surveys, which can be a great point of departure, but participating in deeper conversations about values. The companies that exploit and exhaust their people are in a vicious cycle of hiring, training and rehiring. People want to work for companies that prioritize their well-being. L&D plays a huge role in this by ensuring the organization and its people are continuously developing the skills and knowledge needed to create a safe and healthy work environment — where people want to come to work.