Burnout isn’t just a personal issue, it’s a systemic one. Yet despite years of awareness campaigns and corporate wellbeing strategies, levels of burnout remain stubbornly high across sectors. A recent article in the MIT Sloan Management Review by Jennifer Moss (2024) explores why traditional fixes often fall short, and what leaders can do differently.
Moss highlights that many organisations still treat burnout as an individual problem to be “managed”, offering mindfulness sessions or flexible working hours while overlooking deeper cultural and structural causes. When the root issues lie in chronic workload pressure, lack of autonomy, or inequitable recognition, such surface-level interventions do little more than mask the symptoms.
Her argument is grounded in the recognition that burnout is not simply emotional exhaustion, but a form of chronic workplace stress with tangible physiological and psychological consequences. Employees are not “resilient enough” or “lacking in balance”, they are often operating within systems that make sustainable performance impossible.
What is needed, Moss argues, is a shift from reactive to preventative action. Treating burnout as an organisational design flaw rather than a personal weakness. This means rethinking how work is structured, measured, and rewarded. Inclusive leadership plays a critical role here: leaders who listen, adapt, and distribute power more equitably are better equipped to create environments where wellbeing and performance coexist.
Practical examples include redesigning workloads to match realistic capacity, embedding psychological safety in team norms, and re-evaluating incentive systems that inadvertently reward overwork. When leaders demonstrate empathy alongside accountability, they create cultures where employees can thrive without burning out.
As Moss concludes, real solutions require real change: structural, cultural, and leadership-based.
Addressing burnout at its roots is not just a wellbeing imperative but an inclusion one. After all, environments that consistently exhaust people often exclude them too.
You can read the original article here.
Q&A
Q1: What causes burnout in modern workplaces?
Burnout often stems from chronic workload pressure, lack of autonomy, inequitable recognition, and systemic cultural issues rather than individual resilience.
Q2: Why is burnout an inclusion issue?
When work environments ignore differences in capacity, caregiving responsibilities, or systemic barriers, they disproportionately harm underrepresented groups, making burnout an equity concern.
Q3: What can leaders do to prevent burnout?
Leaders can redesign work to match capacity, promote psychological safety, and model sustainable performance behaviours that prioritise both wellbeing and inclusion.
