Nearly half of Canadian workers feel burned out
The proportion of Canadian workers experiencing burnout has increased to 47%, according to a recently published report from Robert Half. The recruiting and HR consulting firm surveyed 1,500 employees in December and 835 employees in March.
The 47% figure was up five points from 42% in 2024 and up 14 points from 33% in 2023.
The top factors contributing to burnout were heavy workloads and long hours (39%) and mental fatigue from high-stress tasks (38%).
The people reporting the highest rates of burnout were legal and HR professionals (59%), working parents (51%), and millennials (50%).
"When employees are burned out due to heavy workloads and understaffed teams, businesses risk decreased productivity and morale, losing valued team members, and revenue loss due to falling behind on key timelines for critical projects," said Koula Vasilopoulos, senior managing director, Robert Half Canada.
Robert Half says the heavy workloads cited by burned out employees are in part caused by longer hiring cycles. In a separate survey of 1,050 Canadian managers, 39% said burnout in existing staff is a consequence of being unable to fill a vacant role. Other consequences are decreased productivity (40%), delayed project timelines (34%), higher turnover (30%), and lost revenue (24%).
Workers said the three best ways for employers to combat burnout are encouraging time off and mental health days (34%), hiring permanent or contract professionals to ease workloads (33%), and prioritizing projects and managing timelines (30%).
“As burnout continues to rise, managers need to be proactively mitigating it, by working to fill gaps on the team, embracing flexible staffing solutions, encouraging time off, prioritizing workloads, and maintaining open communication about employee wellbeing," Vasilopoulos added.
