The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It

“We need to create the conditions in our workplaces that lead to a healthy, happy, and high-performing workforce,” writes journalist Moss (Unlocking Happiness at Work) in this fresh guide to identifying, preventing, and remedying burnout. Citing that stress causes a $1 trillion loss in annual global productivity, Moss urges managers to reconsider burnout as “an organizational problem that requires an organizational solution,” rather than an individual issue. Moss breaks her guidance into three sections: “Insights” identifies six causes of burnout (workload, perceived lack of control, lack of reward, poor relationships, lack of fairness, and values mismatch) and highlights at-risk personality types (such as neuroticism, introversion, and perfectionism); “Strategies” encourages leaders to offer a mandatory day off and consider pushing back deadlines; and “Leadership” presents a curiosity-first approach to work. Moss’s guidance is comprehensive, and refreshingly, she avoids a one-size-fits-all solution, opting for encouragement: “If we don’t help our employees to pursue their curiosity, we are essentially telling them to stop growing.... If we want the companies we lead to flourish, our employees must flourish first.” Business leaders owe it to themselves to check out this timely and practical plea for more balance. (Sept.)