40+ Employee Burnout Statistics (2026 Research)

Two out of three employees are burned out right now. Not tired. Not stressed. Burned out.

That is not a soft number. The Moodle/Censuswide 2025 study puts it at 66% of American employees experiencing some form of burnout. Eagle Hill Consulting's survey of 1,400+ workers landed at 55%. Either way you cut it, more than half your team is running on empty.

And here is the part that should worry you more than the number itself: burnout does not just hurt the person. It eats your margin, drives your best people to job boards, and tanks the service your customers experience.

Here are the numbers.

TL;DR 55-66% of U.S. employees report burnout. It costs $4,000-$21,000 per employee annually. Gen Z has the highest rate at 66%. Burnout kills efficiency (72%), performance (71%), and customer service (65%). For shift workers, unpredictable scheduling is a top driver. Companies with predictable schedules see up to 50% lower turnover.

How widespread burnout actually is

The data converges from multiple sources, and none of it is encouraging.

• 66% of American employees experience some form of burnout (Moodle/Censuswide, 2025)
• 55% of the U.S. workforce is currently experiencing burnout (Eagle Hill Consulting, Nov 2025)
• 48% of employees worldwide report feeling burned out at work (Gallup, 2024)
• 82% of employees are at risk of burnout (Fortune/BCG, 2024)
• 76% of employees say they experience burnout at least sometimes (Mind Share Partners, 2023)
• 44% of U.S. employees feel burned out at work, 45% feel emotionally drained, and 51% feel "used up" at the end of the workday (SHRM)
• U.S. workforce burnout reached a six-year high in 2025 (Aflac WorkForces Report)

That last point from Aflac is worth pausing on. This is not a post-pandemic blip. Burnout has been climbing steadily, and 2025 set a new record.

What burnout actually costs

Burnout is not a wellness issue. It is a financial one.

Per-employee costs

• Burnout costs employers $4,000 to $21,000 per employee annually, depending on the role (CUNY Graduate School of Public Health, 2025)
• A 1,000-employee company may lose approximately $5 million per year from burnout-related costs (same study)
• Burnout costs 0.2 to 2.9 times the average cost of health insurance per employee, and 3.3 to 17.1 times the cost of training per employee (Forbes/CUNY)

National and global costs

• Workplace stress costs U.S. employers an estimated $300 billion per year in health costs, absenteeism, and lost productivity (American Institute of Stress)
• Burnout costs businesses $322 billion annually in lost productivity (Interview Guys/BCG)
• Healthcare costs related to workplace burnout range from $125 billion to $190 billion annually in the U.S.
• Employee disengagement costs the global economy $438 billion in lost productivity (Gallup, 2024)

To put that $300 billion in context, that is roughly the GDP of Ireland. Burned out workers are not just unhappy. They are an economic sinkhole.

How burnout destroys performance

Eagle Hill Consulting asked burned-out employees exactly how burnout affects their work. The answers are grim.

• 72% say burnout diminishes their efficiency
• 71% say it hurts their overall job performance
• 65% say it weakens their ability to serve customers
• 64% say it reduces their ability to innovate
• 56% say it impacts their attendance
• 34% report lower engagement due to stress and fatigue (Deloitte, 2024)

And then comes the retention hit: burned-out employees are nearly 3x more likely to say they plan to leave their employer in the coming year (Eagle Hill, 2025).

That is not a morale problem. That is a retention emergency.

Burnout by generation

The generational divide on burnout is stark, and it is getting wider.

Burnout rates by generation (Eagle Hill, 2025)

• Gen Z and Millennials hit peak burnout at age 25, seventeen years earlier than the average American who peaks at 42 (Fortune/Newsweek)
• 70% of Gen Z and Millennial employees reported burnout symptoms within the last year
• 83% of Gen Z frontline workers in the UK report burnout symptoms, compared to 66% of older cohorts (Personnel Today)
• Manager burnout is also spiking: managers under 35 and women managers suffered the steepest decline in engagement of any worker category (Gallup, 2025)

The shift here is real. Younger workers are hitting walls that previous generations did not face until their 40s. Student debt, cost of living, and the blurred boundaries of digital-first work are compressing the timeline.

Burnout by work arrangement

Working from home does not fix burnout. The data complicates the narrative.

Fully remote workers report a 61% burnout rate (Eagle Hill, 2025). Hybrid sits at 57%. On-site workers come in lower, but still above 50%.

Remote workers report 20% higher burnout risk despite the flexibility. The culprit is not commuting or office politics. It is isolation, blurred work/life boundaries, and the sense that you are always on.

For shift workers and frontline teams, the picture is different. Their burnout comes from the opposite direction: unpredictable hours, last-minute changes, and the constant stress of not knowing your schedule until it is too late.

Burnout across industries

Some industries burn people faster than others.

Healthcare

• Primary care physicians report burnout rates of 46% to 58% (multi-year studies)
• Healthcare worker burnout has been rising year over year since the pandemic
• Healthcare turnover is driven equally by workload and emotional fatigue from patient care

Hospitality and retail

• Frontline retail workers face annual turnover rates of at least 60% (McKinsey), with inconsistent scheduling being a significant driver
• 69% of shift workers have their schedules changed with little or no notice (Planday)
• Key burnout drivers in hospitality: unpredictable schedules, working multiple jobs, and a lack of managerial support
• Companies with unpredictable scheduling practices experience turnover rates up to 50% higher than those with predictable schedules

Regional patterns

In the UK, 91% of workers reported high or extreme stress over the past year. More than 50% of all sick days were stress-related.

Across Europe, 29% of employees report stress, depression, or anxiety caused or worsened by work (EU data). About 10% meet clinical criteria for burnout.

In North America, 70%+ of employees experience moderate to high workplace stress. Only 21% believe their employer genuinely cares about their mental health.

Asia-Pacific reports 62.9% burnout prevalence across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Japan sits at 31%.

What causes burnout (and what scheduling has to do with it)

Burnout is not just about working too many hours. Eagle Hill found that employees attribute burnout equally to the work itself (50%) and the people aspect of work (50%). Workload, work type, collaboration dynamics, relationships, and team friction all play a role.

But for shift-based teams, the research points to specific, fixable scheduling patterns:

The scheduling-burnout connection

• 69% of shift workers get their schedules changed with little or no notice (Planday)
• There is a strong correlation between low schedule predictability and turnover across industries, with hospitality and retail having the highest rates of both volatility and turnover (Wharton research)
• Last-minute schedule changes create chronic uncertainty that elevates cortisol levels (Myshyft)
• Insufficient time between shifts prevents proper mental and physical recovery, accelerating burnout
• "Clopenings" (closing then opening the next day) are a specific burnout trigger in hospitality

What predictable scheduling actually fixes

• Organizations with predictable scheduling practices see up to 50% lower turnover (Myshyft)
• Employees who feel they have control over their schedule report significantly lower burnout
• Simple fixes: publishing schedules further in advance, allowing shift swaps, and respecting minimum rest periods between shifts

This is not about spending more money. It is about being organized. A team that knows their schedule a week in advance sleeps better, plans better, and shows up ready to work.

The manager blind spot

Here is where the data gets uncomfortable for leadership:

• Only 42% of burned-out workers have told their manager about it (Eagle Hill, 2025)
• Among those who do speak up, 42% say their manager takes no action to help reduce their burnout
• Only 21% of employees in the U.S. and Canada believe their employer genuinely cares about their mental health
• Global employee engagement fell in 2024, alongside employee thriving (Gallup)

Nearly half of managers do nothing when employees ask for help. And most employees do not ask at all.

The gap between what companies say about wellbeing and what employees experience is enormous. One wellness webinar does not fix a scheduling system that texts people at 10 PM about their 6 AM shift.

The gender gap

Women are burning out faster than men, and the gap is growing:

• Women experience burnout at significantly higher rates than men, with the gap more than doubling since 2019
• Women managers saw the steepest engagement declines alongside managers under 35 (Gallup, 2025)
• Caregiving responsibilities compound work stress: 78% of caregiving managers say it affects their focus at work (Cariloop, 2025)
• 52% of sandwich generation employees (caring for both children and aging parents) report feeling distracted, anxious, or overwhelmed at work

For shift-based businesses, this has a direct scheduling implication. Women with caregiving responsibilities need predictability more than anyone. Late-notice schedule changes do not just cause inconvenience. They cause childcare crises, elder care gaps, and the kind of stress that makes people quit.

What actually reduces burnout

Throwing a meditation app at a broken scheduling system does not work. Here is what the research says does:

For shift-based teams

1. Publish schedules at least one week in advance. Predictability is the single biggest scheduling lever against burnout.
2. Allow shift swaps. Giving employees control over their time reduces the helplessness that fuels burnout.
3. Respect minimum rest periods. No clopenings. No back-to-back shifts without adequate recovery time.
4. Make availability easy to set. When employees can set recurring availability and one-off exceptions, scheduling conflicts drop and resentment drops with them.
5. Post open shifts instead of assigning them. Volunteers burn out slower than draftees.

For all teams

• Strong onboarding improves retention by 82% (Brandon Hall Group)
• Recognition programs reduce turnover by up to 29%
• Managers who actually respond when employees report burnout reduce quit risk significantly
• Fair scheduling (no favoritism in shift assignments) addresses the perceived bias that fuels resentment

One manager on r/Restaurant_Managers summed it up: "Bend over backwards for your people and they'll bend over backwards for you." The data backs that up completely.

Summary: the numbers that matter

Burnout is not a personality flaw. It is a systems problem. And for shift-based businesses, scheduling is one of the systems most directly under your control.

Fix the schedule. Fix the predictability. Watch the burnout numbers come down.

Related reading

• Employee turnover cost: the real numbers
• Employee retention statistics (2026 data)
• Employee turnover rate by industry
• Healthcare turnover rate: why nurses and CNAs keep leaving
• How bad scheduling makes good employees quit
• How to reduce overtime with better scheduling