Burnout is not a surprise event. It is usually the end result of how work has been designed for months, sometimes years.
This article in People Matters highlights something we see every day at MHScot. Almost half of employees globally report feeling burned out. Yet most organisations still step in when someone is already exhausted, off sick, or handing in their notice.
By that point, the cost is already there.
Lost productivity.
Strained relationships.
Managers firefighting instead of leading.
The World Health Organisation estimates depression and anxiety account for 12 billion lost working days each year. That is not a wellbeing side issue. It is a business reality.
The real shift is this: burnout is not just about individual resilience. It is about systems.
If people are consistently overwhelmed, unable to switch off, unclear on priorities, or afraid to speak up, that is not a personal weakness. It is a design flaw.
A prevention first approach asks different questions.
Are workloads realistic? Do managers have the skills and confidence to have supportive conversations early? Is psychological safety present in day to day meetings, not just in policy documents? Do people have autonomy and clarity, or constant urgency?
Workshops and awareness days have their place. But they cannot carry culture on their own. Prevention is quieter and more consistent. It shows up in how leaders role model boundaries. In how performance is measured. In whether rest is respected as part of performance, not the opposite of it.
At MHScot, we often say that you do not get the best from people by squeezing harder. You get it by creating the conditions where they can thrive.
The leadership question is no longer “How do we fix burnout?”
It is “How are we designing work so it is less likely to happen in the first place?”
What does prevention look like in your organisation right now?
