Employee burnout is common in several measured working populations, but the numbers are not interchangeable. Surveys of six-country desk workers, meta-analyses of Swiss workers and public-health workforces, and Great Britain’s official stress statistics use different definitions, periods and populations.
Key Employee Burnout Statistics
The most useful headline figures span prevalence, workplace conditions and outcomes:
- In November–December 2022, 42% of surveyed desk workers in the US, Australia, France, Germany, Japan and the UK reported feeling burned out at work.
- In November–December 2022, 46% of women and 37% of men among surveyed six-country desk workers reported burnout.
- In November–December 2022, 48% of desk workers under 30 and 40% of those aged 30 or older reported burnout across six countries.
- In November–December 2022, 53% of workers dissatisfied with flexibility reported burnout, compared with 37% satisfied with flexibility in the six-country desk-worker survey.
- Between May 2021 and November 2022, Australia’s surveyed desk-worker burnout reading increased from 42% to 50%.
- Between May 2021 and November 2022, the UK desk-worker burnout reading increased from 40% to 48%.
- A Swiss meta-analysis published in 2022 estimated overall occupational burnout prevalence at 18% among Swiss workers, with a 95% confidence interval of 12%–25%.
- The same Swiss analysis estimated clinical or severe burnout at 4% among Swiss workers, with a 95% confidence interval of 2%–6%.
- In 2023/24, 776,000 workers in Great Britain reported new or long-standing work-related stress, depression or anxiety.
- In 2023/24, work-related stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 46% of Great Britain’s work-related ill-health cases.
- In 2023/24, the broader work-related stress, depression or anxiety category was associated with an estimated 16.4 million working days lost in Great Britain.
- A global meta-analysis estimated 39% burnout prevalence in the public-health workforce, with a 95% confidence interval of 25%–53%.
- The public-health review found burnout proportions ranging from 10.5% to 85.2% across included studies.
- In 2021, 53% of more than 40,000 surveyed US state and local public-health workers reported anxiety, depression or PTSD symptoms.
- In 2021, one in three surveyed US public-health workers were considering leaving their jobs.
- Among surveyed six-country desk workers in November–December 2022, burned-out respondents were nearly 3.4 times as likely to definitely plan to look for a new job within a year.
- Among six-country desk workers in November–December 2022, full schedule flexibility was associated with 39% higher self-reported productivity than no ability to shift schedules.
Contents
- How common employee burnout is
- Employee burnout data by country, gender and age
- Work stress, anxiety and burnout trends
- Public-health workforce burnout statistics
- Flexibility and workplace outcomes
- Burnout severity and measurement
How Common Is Employee Burnout?
The broadest cross-country desk-worker measure came from Future Forum’s Wave 9 survey. Between November 16 and December 22, 2022, 42% of surveyed desk workers across the United States, Australia, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom reported feeling burned out at work, two percentage points above the previous quarter and the highest reading in that series since measurement began in May 2021 (Future Forum Pulse Report Winter 2022–2023).
This is a self-reported survey item among desk workers, not a clinical diagnosis or a census of all employees. It is also different from a pooled prevalence estimate based on multiple studies.
For Switzerland, a 2022 systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized 23 pre-pandemic studies from the prior decade. It estimated overall occupational burnout at 18% (95% CI 12%–25%), clinical or severe burnout at 4% (95% CI 2%–6%), and emotional exhaustion at 18% (95% CI 15%–22%) among Swiss workers (Point prevalence of burnout in Switzerland: a systematic review and meta-analysis).
The Swiss figures show why definitions matter: severe burnout is narrower than broad burnout, while emotional exhaustion is one dimension rather than the full construct. The review’s estimates came from studies using varied definitions, tools and cutoffs.
Employee Burnout Data by Country, Gender and Age
Future Forum’s repeated survey provides comparable readings for six-country desk-worker samples, but its country figures remain survey results rather than national prevalence estimates.
| Population | May 2021 | November 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Australia desk workers | 42% | 50% |
| France desk workers | 43% | 48% |
| United Kingdom desk workers | 40% | 48% |
| United States desk workers | 39% | 41% |
| Germany desk workers | 29% | 37% |
| Japan desk workers | 26% | 27% |
Source: Future Forum Pulse Report Winter 2022–2023. The comparison uses two survey-wave readings and repeated cross-sectional samples; respondents may differ between waves.
The same November–December 2022 survey found 46% of women reported burnout compared with 37% of men. Workers under 30 reported burnout at 48%, versus 40% among workers aged 30 and older.
Flexibility was also associated with different reported burnout levels: 53% of workers dissatisfied with their flexibility reported burnout, compared with 37% of workers satisfied with flexibility. Workers with no ability to shift schedules were 26% more likely to report burnout than those with moderate flexibility, an association rather than a causal estimate.
Work arrangements provide context, not another burnout rate: 49% of surveyed desk workers were hybrid, 35% were fully in-office and 17% were fully remote. Meanwhile, 81% wanted flexibility in where they worked, 93% wanted flexibility in when they worked, and 56% reported little or no ability to adjust hours from a preset schedule.
Executives reported fewer schedule constraints than non-executives: 75% of executives had little or no schedule constraints, compared with 41% of non-executives. These are measures of schedule control and preference, not direct burnout prevalence.
Work Stress, Anxiety and Burnout Trends in Great Britain
Great Britain’s Health and Safety Executive reports a broader category than burnout: work-related stress, depression or anxiety. In 2023/24, 776,000 workers reported a new or long-standing case, including 300,000 reporting a new case; the category represented 46% of all work-related ill-health cases and an estimated 16.4 million working days lost (Health and safety statistics 2024: Summary statistics for Great Britain).
| Period | Rate per 100,000 workers |
|---|---|
| 2001/02 | About 1,550 |
| 2017/18 | About 1,800 |
| 2019/20 | About 2,450 |
| 2020/21 | About 2,500 |
| 2021/22 | About 2,750 |
| 2022/23 | About 2,650 |
| 2023/24 | About 2,300 |
These approximate chart values are self-reported estimates for the broader stress, depression or anxiety category. The 2019/20 and 2020/21 periods include pandemic effects, so the series should not be read as a clinical burnout trend.
The three-year occupational comparison for 2021/22–2023/24 showed an average rate of 4,000 per 100,000 workers in public administration and defence, 3,300 per 100,000 in human health and social work, and 2,700 per 100,000 in education. HSE restricts these occupational figures to the current or most recent job, and they remain broader than burnout.
Public-Health Workforce Burnout Statistics
Public-health workers appear in several different evidence bases, with substantial variation by instrument, setting and period. A peer-reviewed global systematic review and meta-analysis pooled burnout prevalence at 39% (95% CI 25%–53%) across eight cross-sectional studies, but the included studies ranged from 10.5% to 85.2% (Global estimate of burnout among the public health workforce: a systematic review and meta-analysis).
| Public-health evidence | Result | Period or scope |
|---|---|---|
| Overall pooled prevalence | 39% (95% CI 25%–53%) | Global review |
| Maslach Burnout Inventory subgroup | 42% (95% CI 25%–58%) | Included studies |
| Oldenburg Burnout Inventory subgroup | 35% (95% CI 18%–53%) | Included studies |
| Pandemic-period studies | 42% (95% CI 17%–66%) | Included studies |
| Non-pandemic studies | 35% (95% CI 10%–60%) | Included studies |
The review reported I²=99.67% heterogeneity, a very high level that limits how confidently one pooled percentage can be generalized to every public-health workforce. Tool-specific and period-specific estimates should therefore remain labeled rather than collapsed.
The CDC/NIOSH summary of public-health workforce evidence adds outcome-related measures. In 2021, a survey of more than 40,000 US state and local public-health department workers found 22% rated their mental health bad or fair, 53% reported anxiety, depression or PTSD symptoms, and one in three were considering leaving their jobs (Series Overview – Burnout and Public Health Workers).
Among those considering leaving, 41% cited workload and burnout as a reason.
Other studies in the same source show the range of settings: 66% of about 200 public-health workers reported feeling burned out in a fall 2020 study; approximately 39% of primary public-health-care workers reported burnout in a pre-COVID Veterans Health Administration study published in 2015; and 45% of public-health workers reported burnout in a 2022 Malaysia survey. The peer-reviewed review also notes that 26.45% of US public-health workers reported burnout in PH WINS 2017, with the definition differing from later measures.
In a 2022 follow-up, 48% of public-health workers still reported at least one mental-health symptom. Mental-health ratings, symptoms, turnover intentions and burnout are related but distinct outcomes.
Employee Burnout, Flexibility and Workplace Outcomes
Future Forum’s November–December 2022 desk-worker survey linked schedule flexibility with self-reported work experiences. Workers with full schedule flexibility reported 39% higher productivity and 64% greater ability to focus than workers with no ability to shift schedules; these are associations, not experimental estimates (Future Forum Pulse Report Winter 2022–2023).
Workers with little or no ability to set hours reported 4.6 times worse work-related stress and anxiety and 2.6 times worse work-life balance than workers with moderate flexibility. Employees with rigid schedules were 2.5 times as likely to definitely look for a new job as workers with some schedule flexibility.
Burnout itself was associated with nearly 3.4 times the likelihood of definitely planning to look for a new job within a year and 1.8 times lower overall satisfaction. These measures describe stated intentions and reported indices, not observed attrition or standardized clinical effect sizes.
Overall, 59% of Future Forum respondents were open to looking for a new job in the next year, while 75% of respondents dissatisfied with flexibility said they planned to look for a new opportunity within a year. Deloitte’s 2022 US survey of 1,274 workers found 30% cited heavy workload and job stress as reasons they would not take paid time off (Employee well-being and engagement).
Employee Burnout by Severity, Dimensions and Measurement
The statistics above measure different things. A self-reported feeling of burnout, a validated instrument’s cutoff, emotional exhaustion, mental-health symptoms and work-related stress may overlap, but they are not synonyms.
The Swiss review separated 18% overall occupational burnout, 4% clinical or severe burnout and 18% emotional exhaustion among pre-pandemic Swiss workers. Its 23 studies used differing tools and cutoffs, which helps explain why the narrower severe estimate is not interchangeable with the broader overall estimate.
The public-health meta-analysis likewise pooled only eight cross-sectional studies and found I²=99.67% heterogeneity. Its 39% pooled result, the 42% Maslach Burnout Inventory subgroup and the 35% Oldenburg Burnout Inventory subgroup describe different evidence groupings, while the 10.5%–85.2% study range shows how widely results can vary.
For practical interpretation, always retain the population, geography, measurement period, instrument or wording, and denominator. Great Britain’s 776,000 workers and 16.4 million lost days describe work-related stress, depression or anxiety; they should not be presented as direct burnout counts.