Summary
Burnout is affecting employers significantly, but 2026 planning provides an opportunity to reset your team's approach. Start by giving people more control over their workday, helping them spot burnout early, and building benefits that support their daily lives. When employees feel supported and equipped, your organization gains stability, commitment, and a culture that can weather what comes next.
It’s no secret that burnout is a bulldozer of productivity and employee retention. Earlier this year, Forbes reported that burnout was at 66%, with employees lacking focus, energy, and struggling with mental health. All of that is then left to employers to pick up the pieces. But that doesn’t mean things are hopeless. In fact, employers can use this as a perfect opportunity for growth.
As you plan for 2026, reevaluate your base assumptions about how your team operates. Is there rigidity where there could be flexibility? How can you add ease and a wellness-centered work environment to your company culture?
Build resilience through self-designed roles
Everyone works differently and thrives in different environments. Where one person might like working in a noisy coffee shop, another might prefer working in silence at home. Identify places where you can enable your employees to craft their own ideal workday. Consider:
- Offering flexible hours so employees can choose when to start and end their workday.
- Creating space for different types of working environments. Make sure you have space for collaboration and quiet work.
- Working with employees to set employee-specific KPIs to help with growth and accountability. Since each employee is at a different stage of their career and skill development, KPIs should be tailored to individuals. This can help you create reasonable expectations for each team member, fitted to their strengths and areas for growth.
Include your team in this conversation. Ask them where they feel restricted and how they would like to see more ease put in their days. This could be as simple as blocking off afternoons for individual deep work time and setting a team-wide expectation that emails and meetings shouldn’t take place during this time block.
Create tools for self-monitoring and support
Helping your employees track their own experience and providing them with tools for self-reflection can be a great way to keep burnout in check.
Educate your team about the symptoms of burnout to help them recognize if they’re experiencing it. Burnout can look like increased anxiety, difficulty focusing for long periods, a lack of interest in doing tasks that used to be enjoyable, a sense of disorder and overwhelm, and headaches, illness, and exhaustion.
While it helps to provide employees with the tools and education they need to recognize when they’re struggling, it’s just as important to establish a system that can respond with support when needed.
Are there internal mechanisms for your employees to report burnout? Do your employees feel safe reporting burnout to their managers? Do you have a defined process for responding if an employee says they’re experiencing burnout? As you plan for 2026:
- Define a process for weekly self-monitoring and build it into your one-on-one meetings between employees and their managers.
- Create a clear response plan for your managers to follow when an employee is struggling.
- Design a communication plan for your team so everyone understands the risk of burnout and how they are expected to respond. Don’t have this conversation once—people need repetition to build trust and reduce uncertainty about what will happen if they self-report.
Build wellness into your benefits strategy
Work with your team to evaluate their needs and identify areas where you can offer additional support to buoy their overall wellness and resilience. Building a benefits plan that addresses these concerns can help lift the burden of everyday life and make work feel less like a trial.
- Are they struggling to overcome concerns about the economy and their finances? Investigate 401(k), HSAs, or financial education benefit options.
- Do you have employees who are paying off substantial student loans? Consider offering student loan matching through your benefits plan.
- Are your employees struggling to afford wellness support, such as gym memberships or childcare assistance? Consider employee stipends that cover wellness expenses.
Looking forward to 2026
While burnout isn’t a pleasant concept to deal with, the work to rebuild our company cultures, approach to flexibility, and organizational structure can offer us something truly valuable: a chance to innovate, collaborate, and engage with our team on a new level.
Consider the competitive advantage of having a team that genuinely enjoys coming to work. The desirability of a company that creates safety and support for the challenges life throws at us, or the resilience of an organization with dedicated, loyal employees. It doesn’t just benefit your team; it creates a business built on resilience, innovation, and loyalty.
Content provided by Q4intelligence
Photo by New Africa