Breaking the Burnout Cycle for Women in the Workplace

Burnout is a common phenomenon that many professionals experience in their careers and personal lives. It manifests as physical, mental and emotional exhaustion due to prolonged stress, pressure or trauma.

For women in the workplace, however, burnout is often a more complex and deeply ingrained issue. Due to societal expectations, gender biases and the pressures of balancing multiple roles, women are disproportionately affected by workplace stress. If organizations and individuals do not take proactive measures, the consequences can be severe, impacting both careers and overall health.

Why Burnout Hits Women Harder

Recent research highlights a growing gender gap in burnout rates. Studies have found that women are significantly more likely to report feelings of exhaustion and emotional depletion than their male counterparts. Several key factors contribute to this disparity:

• The ‘Always-On’ Culture: Many women feel pressured to prove their dedication through long hours, often responding to emails and messages well beyond working hours.
• Unequal Domestic Responsibilities: Even in dual-income households, women still undertake most of the domestic and caregiving duties, adding another layer of stress.
• The "Glass Cliff" Phenomenon: Women are often promoted into leadership roles in times of crisis, facing higher pressure and greater scrutiny.
• Lack of Psychological Safety: Women are more likely to experience workplace microaggressions and biases, leading to chronic stress and emotional exhaustion.

These factors combined make it crucial to address burnout in a way that acknowledges the unique challenges women face.

Breaking the Burnout Cycle: What Women Can Do

1. Self-Awareness: Listening to Your Body and Mind

Understanding personal limits is essential for preventing burnout. Women are often socialized to prioritize others over themselves, making it even more critical to develop self-awareness around stress and exhaustion.

Example: If you notice yourself feeling irritable, unfocused or constantly fatigued, it's time to check in with yourself. Just as an athlete acknowledges an injury before it worsens, recognizing stress signals early can prevent long-term harm.

Implement daily check-ins: "How am I feeling today? What do I need to recharge?" Keeping a journal can also help identify patterns and triggers, as can talking to friends, not just to moan about what’s wrong, but to stay accountable for what boundaries we need and how to say no to things that no longer serve us.

2. Setting Digital Boundaries

With hybrid and remote work models, many women find themselves in a cycle of constant availability. While it may seem necessary to work late into the night, our cognitive function declines when we don’t get adequate sleep, nutrition, exercise and connection. Setting firm digital boundaries is crucial to reclaiming personal time and preventing burnout, however, this is harder than it seems given how billions of dollars are being spent competing for our attention online.

Before defining hacks to set digital boundaries, zoom out on your life and ask yourself “what brings me joy” or “what do I want more of”. Having a vision for your life enables you to have a clear why and then the practical tools such as silencing notifications are easier to stick to.

Here are some ideas to experiment with:

• Create visible ‘focus time’ blocks in your calendar to increase productivity.
• Set an intention about what you want more of and what boundaries will help you achieve it. Make sure to communicate these boundaries for shared accountability or so that they can be respected by anyone who will be affected (such as co-workers or family).
• Lead by example – if you're in a leadership role, set the tone for your team by respecting your own boundaries and discussing them openly so others have permission to do the same.

3. Advocating for Yourself and Seeking Support

Many women hesitate to ask for help due to fear of being perceived as incapable. However, advocating for one’s needs is a strength, not a weakness.

Practical Action:

• Don’t wait until burnout reaches a breaking point. Schedule regular check-ins with your manager to discuss workload and support needs.
• Build a support network, connecting with mentors, colleagues or women’s professional groups for guidance and encouragement.
• Bring mental health conversations into workplace discussions and reduce stigma as you prioritize your health needs to perform at your best.

4. Choosing the Right Environment

Sometimes, burnout results from an unsupportive, toxic workplace or hiding behind a mask for too long.  While self-care is vital, it is not a cure for systemic issues. If a work environment is contributing to chronic stress, it may be necessary to reassess its suitability for you.

For example, if you experience frequent microaggressions and lack of advancement opportunities you may feel emotionally drained, despite personal resilience strategies. Burnout has often been attributed to having ‘too much resilience’ and soldiering through even when your body was giving you plenty of signs that something was wrong.

Try to…

• Assess your workplace and ask yourself “Is this environment conducive to my growth, health and intentions?”
• If necessary, explore roles in companies that prioritize employee wellbeing and gender equity.
• If toxic dynamics persist, leaving may be the best decision for your long-term health and career success. For many women, the time they reflect on whether to leave a toxic workplace is when they are forced through ill health or a restructure in the business they gave their health away to.

How Organizations Can Help

While personal strategies are crucial, organizations are responsible for creating environments that prevent burnout and support the wellbeing of their employees, understanding the specific challenges commonly faced by women.  The types of actions to consider as an organization include:

1. Flexible Work Policies

Workplace flexibility is essential to permitting women to manage all their responsibilities in and out of work, offering space to invest in what they need to perform at their best.

To accelerate action, organizations can:

• Offer remote or hybrid work options to accommodate personal responsibilities.
• Provide autonomy over schedules so employees can balance work and personal life effectively.
• Create resources and benefits that are useful to women to support their wellbeing at work.

2. Establish Clear Expectations Around Work Hours

Encouraging a "results over hours" mindset reduces pressure and allows employees to work more efficiently.

To accelerate action, organizations can:

• Think about expectations when it comes to after-hours or vacation-time emails and create policies that are practical and suit your business.
• Train managers to respect boundaries and avoid setting unrealistic expectations.

3. Promote a Culture of Psychological Safety

A workplace where people feel safe expressing concerns or having a voice without fear of repercussions boosts team cohesion and success.  Leaders build trust during peacetime, while it is tested during challenging times.

To accelerate action, organizations can:

• Encourage open conversations about mental health led by people at the top.
• Ensure equal opportunities for leadership and career growth.
• Address biases and microaggressions through training and policies.
• Create mentoring opportunities with clear pathways for progress

Burnout among women in the workplace is not just an individual challenge—it’s a systemic issue that requires both personal and organizational action. By developing self-awareness, setting boundaries, advocating for support and choosing the right environments, women can take control of their wellbeing. At the same time, companies must step up and prioritize workplace policies that prevent burnout and support long-term success.

Breaking the burnout cycle requires a collective effort but also needs women to acknowledge the conditioning of people-pleasing, always being there for others and seeing investing in ourselves as selfish. When we open these conversations with each other, we realize we are experiencing many of the same things and together we can create change from within, stepping back and making decisions to own who we are and what we want.