Feeling tired? You’re not alone. Fatigue is a common human factor that many people ignore, adhering to the dangerous philosophy that exhaustion is something to be proud of—a sign of hard work. But being low on energy can be dangerous, causing your mind to wander, your focus to drift, and increasing your risk of injury. And that’s not all: if you don’t take the time to recover properly, you run the risk of burnout, which has its own costs.
Burnout, while not classified as a medical condition, can lead to long-term and chronic mental health issues, some of which are considered psychiatric disabilities. That’s in addition to the aforementioned risk of injury associated with fatigue and the knock-on effects it can have in an organization’s culture, leading to frustration, disengagement or even rushing as folks are required to pick up the slack of burned-out colleagues.
Beyond the human cost, there is a financial toll on an organization. According to a 2025 CUNY SPH study, the condition carries a significant price tag, with employee burnout costing American companies about $1,000 to $21,000 per employee, per year. Crunching the numbers, the researchers say “a 1,000-employee company in the U.S. would on average be losing about $5 million annually.”
The secret elements of burnout
Burnout is increasingly commonplace, and if you want to avoid it taking hold, you need to understand how it works. Most people have a general awareness that the condition arises from being overloaded with work for too long, and that is certainly one element that reliably contributes to it. But burnout has other ingredients. Did you know that burnout can be caused by being overwhelmed off the job? Or that sometimes it isn’t the amount of work, but how an employee views their work as part of their larger life? In fact, two of the three types of burnout identified by Harvard Business Review are rooted in a lack of engagement.
Classified as “under-challenged” burnout and “neglect burnout,” these flavors of fatigue are characterized by a personal disconnection from work. The under-challenged burnout victim falls into patterns of disengagement because their work is unfulfilling. The neglect burnouts withdraw from work because the path to engagement seems unclear. In both cases, a clear sense of progress and purpose can alleviate the stress in both scenarios.
Fulfillment, engagement and making a difference
According to the report SHRM 2025 Insights: Workplace Mental Health, feeling like you’re making a difference and receiving recognition are the key drivers for workplace fulfillment. Based on survey responses from over 17,000 workers and more than 2,000 HR professionals, SHRM’s findings indicate that the missing element from burnout-prone workplaces might be based on how leadership communicates its objectives and celebrates good outcomes.
Understanding why you are doing work in a specific manner and what will happen when you succeed in completing a task goes a long way toward dispelling some of the fog that produces burnout. A clear mission is a great starting point. When folks understand how their actions impact the world they live in—on a community level or on a broader global scale—they can contextualize work that might otherwise seem pointless. And when positive outcomes are celebrated in relation to that overall mission, an organization demonstrates its commitment to making a difference and its appreciation for the individuals who helped make success possible.
Making and maintaining a mission
A strong mission statement is clear, achievable, based on an organization’s core values and directly connected to the work employees do. Repetition is the key to making sure folks remember why their work matters. Splashing the statement on a digital display presentation, mentioning it regularly in meetings or toolbox talks, and putting it at the end of email signatures are great ways to keep the mission in front of people’s eyes and on their minds.
When you set a goal, be sure to relate the desired outcome to the mission so that everyone understands why they are being asked to do specific tasks. And when that goal is achieved and it’s time to celebrate a win, it’s important to acknowledge that the mission is part of why a party, award, raise or other incentive has been achieved. For example, if your mission is to manufacture quality components for automobile safety in order to save lives on the road, then make sure to emphasize the good your team has done to protect drivers and their families at the party you throw for meeting or exceeding a quota.
Fulfillment isn’t the only way to defend workers from long-term fatigue, but it can mean the difference between an engaged worker and a burned-out employee. Take a look at your company’s mission statement and see how it can be applied to the everyday reality of your workplace. Invest the time to work that message into your communications and celebrations, and you’ll be playing an important part in keeping folks safe from exhaustion while minimizing the various costs of burnout.