Burnout is a system failure, not a weakness

Burnout is often described as someone being too weak for their job. The research that coined the term says almost the opposite: exhaustion systematically hits the engaged. You cannot burn out a flame that never burned.

The condition has three signs, and that is how the WHO describes it in ICD-11, where burnout is classified as an occupational phenomenon rather than a diagnosis. The first is exhaustion: a tiredness that sleep no longer repairs. The second is cynicism: a growing distance from the work, the colleagues, the people you are there for. Caring is switched off as self-protection. The third is a sense of inefficacy: everything you do feels like too little, too poor, too late, regardless of what your results actually show.