Dive Brief:
- Burnout rates are up 65% year-over-year, while employee confidence reached a new record low last month, according to recent research from Glassdoor.
- Workers mentioned burnout 2.5 times more in Glassdoor reviews in the first quarter of 2026 than they did before the pandemic. When workers report burnout, they’re also 76% less likely to give positive reviews of their job overall.
- Meanwhile, only 43.8% of employees said they had a positive 6-month business outlook, citing the U.S.–Iran war and the resulting uptick in energy prices as top reasons for their declining confidence.
Dive Insight:
Worker burnout happens when employees “face a chronic, unmanageable amount” of stress, Chris Martin, a senior economist on Glassdoor’s economic research team, wrote.
“The past couple of years have been stressful for workers,” Martin said. “They are less optimistic about their company’s business outlooks and worried about potential or ongoing layoffs.”
Workplace reviews that mentioned burnout were 81% less likely to offer a positive rating for work-life balance than their colleagues, 78% less likely to recommend their company to friends and 75% less likely to approve of the CEO’s job performance, per the research.
However, not every review that mentions burnout is negative. The proportion of 4- or 5-star reviews that cited burnout rose by 35% from 2024 to 2025.
Also, many burned out workers are choosing to stay in their jobs due to a sluggish job market, per the research, which found that in 2025, burned out employees applied for 45% fewer external jobs than other employees who gave positive reviews, down from 49% in 2024.
Some sectors, such as nonprofit and healthcare, were most likely to mention burnout, and burnout is also significantly up in media, technology and real estate compared to pre-pandemic levels, Glassdoor said.
The technology sector also saw the largest decline in employee confidence over the last year, said Glassdoor. That sector posted a 9.7 percentage point drop in employee confidence year-over-year. Many industries likely affected by higher energy prices have seen steep employee confidence declines, including hotels and travel accommodation, and transportation and logistics.
While companies may not be able to offset the immediate effects of higher fuel prices, there are other ways to improve employee confidence. An Express Employment Professionals–Harris Poll survey from September found that when leadership provides better training and clear communication, it can lessen some workers’ worries about job security.
Meanwhile, a recent white paper from the University of Phoenix College of Doctoral Studies found that employees with more autonomy reported lower burnout and greater engagement.