Burnout is a lot like going full zombie mode. Not the fun Halloween kind, but the exhausted, empty-eyed, running-on-fumes kind. Still showing up, but no longer fully there. We often prematurely diagnose people with burnout the moment someone feels stressed or tired, when in fact it is the final stage of a long, quiet build-up. For organisations, the real risk lies in everything that happens before this point, when the signs are subtle, and people still seem to be managing.
The Beginnings of Burnout
Burnout was first identified in the 1970s by psychologist Herbert Freudenberger as emotional and physical exhaustion caused by prolonged stress.
The World Health Organisation now defines burnout as an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. This is why it is important to be precise with the language. Feeling overwhelmed or drained is often a signal of stress, not burnout itself. Burnout comes later when stress has been allowed to accumulate unchecked. When everything is labelled as burnout too early, the opportunity to act at the right moment is often missed.
How We Drift into Zombie Mode
Burnout is not great at making an entrance. There is rarely a clear breaking point or a memorable “this is fine” moment. Instead, it settles in gradually, hiding behind competence and good intentions.
Christina Maslach’s research into burnout highlights something many organisations still underestimate. Burnout often begins during periods of high engagement. People care. They want to do a good job. They push through pressure because they believe it will ease eventually.
What tends to follow is a slow narrowing. Patience wears thinner, recovery time gets squeezed, and energy levels quietly flatline. Work still gets done, but at a growing cost to the individual and to the organisation. Left unaddressed, that cost is often paid in lost talent. This is why understanding the stages of burnout matters, so early warning signs are not waved away as being “busy”, “under pressure” or just “part of the job”.
Why Burnout Only Makes Sense in Hindsight
Burnout is far easier to recognise looking back than living through it. Patterns are clearer in retrospect once the fog lifts.
Some common indicators of job-related stress you can spot before burnout sets in are:
- Difficulty concentrating
- Reduced satisfaction
- Physical symptoms like headaches or disrupted sleep
- Emotional distance from work
Taken individually, these are easy to brush off. Taken together, they tell a story that is often only acknowledged once someone has already reached exhaustion.
For HR and L&D teams, this hindsight gap matters. If burnout only gets recognised once people are already in zombie mode, learning interventions are arriving far too late to make a meaningful difference.
Stress is the Intervention Point
Stress is not a failure. It is information.
Handled well, stress can be temporary and even productive. Ignored, it becomes cumulative, and that is where burnout begins to take shape. This is why effective workplace learning pays close attention to stress awareness as well as burnout itself. It helps people recognise what healthy pressure feels like, what unhealthy pressure looks like, and what action is possible before things escalate.
Learning about burnout still matters, but the greatest impact comes when teams learn the capacity to reflect, adjust, and change course before being fully zombified.
Building Capability Before Burnout Takes Hold
Joining our new Resilience Essentials, part of our Mental Health and Wellbeing collection, will be 6 more courses focused on what burnout is by concentrating on how it is avoided. The aim is not to turn managers into therapists or learners into self-diagnostic experts. It is to give people realistic frameworks to understand stress, spot patterns, and respond earlier with more confidence.
This matters just as much for leaders as it does for their teams. Leadership burnout is often hidden, quietly absorbed, or normalised as the cost of responsibility. Supporting others without supporting yourself remains one of the fastest routes to exhaustion.
Our learning helps managers and individuals navigate pressure more sustainably, set clearer boundaries, and have better conversations about workload and wellbeing before burnout enters the picture.
Keeping the Zombies Fictional
Burnout should never be the first signal an organisation notices.
When learning supports early awareness, shared language and practical action, stress stays manageable, and burnout remains a myth just like zombies (we hope!).
If you are looking to strengthen resilience, reduce burnout risk and support wellbeing in a way that fits working life, we would love to help.
Get in touch to explore how Video Arts can support your wellbeing and resilience strategy.
