Why Burnout Happens — and How Bosses Can Help

Christina Maslach, professor of psychology at the University of
California, Berkeley, has been studying the causes of burnout, and
its impact, for decades. She says that, in a year when everyone
feels overwhelmed and exhausted, it's more important than ever for
managers to recognize when and why employees are suffering and take
steps to solve those problems. In her framework, burnout stems from
not only large workloads but also lack of control, community,
and/or reward and values mismatches. She notes that leaders have
the ability to pull many of those levers to help their workers.
Maslach is the author of "The Truth About Burnout" and a
forthcoming book on the topic.