A New Approach to Burnout: 5 Steps to Building a Forward-Facing Prevention Strategy

To move beyond reactive fixes and truly prevent burnout, organizations must shift their focus to structural, cultural, and leadership-driven strategies that prioritize wellbeing alongside performance.

Step 1: Know what burnout actually is

Step 2: Build the right structure

Step 3: Fill in that structure with culture

Step 4: Elevate and educate the right leaders

Step 5: Offer wellbeing support

With so much going on within the workplace today—from rising economic pressures and shrinking budgets to digital transformation and ongoing changes to how and where work is done—it’s no surprise that burnout is top of mind for many organizations. But despite their best intentions, how many are thinking about burnout in a way that is conducive to real understanding—and real solutions? 

Put another way, how many organizations are considering what can be done to prevent—not just respond to—burnout, and the systems-level changes required to make that prevention last? 

As Starr Guthrie, LCSW and WPO Service Lead, perceptively observed during the Workplace Options Center for Organizational Effectiveness’ June 2025 summit, Thriving in Uncertainty: Leadership and Wellbeing in Turbulent Times, one of the most common blind spots in leaders’ approach to burnout is a reactive mindset: thinking, “Something significant has happened and we need to take action,” rather than, “If we put structures in place now, we can prepare or even prevent what’s coming.”

“I think of it like a storm,” Guthrie explained. “Do you patch up the roof after the storm hits? Or do you go ahead and enforce the structure before the storm arrives?”

“I think it’s important for organizations to look at it from that perspective,” she added, noting that long-term gains in retention, performance, and innovation come from “prioritizing wellbeing alongside—not behind—productivity.”

With that said, how can leaders adopt a forward-facing approach to burnout, and successfully build a sustainable, wellbeing-first work culture designed to protect people and performance long-term?

Step 1: Know what burnout actually is.

Why do organizations so often take a defensive, reactive approach to burnout? Because they simply don’t know what it is.

“Burnout isn’t just stress. It’s not simply exhaustion or fatigue,” explained Oliver Brecht, VP and General Manager of Enterprise Solutions at WPO, who opened the summit with a powerful session on leaders’ role in preventing burnout. Nor is it indicative of some personal failing.

Instead, burnout is a “strictly occupational phenomenon,” stemming from “specific, structural aspects of the workplace” that demand a systemic, organization-wide response. 

Why is looking at burnout solely through the individualistic lens of stress and fatigue problematic? Because any solutions developed under such a microscope will only treat symptoms—never the root causes.

Job design, team dynamics, leadership support, effort-reward balance, autonomy, fairness, and access to wellbeing resources—these are the factors that, through their absence, ultimately drive burnout. It’s these factors—coupled with burnout’s early warning signs—that organizations need to prioritize to adequately tackle burnout, but oftentimes miss.

“A lot of times, when people get burned out, you’re not going to see it until it’s too late,” Guthrie explained during her session on burnout prevention. “High turnover, disengagement, poor performance—these are the white flags raised once burnout’s already won, when employees can’t stand up to the pressure anymore.”

“Working through lunch, working through or not taking breaks, staying late, working after hours or on the weekends—these are all indicators that burnout is a real concern in the workplace, but crucially, that it’s not yet past that point of no return. There is an opportunity to step in and address these behaviors—to address the conditions impacting employees’ wellbeing, be that hustle culture or toxic productivity—and take action before burnout fully manifests or leads to lasting damage.”

Understanding these distinctions—between burnout symptoms, its causes, and its consequences—is crucial to developing a proactive, effective response that shifts the organization from defense to offense and produces meaningful results.

Step 2: Build the right structure.

Once leaders have a better grasp on the phenomenon of burnout, they can begin making the structural changes necessary to prevent or mitigate it.

This includes providing clear guidance on expectations, processes, and responsibilities—particularly regarding those conditions that drive or minimize burnout. Enacting a well-defined anti-bullying and harassment policy to curb toxic dynamics, build trust, and reinforce leadership support is one example of this. Introducing a right-to-disconnect clause is another way to demonstrate support while enhancing autonomy and reinforcing healthy job design that respects employees’ time and boundaries.

Crucially, establishing a transparent promotion framework or a formal recognition and reward system can help address effort-reward imbalances and perceptions of unfairness—two key drivers of burnout. Putting these structures in place also equips managers to make consistent, well-informed decisions with respect to employee wellbeing; in turn, employees gain the clarity and predictability they need to stay engaged, feel valued, and avoid burnout.

“When people know what’s expected of them—what their goals are, how to prioritize their work, how to behave, and what to expect from their peers and managers as well—they feel more confident and in control,” Brecht explained. “That clarity is key to preventing burnout.”

Step 3: Fill in that structure with culture.

With these structural safeguards in place, leaders can turn their attention to the interpersonal dynamics that sustain them.

That means taking a firm stance against bullying, harassment, or discrimination of any kind; denouncing hustle culture or toxic productivity; and fostering a culture of psychological safety—where truth, transparency, and inclusion are prized above all else.

In practice, this means being intentional about how mistakes are handled—treating them as opportunities for growth rather than offenses worthy of blame. It means encouraging diverse—especially dissenting—perspectives in meetings and inviting input from all parties, regardless of role or seniority. It also means prioritizing team cohesion over individual performance—discouraging cutthroat competition, overwork, exclusion, secrecy, scapegoating, and all those behaviors that erode trust and psychological safety.

While leaders understandably play a pivotal role in reinforcing a respectful and inclusive culture, employees, too, have a responsibility to educate themselves about the role they play in creating a safe environment and what they can do to promote and protect their peers’ as well as their own wellbeing.

Organization-wide trainings—on bias, boundaries, communication, inclusion, and conflict resolution—are one way leaders can shift the climate from hostile to harmonious. Programs like the WPO Wellbeing Ambassador Program can further strengthen the company culture by empowering selected team members to model the attitudes and behaviors that define a psychologically safe, wellbeing-first workplace.

Peer mentors, in particular, offer an informal yet powerful safeguard against burnout. By modeling healthy behaviors—like taking lunch breaks even when busy (and being vocal about their commitment to doing so, as Guthrie advocates), speaking openly about their mental health, setting boundaries, and taking advantage of wellbeing resources—they send a clear message to their colleagues that it’s okay for them to do the same. Namely, that it’s okay for them to ask for help, to not always be okay, to be vulnerable, and most of all, to be authentic—all key protectors against burnout.

Step 4: Elevate and educate the right leaders.

Of course, when it comes to reinforcing the behaviors and attitudes that sustain a burnout-resistant workplace, no one plays a more decisive role than the leader.

“Everyone plays a part in reducing burnout,” Brecht explained during his session, “but it’s people leaders and managers who have the most impact over the work environment—and who therefore carry the most responsibility for addressing the root causes of burnout.”

Leaders are the ones who ultimately set the tone at work: if they overwork, their teams will follow. If they respond to mistakes with anger, employees will be more likely to treat each other harshly, too. And if they dismiss concerns, ignore feedback, or shut down new ideas, employees will disengage—creating fertile ground for burnout to grow.

To prevent this, organizations must be thoughtful about who gets promoted into leadership in the first place—and how they prepare them for the role. As Brecht noted, “Building strong leaders starts with ensuring they’re educated about wellbeing, burnout, and psychological safety, so they can anticipate how their decisions will impact people on the front lines.”

This can be achieved through targeted leadership training and coaching designed to help leaders build psychological safety and inclusion, champion neurodiversity, deliver constructive—not critical—feedback, recognize and respond to signs of distress, model a growth mindset, and treat wellbeing not as a perk—but as a core responsibility of their role.

This approach also strengthens middle management, who often find themselves torn between business demands and employee wellbeing. “We’ve seen many cases where managers are burned out themselves,” Brecht said, “because they feel forced to compromise employee wellbeing in order to meet customer needs, without clear direction from senior leaders on how to balance both.”

Emotional intelligence is also essential. “It’s what allows leaders to show up consistently and reliably for their teams,” Brecht explained. “Leaders set the emotional tone—and it’s critical they get that tone right every day,” he said. “That means recognizing when they’re not in the right headspace to have sensitive discussions, identifying when they themselves may be under stress, managing that in healthy ways, and—crucially—being self-aware and vulnerable enough to share that with their teams when appropriate.”

“When leaders are honest about where they are emotionally,” he added, “it helps to build trust, foster transparency, and create the psychological safety people need to show up as their authentic selves.”

But self-awareness is only half the equation; as Guthrie noted, leaders also need to stay attuned to their teams. “Sometimes, leaders don’t realize their teams are burning out because they’re not asking the right questions—or asking them in ways that invite honest answers.”

True emotional intelligence, she said, means “being able to ask tough questions, sit with hard answers, and then take meaningful action.” Whether it’s processing difficult feedback or engaging in sensitive conversations about mental health, leaders must be able to recognize their own emotions, understand the emotional states of their employees, and then respond with empathy and intention.

And it’s that last part—that follow-through—as Kurt Merriweather, CDE®, VP of Employee Engagement Solutions at WPO, emphasized in his discussion with Guthrie, that’s really important. “Feedback is everywhere,” he explained—whether it’s gathered through surveys, check-ins, or other channels, “but what matters most is what you do with it.” Employees want to see that their input leads to real change. “Trust is built when leaders follow through—when their actions match their intent.”

When leaders possess the knowledge and skills to lead with empathy, clarity, and accountability, they create the conditions where burnout is far less likely to take hold.

Step 5: Offer wellbeing support.

Even with these steps in place, the risk of burnout remains.

“No matter how safe your environment is, there is always a risk that someone may experience burnout,” Brecht explained. “That’s why organizations need a robust, frontline wellbeing infrastructure—one that’s designed around the needs of their employees and easy to access.”

Providing multimodal, holistic support—including access to counseling, coaching, work-life services, mindfulness tools, and self-guided digital resources—ensures that employees can get help in ways that fit their situations, preferences, and schedules. This kind of flexibility is what motivates employees to take advantage of these solutions—and more frequently—helping to address stress and burnout before they escalate.

But having this infrastructure alone isn’t enough; leaders must also be able to communicate the value of these offerings effectively.

“How can you promote a wellbeing program if you don’t understand how it works?” Guthrie asked. “I tell leaders all the time: call the EAP. Ask questions. Try it out yourself. The more familiar and comfortable you are with it, the more confident and credible you’ll be when encouraging your team to use it.”

By not only providing support but actively promoting its use—engaging with it as leaders, normalizing it in meetings and one-on-ones, and making it part of everyday conversations—organizations create a culture where asking for help is encouraged, not stigmatized, inviting employees to manage their wellbeing  before stress and burnout take root.

Ready to start tackling burnout smarter, not harder?

Click here to watch the full #2025COEWeek session recordings and unlock deeper insights and actionable strategies from Brecht, Guthrie, and Merriweather.