Employee Burnout Effects

The tech workforce is splitting in two A year ago, we ran the first large-scale survey of how tech workers feel about their jobs and careers. What emerged we summarized in four words: burned out, but optimistic. Today, we're back with the results from our 2026 survey, and it's a tale of two workforces. Half of tech right now feels amplified by AI—more capable, more confident, more excited than they've been in their entire career. The other half feels shaken by it—less sure of their value and whether there’s still a place for them. Which side of that line you fall on predicts how you feel about your career more than anything else, including your role, seniority, company size, or any other measure we collected. The workforce is bifurcating into two realities. A few other takeaways that surprised us: + Significant burnout jumped from 44.7% to 55.7% in one year, while career optimism fell from 54.8% to 48.7%. A worrisome trend. + 53% of tech workers would steer a newcomer away from a career in their own role, even when they're optimistic about their own future. + The biggest AI fear is of being squeezed to do more work. Only 22% worry about “losing my job to AI.” Far more worry about being expected to do more for the same pay, getting trapped in an unsustainable pace, and the quality of their work declining. The question that best predicts how a tech worker feels about their work, in 2026, is no longer "What do you do?" or "Where do you work?" It’s "What has AI done to your sense of who you are?" Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/gKq4E2uC (Massive shoutout to my partner Noam Segal for designing the survey, synthesizing the results, and writing this report, two years running. We're dropping a special podcast episode this Sunday, diving even deeper into the results.)

𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝟏𝟎𝟏! 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝, 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 #𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬! In #aviation, an #overworked pilot is labelled a #safety_hazard. And rightly so! However, in #healthcare, an overworked doctor or nurse is #applauded as #dedicated. Same human brain. Same cognitive fatigue. Same risk of errors - in judgement, critical decisions, and reaction time! The difference is perception & not physiology. Just because adverse outcomes in healthcare are quieter, slower, and less headline-grabbing than an air crash does not mean long work hours are safe. Fatigue impairs judgment, reaction time, empathy, and decision-making — whether you’re flying a plane or managing a septic patient at 3 AM. Calling exhaustion “commitment” doesn’t make patients safer. It only normalizes a preventable risk. It’s time we #STOP romanticizing #burnout and start treating fatigue in healthcare for what it truly is: a #patient_safety_risk for sure! 🛑 #PatientSafety #HealthcareBurnout #WorkHourReform #FatigueIsAFailure #DoctorsOfLinkedIn #HealthcareSystems

This Senior Engineer is quiet-quitting after 6 months. “I’m just coding what they ask for. No point pushing back.” Here’s how he ended up so defeated… Last week, I met an Backend Engineer about to resign after just six months on the job. I'm just coding what they ask for. No point in pushing back anymore." He told me. Every sprint was unpredictable - features were constantly built, scrapped, or reprioritised without warning. Deadlines were set by people who didn't understand the technical challenges. And there was never time to fix technical debt because everything was "ship now, fix later." The worst part? Whenever he tried to speak up about these issues, he was shut down or told that's just how things needed to be. So, he did what many Engineers do in this situation - he stopped pushing back and stopped caring. He went from being an engaged, passionate contributor to someone just going through the motions. And the moment a better offer landed in his inbox, he took it without hesitation. Here’s a gentle reminder for companies… Engineers don't quiet quit because they're lazy. They quiet quit because they're tired of fighting a losing battle. > They want to build things that matter, not throw away code that never sees production. > They need realistic timelines that respect the complexity of what they're building. > They deserve to have their expertise valued when they raise technical concerns. A roadmap should be a plan for success, not a graveyard for motivation. If your best engineers are disengaging, it might be time to ask: Are they the problem? Or is your roadmap setting them up to fail?

This image is a sobering reminder that something is deeply broken in how we value healthcare workers in America. Plumbers, crane operators, HVAC techs, and welders (all trade roles that require no college degree) are earning equal to or more than many registered nurses. And yet, nurses: - Are required to complete a rigorous degree program - Carry immense physical, emotional, and legal responsibility - Work long shifts in high-stress, life-or-death environments - Are the irreplaceable backbone of our healthcare system How did we get here? Why are we tolerating a system where a nurse can make $27/hour saving lives while someone operating a crane can make $41/hour moving steel? This isn't about downplaying trades—they're essential. But it is about demanding proper compensation, staffing, and respect for nurses. Here are a few hard truths: - 31% of nurses plan to leave the profession by 2027 (National Council of State Boards of Nursing, 2023) - 90% of nurses say their workplace is understaffed (American Nurses Foundation, 2023) - 56% report experiencing burnout frequently or constantly (American Nurses Association, 2022) - Hospitals are losing $9 billion annually due to nurse turnover (NSI Nursing Solutions, 2023) If you're a nurse, healthcare leader, or policymaker, it's time to ask: what are we actually doing to retain and reward our most critical frontline workers? Let's talk about pay equity, burnout, and building a healthcare system that nurses want to stay in. #Nursing #HealthcareCrisis #PayEquity #NurseAdvocacy #BurnoutPrevention #TradeSchool #WorkforceReform

Ever made a regrettable decision simply because you were mentally drained? You’re not alone! Mental #fatigue doesn’t just make us feel drained—it reshapes the way we think, prioritize, and choose. What happens in the brain when we’re mentally worn out? Most of us assume the #brain just runs out of energy, but recent research suggests something different. It found that mental fatigue increases the cost of exerting #CognitiveControl—a brain function that helps us focus, resist distractions, and make thoughtful decisions. In this experiment, participants were asked to perform either challenging or simple mental tasks throughout the day. After each round, they made decisions between easy, low-reward options or harder, high-reward ones. This cycle repeated five times over a 6.25 hour period!! They found: 👉 Initially, both groups made similar choices. But over time, participants doing tougher tasks shifted their preferences to easier, low-reward options. This suggests that cognitive fatigue does not just reduce overall performance but increases the perceived cost of cognitive effort, leading to a shift in preferences towards choices that are less demanding. 👉 At the end of the day, a region of the brain associated with cognitive control called the “lateral prefrontal cortex” showed higher concentrations of the chemical glutamate for the participants doing the mentally demanding task, similar to that seen in chronic stress. This increase makes cognitive control harder to perform and may explain why the participants favoured low-cost, low-reward options later in the day. 👉 The change in glutamate levels was not found in the visual cortex, a brain region involved in the task but not typically associated with cognitive control. This finding suggests that the brain changes are localised to the regions needed for cognitive control rather than a result of overall fatigue or loss of energy. Interestingly, when asked about their fatigue at the end of the day, both groups reported the same levels even though only one group was making poorer decisions. In other words, people’s conscious perception of their mental fatigue was not a good indicator of their ability to make good economic decisions. What does this mean? 👉 Take Breaks. Your brain uses rest to clear waste products including glutamate, so taking breaks can help manage the mental fatigue that impairs cognitive control. 👉 Reduce Cognitive Load. Constant task switching, intense problem solving and even learning new skills can all be cognitively demanding. Try to reduce the demand on your cognitive control system by interspersing less demanding tasks. 👉 Avoid time pressure. If you’ve had a mentally demanding time, give yourself additional time before making important decisions. This research raises big questions: How can workplaces design environments to reduce cognitive fatigue? What could this mean for productivity? What strategies do you use to stay mentally sharp during demanding days?

Our brains produce the hormones oestradiol, progesterone and testosterone. These hormones have important affects in our brains and when levels fluctuate and reduce this can lead to many symptoms including low mood, anxiety, reduced self esteem, memory problems and brain fog. This is a study we presented at the International Menopause Society conference highlighting how common mood changes are during perimenopause and menopause. First line treatment for these mood changes is HRT and other research Newson Health has funded has shown that testosterone can improve mood too. However, far too many women are being offered or prescribed antidepressants instead of HRT which is often unnecessary and inappropriate. Most psychiatrists do not prescribe HRT which is a massive missed opportunity for women.

I’ve never heard a dying patient say, “I wish I answered more emails.” As a hospice and palliative care physician, I’ve sat with many patients at the end of life. Quiet rooms. Dim lights. Families holding hands. And in those moments—titles disappear. No one talks about their job title. No one mentions their inbox. They talk about: • who they loved • what they experienced • whether they were truly present Early in my career, I thought leadership meant outcomes. Metrics. Throughput. Efficiency. I was wrong. Because in healthcare, people may forget what you said, but they never forget how you made them feel. And the data backs it up. Teams with higher psychological safety see better outcomes, lower burnout, and higher retention. I aspire to lead with more conversations, fewer directives, and more listening. That’s how we build stronger teams, better care, and fewer people quietly burning out. Takeaway: If we want to improve healthcare, we can’t just optimize systems. We have to humanize them. 3 things I try to remember: 1-Presence is critical in the moments that matter most 2-People carry feelings longer than instructions 3-Culture is built in small, human interactions What’s one small way you bring more humanity into your work? #HealthcareLeadership #HumanCenteredCare

After working at Postman for almost 2 years, working 100-112 hour weeks became my normal. I was almost about to burn out while facing severe back pain issues. One of the biggest pieces of advice I would give to every software engineer reading this is: "It’s not about how many hours you spend at your desk writing code" Long hours do not equal hard work. Because real burnout doesn't come just from writing code late into the night. It comes from those invisible moments when you're having dinner, but your mind is still debugging. When you're relaxing but still worrying about work. When you can’t be present where you need to be. The real work isn't just about how much code you ship. It's about how you can think and solve problems. And to think clearly, you need rest. 10 years later, I still practice this... The real problem-solving happens during the thinking phase, while coding is simply the implementation of those solutions. Both deserve equal recognition. To prevent burnout, we need to disconnect our minds just as we do our laptops.

In nursing, emotional labour isn’t just part of the job — it’s nearly continuous. Research shows nurses often work an entire 8-hour shift under emotional demand, with only micro-moments to truly recover. Even “breaks” are frequently interrupted or filled with other work. Many of these are what researchers call pseudo-breaks — moments that look like downtime on a schedule but don’t allow the body or mind to reset. A pseudo-break might mean eating while keeping one ear on a monitor, answering questions from colleagues, or thinking through a care plan. Physically you’re sitting down, but emotionally and mentally you’re still on duty — so your stress system stays activated. True recovery requires uninterrupted time and mental distance for your nervous system to shift out of “work mode.” That’s why the nursing row in this chart has almost no blue “Recovery Time” — not because nurses never step away, but because most of those moments aren’t restorative in the way recovery science defines it. This chart compares five professions across an 8-hour day, looking at: • 🔴 Emotional Labour – active emotional management • 🔵 Recovery Time – genuine opportunities to recharge • ❗ Moral Distress / Values Conflict – when professional values and workplace realities clash What stands out: • Nursing: Almost no real recovery time, frequent moral distress, sustained high intensity. • Emergency Services: High-intensity peaks with more recovery time between calls; occasional moral distress. • Teaching: Extended emotional labour but moderate recovery periods; rare values conflict. • Customer Service & Retail: More regular recovery time and fewer high-intensity demands; moral distress uncommon. While all these professions require emotional management, nursing’s combination of constant demand, minimal recovery, and repeated moral distress is unusual — and it’s a key driver of burnout risk. At Nurse Interrupted, we teach Interrupted Moments — shift-friendly resets nurses can use to protect energy and integrity, even when the system doesn’t allow for real recovery time. 💬 When you look at this comparison, what stands out most to you? Footer on chart: Conceptual model informed by Emotional Labour Scale research (Brotheridge & Lee, 2003), cross-profession emotional labour literature (2003–2019), and recent nursing shift studies (BMC Nursing 2024–2025; J Occup Health Psychol 2019). Developed for educational use in the Nurse Interrupted™ Program. #Nursing #HealthcareWorkers #EmotionalLabour #NurseLife #BurnoutPrevention #MoralDistress #NurseWellbeing #HealthcareLeadership #NursePseudoBreaks #NurseInterrupted #NurseBurnout #NurseResilience #NursingWorkload #NurseSupport