Burnout Is Circling…
No time to read the blog? Click here to listen to the blog’s audio file.
A few weeks ago, a senior leader in a large tech company whom I’ve worked with for years called me out of the blue. She’s the kind of person who has always thrived under pressure. Until very recently.
“I don’t think I can do this anymore,” she told me. “I love my team, but I’m done. I feel invisible.”
She’s not alone.
According to a recent study covered by SBS, nearly three million Australians are considering leaving their jobs, with burnout cited as a leading reason. What Dr Michelle McQuaid calls “Quiet Cracking”, and half of our people are already there.
The crisis isn’t looming, it’s here, and it’s circling fast.
The Real Threat Isn’t Just Burnout. It’s Disengagement that is Contagious.
Research shows burnout doesn’t begin with exhaustion. It begins with emotional detachment. That slow fading of connection and meaning when people no longer feel their effort is seen or valued.
As Christina Maslach and Michael Leiter (2016) note, burnout progresses from emotional exhaustion into cynicism and withdrawal, the psychological stage where people quietly stop caring.
Once that detachment takes hold, performance might hold steady for a while, but commitment doesn’t. People start scanning for exits, mentally first, then physically.
And it spreads. Studies by Grande et al., (2025) found burnout behaves like a social contagion: when one person disengages, others begin to mirror the fatigue and cynicism. Before long, even top performers start to lose their spark.
That’s why the real risk isn’t just losing one person to burnout. It’s watching engagement quietly drain across your best talent pool.
What Successful Leaders Are Doing Now
The best leaders aren’t waiting. They’re asking, “What can we do, right now, to keep our best before it’s too late?”
They understand that retention isn’t about perks or pep talks. It’s about identifying early signs of burnout, offering meaningful support, and showing key people that their wellbeing and contribution matter.
Here’s the Plan
Our Keeping Your Best programme is designed for precisely this moment. It’s not a generic coaching series, it’s a clinically informed, confidential, performance-focused strategy that:
Identifies burnout and disengagement before it turns into resignation
Offers 1:1 high level support for your most valuable leaders
Equips executives to stay effective without sacrificing health
Signals to your team, and the market, that “We look after our best”
And it directly aligns with WHS Psychosocial Hazard obligations, turning compliance into culture building.
Final Thought
The best time to build a lifeboat isn’t after the ship starts taking on water. It’s now.
If you’re seeing early signs (exhaustion, cynicism, quiet cracking) don’t wait. Let’s make sure your best people stay right where they belong. Quietly and confidentially.
And if you think someone else in your network needs to hear this, please pass it along.
References
Hernandez Grande, A., Farr-Wharton, B., Sharafizad, F., Darcy, S., & Gavin, M. (2025). Work stress, employee wellbeing, and the moderating role of team-level emotional contagion. Journal of Management and Organization. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2025.6
Hernandez Grande, A., Farr-Wharton, B., Sharafizad, F., Darcy, S., & Gavin, M. (2025). Work stress, employee wellbeing, and the moderating role of team-level emotional contagion. Journal of Management and Organization. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2025.6
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience: Recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15(2), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20311
McQuaid, M. (2025). HEART of Change Insights Report: The Quiet Cracking Challenge in Australian Workplaces. Michelle McQuaid & The Change Lab.
