Burn-Washing Job Burnout: Close, But No Cigar

Time off doesn't do anything for burnout if workers return to the same job conditions

A lot of employers offer pseudo-interventions I call "burn-washing" — they give employees a week off, for example, and proclaim themselves mental health heroes — to deflect accountability for job burnout.

I'm all for time off, but it doesn't do anything for burnout if workers return to the same job conditions — or conditions that are worse because workload accumulated while everyone was kicking back for a week.

A new vision of burnout solutions will have to address not just individual treatments and not just organizational interventions... but requisite changes in how our society views work, merit, and leisure. More on this in a future post.