This book was wonderful. Jennifer Moss delves into the root causes of burnout and explains how asking workers to do more self-care activities like practicing yoga is actually harmful because that puts the onus on the employees when in fact it is because of a variety of reasons, usually from the top down that are causing the burnout. She gives the metaphor of having birds in a coalmine coming out all sick. No one would be curious as to what the birds were doing wrong, but rather the question should be why are they in a coalmine and how can we change that? She discusses how systems are failing people and not the other way around. She emphasizes assuming an employee first strategy to avoid burnout. She also talks about crucial topics like certain industries encouraging female employees to participate in egg freezing to not delay any of the company's goals, something that I think is so incredibly abhorrent and absolutely no boss's business. She talks about the significance of making sure any programs put in place are well executed not just well intended in order to truly relieve burnout.

Ultimately, I think this book is most useful in industries that have very high burnout rate and where employees are expected to not ask for help like healthcare and academia (including grade school teaching not just university). I do think that anyone can benefit from listening to this book; however, those are the two arenas that I think would benefit the most.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harvard Business Review Press for my gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

Those of us working in Corporate America today are familiar with burnout – and as leaders within business, particularly in HR, we know that in order to have productive, engaged employees, burnout must be addressed. This book is timely, as we address burnout, stress, and mental health impacts in the workplace especially in the midst of today’s volatile, chaotic world of business and on-going impacts from the pandemic.

The book provides some useful burnout-related insights in a variety of areas, and then covers strategies to address burnout as an organization and leadership. It reframes the role of business from providing perks around wellness to developing true anti-burnout strategies that will actual address employee needs within their organization. The book was well-researched, and I think it is a valuable read for organization leaders, line managers, and HR professionals looking to proactively or reactively address burnout amongst their employees.

Timely, relevant, and useful, this book explains burnout, how to recognise the signs and useful strategies around dealing with it, Burnout isn't going to go away, but if we can work out ways to manage it, life becomes a lot easier to cope with. This is a great resource that I recommend. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Very timely book by Jennifer Moss given the workforce burnout we are all facing right now. I liked reading about the different case studies as well as the the different tips and suggestions for how to handle the burnout and even addressing different types of people (i.e. what an introvert vs extrovert needs).

Definitely a great book to add to your HR book collection.

I thought I would get more out of this book but it reminded me a lot of a different book on stress I read; a lot of the ideas and case studies were similar, this one just a bit more focused on career and work.

With workload being the top cause of burnout, it’s worth paying attention to the challenges facing workers today. This book presents a rounded look at what it means to burn out, with a focus on healthcare, teaching and tech. It makes a strong case for fixing the problem at the source: reducing workload.
The first part of this well-researched book covers research and insights, and the second part goes on to discuss strategies to combat burnout. While some of those need to be adopted by the management layer, there are things that individuals can take from the book – at least to start those conversations in their organisations. Part 3 looks at leadership.
This is a good book for leaders and managers who want to recognise the causes of burnout and protect the wellbeing of their teams. A timely book, aimed at people who can (and want to) influence the culture of their organisation.

Burnout is much larger in businesses, academia, and many other places than we recognize. Simple fixes will not make it go away. You cannot self-care away burnout. We have to develop institutional and widespread tactics to battle it. Jennifer Moss does a great job explaining and talking about how to overcome this epidemic.

Forthcoming from Harvard Business Review Press, THE BURNOUT EPIDEMIC by Jennifer Moss (Unlocking Happiness at Work) is a very timely work. Moss writes this text primarily for leaders and divides it into three sections: Insights (causes of burnout and vulnerabilities), Strategies (intentions and measurement), and Leadership (dealing with curiosity, empathy, and self-care). Early on, she notes that millennials have the highest levels of burnout and muses that may be due to their having less autonomy at work, lower seniority, greater financial stressors, and feelings of loneliness. This was interesting, especially given the mental health concerns, cynicism, and disengagement which we have observed from many students during the pandemic. Moss stresses the importance of feeling physically and mentally safe at work – another connection which certainly also applies to our teachers and staff. In fact, she comments, "Supporting teacher welfare is a critical issue for me" and devotes a section on Lessons of Burnout to the profession, as well as providing a case study related to education. More generally, Moss reviews six causes of burnout (workload, perceived lack of control, lack of reward or recognition, poor relationships, lack of fairness, and a values mismatch). Again, one can see the correlation with a school setting. Moss discusses numerous options (wellness programs, team-building) that fall short of their goals, the need for designing effective surveys, and the impact of misaligned budget allocations. She also promotes the value of curiosity, suggesting a daily journal, and charts the differences between compliance and integrity based cultures, all of which make THE BURNOUT EPIDEMIC worth a look for organizations seeking to improve workplace morale and productivity. Source notes and an index are included.

In this powerful book, happiness expert Jennifer Moss explains why burnout is so rampant and provides simple, researched-based solutions for helping employees minimize stress and organizations build happier workplaces.

We tend to think of burnout as a problem we can solve with self-care: more yoga, better breathing techniques, and more resilience. But evidence is mounting that applying personal, Band-Aid solutions to an epic and rapidly evolving workplace phenomenon isn't enough—in fact, it's not even close. If we're going to solve this problem, organizations must take the lead in developing an antiburnout strategy that moves beyond apps, wellness programs, and perks.

In this eye-opening, paradigm-shifting, practical guide, Jennifer Moss lays bare the real causes of burnout and how organizations can stop the chronic stress cycle that an alarming number of workers suffer through. The Burnout Epidemic explains:What causes burnout—and what organizations can do to prevent itWhy traditional wellness initiatives fall shortHow companies can build an antiburnout strategy based on prevention, not perksHow leaders can measure burnout in their own organizationsWhat leaders can do to develop a happier culture that's high on resilience and curiosity