Burnout rarely comes from one busy period. It is the result of a long-term imbalance between what someone's work demands (job demands) and what the work gives back (job resources such as autonomy, support and recognition). As an employer, you mainly steer on that balance: reducing job demands where possible, and strengthening job resources. That is good employership, it is a legal duty and it saves you a lot in absence costs.
In short
- Burnout develops when the demands of work are greater than the resources to cope with them for a long time.
- About 1 in 5 employees had burnout complaints in 2025. Absence due to work stress costs employers billions each year.
- You are legally required to have a policy against work pressure. What works best: redesigning the work itself and giving employees room to adjust their own work.
In this article
- What exactly is burnout, and how is it different from being tired or low?
- What causes burnout according to research?
- What protects against burnout, and what makes people engaged?
- How many workers in the Netherlands have burnout complaints?
- What do work stress and absence cost an employer?
- What am I legally required to arrange against work stress as an employer?
- What really works to prevent burnout?
What exactly is burnout, and how is it different from being tired or low?
Burnout is a state of exhaustion caused by work, together with distancing oneself from work (cynicism). So it is more than being tired. What is typical is that rest and a weekend no longer solve it. The World Health Organization calls burnout a result of chronic work stress that has not been successfully managed.
The WHO describes burnout in the international classification of diseases (ICD-11) as an occupational phenomenon, and not as a medical condition. There are three characteristics: exhaustion, mental distance or cynicism towards work, and a sense of reduced performance. The term only applies to work, not to other areas of life (WHO, ICD-11).
Research often measures two core dimensions: exhaustion and cynicism, also called mental distance. That distinction comes from the classic burnout research by Maslach and colleagues (Maslach, Schaufeli & Leiter, 2001).
Burnout or depression?
Burnout is by definition linked to work. Depression affects someone's life more broadly and is a medical condition. The symptoms can look alike. If in doubt, always have an occupational physician or GP take a look. A manager does not make a diagnosis.
What causes burnout according to research?
Burnout develops when job demands are higher than the resources to cope with them for a long time. That is the core of the job demands-resources theory (JD-R), the most widely used model for work stress and engagement. High demands without enough resources slowly wear people out. This is called the exhaustion process (Bakker, Demerouti & Sanz-Vergel, 2023).
Job demands are all aspects of work that cost energy: high workload, time pressure, emotionally demanding contact, unclear roles. Job resources help get the work done and motivate: autonomy (being able to decide how you work), support from colleagues and managers, feedback and opportunities to grow. So it is not about the demands or the resources separately, but about the balance between the two.
Not every job demand is equally harmful. Research distinguishes between hindrance demands, such as bureaucracy, unclear roles and conflicts, and challenge demands, such as responsibility and tough projects. Hindrance demands mainly wear people out. Challenge demands also cost energy, but can motivate at the same time (Crawford, LePine & Rich, 2010). For you as an employer, that is a useful distinction. Remove the hindrances, and be careful about taking away challenge.
What protects against burnout, and what makes people engaged?
Job resources protect against burnout and at the same time drive the opposite: engagement. Engagement is a positive state of energy, dedication and absorption in work. Where burnout is exhaustion and distance, engagement is energy and involvement (Bakker, Demerouti & Sanz-Vergel, 2023).
Job resources work in two ways. They dampen the damage of high demands, the buffer effect. And they motivate in their own right. A meta-analysis of long-term research shows that autonomy, support and feedback predict engagement over time. So it is not a snapshot, but a lasting effect (Lesener, Gusy, Jochmann & Wolter, 2020).
Besides the work side, personal resources also count: self-confidence, optimism and resilience. They help someone cope better with high demands. The two usually reinforce each other. Someone who gets support and room builds up confidence, and that confidence makes the work more manageable again.
How many workers in the Netherlands have burnout complaints?
About 1 in 5 employees had burnout complaints in 2025. In the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey (NEA) by CBS and TNO, 20.7% of employees said they felt mentally exhausted by work several times a month or more often. Among women (23.5%) this is higher than among men (18.0%) (RIVM, Mental Health Monitor / NEA, reporting year 2025).
Among the self-employed the share is lower: 11.8% in 2025, according to the Self-employed Working Conditions Survey (ZEA). So as a director-shareholder or freelancer you are not immune either. More than 1 in 9 have complaints (RIVM / ZEA, reporting year 2025).
Complaints have been rising for years. Among employees, the share rose from 13.4% in 2015 to 20.7% in 2025, with the strongest growth among women (RIVM / NEA). Complaints are not evenly spread across sectors. Education had the highest share (around 25%), agriculture the lowest (around 12%) (TNO/CBS, NEA 2024).
What do work stress and absence cost an employer?
Absence due to work stress is a large and growing cost for employers. More than half of total wage payments during absence are caused by psychosocial workload: work pressure, work stress and undesirable behaviour. In 2023 this amounted to about 4.9 billion euros in costs for employers (TNO, Arbobalans).
€4.9bn
cost to employers of work stress and undesirable behaviour in 2023
63
working days of absence on average with mental health complaints
104
weeks of wage payment during illness, at least 70%
Mental health complaints are expensive because people are off work with them for a long time. Someone who drops out due to mental health complaints, overstrain or burnout is absent for about 63 working days on average. That is longer than for almost any other cause. In three quarters of these cases, the employee says work is wholly or partly the cause (TNO, Arbobalans).
During illness you continue to pay wages for a long time. The law requires you to pay a sick employee at least 70% of their wages for up to 104 weeks (two years). If you do not cooperate enough with reintegration, UWV can extend that period by a year (UWV, wage payment during illness). One long-term absence of an employee with burnout therefore affects your results for two years.
On the other side is the gain from the opposite. Engaged employees demonstrably perform better and are absent less. A meta-analysis of more than 139,000 workers found a strong positive link between engagement and performance, and a negative link with absence (Neuber, Englitz, Schulte, Forthmann & Holling, 2022). So steering on the balance is not a cost, but an investment that pays off.
What am I legally required to arrange against work stress as an employer?
You are legally required to have a policy against psychosocial workload (PSA). That is the stress caused by work pressure and undesirable behaviour. This is set out in the Working Conditions Act. You must prevent or limit PSA where it is a risk in your organisation (Arboportaal, Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment).
The starting point is the risk inventory and evaluation (RI&E). That is a mandatory document in which you map the risks in your business, with an action plan. Work pressure and work stress explicitly belong in it. Your PSA policy follows from the RI&E (Arboportaal).
This is more than paperwork. If you do not have an up-to-date RI&E or PSA policy, the Netherlands Labour Authority can intervene and impose fines (Ondernemersplein, Overheid.nl). Smaller businesses without an RI&E in particular are lagging behind on this.
The law and the research point in the same direction. The measure employers most often take against work stress is giving employees more autonomy (TNO). And autonomy is exactly one of the job resources that, according to JD-R theory, protects against burnout.
What really works to prevent burnout?
What works is working on the balance itself: reducing job demands and strengthening job resources. Separate well-being initiatives without that core rarely address the cause. The strongest approach combines two tracks: redesigning the work (top-down) and letting employees adjust their own work (bottom-up).
Top-down, it is about how the work is designed: a realistic workload, clear roles, enough autonomy and support from the manager. That is the side you as an employer directly control, and that the law also asks of you.
Bottom-up, job crafting works. Employees adjust their own work by seeking out more resources, looking for challenge and reducing hindering demands. A meta-analysis of 14 studies shows that job crafting training really increases that behaviour and raises engagement. The same study also calculated what it delivers: less lost production and lower costs (Oprea, Barzin, Vîrgă, Iliescu & Rusu, 2019). Other research confirms that job crafting goes together with more engagement and better performance (Rudolph, Katz, Lavigne & Zacher, 2017).
Programmes aimed at engagement work, but be realistic about the effect. A meta-analysis found a small but positive effect, with group programmes delivering the most (Knight, Patterson & Dawson, 2017). In practice this means: do not expect a miracle cure from one training, but a lasting effect from repeated work on the balance, together with the team.
And the business owner or director-shareholder? The same principles apply. Anyone who does not limit their own job demands and organises too few resources, such as support, help and control over their own diary, runs the same risk. Job crafting and consciously managing your energy apply to you as well (Bakker, Demerouti & Sanz-Vergel, 2023).
Spot and refer
This is a sensitive subject. Do you notice persistent exhaustion, low mood or a feeling of not being able to cope, in yourself or an employee? Then involve an occupational physician, GP or other professional. Spotting and referring is wiser than making a diagnosis yourself.
Sources
- Bakker, A.B., Demerouti, E. & Sanz-Vergel, A. (2023). Job Demands-Resources Theory: Ten Years Later. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 10, 25–53. Open access. doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-120920-053933
- World Health Organization (WHO) (2019). Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). who.int
- Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W.B. & Leiter, M.P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 397–422. doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.397
- Crawford, E.R., LePine, J.A. & Rich, B.L. (2010). Linking job demands and resources to employee engagement and burnout: a theoretical extension and meta-analytic test. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95, 834–848. doi.org/10.1037/a0019364
- Lesener, T., Gusy, B., Jochmann, A. & Wolter, C. (2020). The drivers of work engagement: a meta-analytic review of longitudinal evidence. Work & Stress, 34, 259–278. doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2019.1686440
- Neuber, L., Englitz, C., Schulte, N., Forthmann, B. & Holling, H. (2022). How work engagement relates to performance and absenteeism: a meta-analysis. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 31, 292–315. doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2021.1953989
- Knight, C., Patterson, M. & Dawson, J. (2017). Building work engagement: a systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the effectiveness of work engagement interventions. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38, 792–812. doi.org/10.1002/job.2167
- Oprea, B., Barzin, L., Vîrgă, D., Iliescu, D. & Rusu, A. (2019). Effectiveness of job crafting interventions: a meta-analysis and utility analysis. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 28, 723–741. doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2019.1646728
- Rudolph, C.W., Katz, I.M., Lavigne, K.N. & Zacher, H. (2017). Job crafting: a meta-analysis of relationships with individual differences, job characteristics, and work outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 102, 112–138. doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2017.05.008
- RIVM, Mental Health Monitor: Burnout complaints (source: NEA and ZEA, CBS/TNO), reporting year 2025. rivm.nl
- TNO/CBS, Netherlands Working Conditions Survey 2024. publications.tno.nl
- TNO, Arbobalans and work stress factsheets. tno.nl and tno.nl
- Arboportaal (Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment), Psychosocial workload (PSA). arboportaal.nl
- Ondernemersplein (Overheid.nl / KVK), Creating a policy against psychosocial workload. ondernemersplein.overheid.nl
- UWV, Wage payment during illness. uwv.nl