Burnout at work: a plain guide for South African managers

Burnout is the long slide: exhaustion, pulling away, and the feeling that effort no longer matters. A busy week is not burnout. A quarter of busy weeks with no recovery might be.

You are a manager, not a clinician. Do not label someone. Do notice the work signals: more mistakes, shorter temper, cameras off and replies slower, leave applied for and then cancelled because “it is not a good time”.

The useful question is about the job. What can come off the list this week? Which meeting exists only because it existed last week? Who is quietly covering two roles?

Have the conversation in private, in ordinary words. Offer practical support and, if you have one, your EAP number. Do not ask for a diagnosis, and do not repeat the story in the management group chat.

If someone is in crisis, stay with the practical step: SADAG suicide crisis line 0800 567 567, or the Cipla Mental Health Helpline 0800 456 789. Save the numbers before you need them.

A micro-course can give people language. It cannot repair a roster that needs six people and has three. Fix the roster, or stop calling the poster a strategy.