Eight Tips on How to Tell Your Boss You’re Burned Out

Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash

I have been in this situation before. Arriving at work, already on the verge of tears, hoping you don’t get another email adding one more thing to your plate. Anxiously attending meetings, hoping that you aren’t asked to do more than the minimum. Watching your colleagues to see if anyone is feeling the same way you are, so you can know that everyone is overwhelmed and not just you.

But I was careful to hide all of this from my boss. I would often tell myself the same story — that acknowledging the burnout would somehow negatively reflect on my skills and abilities to manage the overwhelming amount of work to complete in a short amount of time.

I have felt burnout at multiple jobs, wearing different types of hats at each job. So I know that, for me, it isn’t the type of job or the office that made me feel this way. It was a combination of many factors, that I decided to keep to myself, that escalated to a tipping point.

Ron Carucci, in the Harvard Business Review, suggests that if you’re feeling this way, you are not alone. He says, “The first thing to do is stop denying that it’s a problem. Your boss is in a unique position to help, and as uncomfortable as it might feel given the disproportionate influence they have over your work life, it’s critical that you tell them.”