How to Prevent Burnout in Your Tech Team

Employee wellbeing is paramount to the success of your organization. Your tech team has a tough job, especially if you’re undergoing a period of digital transformation. If they’re not able to perform well, your whole business suffers. 

There has been an increase in the number of professionals experiencing burnout in recent times. A 2024 study by Workday revealed that 27% of employees are at high risk of burnout, and when you have managers at high risk of this, it’s far more likely their team will experience the same thing. The risk of burnout has notably increased in companies within the Technology sector, as well as Nonprofit and Life Science organizations. This is specifically high in the US, with one 2024 report finding that 45% of US workers report feeling burnt out at work.

Let’s break down everything you need to know about burnout, and figure out how to prevent it.

What is burnout?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), burn out is included in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an occupational phenomenon. It is described as ‘a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed’. It can be characterized by feelings of low energy or exhaustion, feeling mentally distant from, or negatively towards, work, and reduced professional efficacy. 

Why is it happening to tech professionals?

With over 124,000 workers in the tech industry being laid off in 2024 alone, on top of the 428,449 in 2022 and 2023, there’s understandably some mental repercussions for the tech workers in your team. Feelings of anxiety and fear over losing their jobs, as well as the increased workload they may have inherited if your organization has made redundancies itself, can have a huge impact.  

As we stated above, tech workers have a tough job. They often work in high pressure environments, work long hours, are met with short deadlines, and have to keep up with the fast pace of the ever-changing technological landscape. It’s a lot to take on.

On top of this, cyber security has become an increasing concern in recent years. The latest Global Threat Report from CrowdStrike reports that the ‘speed and ferocity of cyberattacks continues to accelerate’, including increases in the number of cloud environment intrusions, interactive intrusions and social engineering attacks. Your tech team are faced with the threat of these attacks on a daily basis, and carry a much higher level of accountability than other workers outside of these tech roles.

What to look out for

There are multiple symptoms of burnout that you can be looking for, but according to Talkspace, there are some you should pay special attention to:

• Loss of motivation: If your staff are lacking in energy and feel negatively towards their job, they’ll probably experience a loss of motivation. This could result in reduced productivity, missing deadlines, and difficulty completing tasks.
• Physical exhaustion and chronic fatigue: They might start taking more days off, or are late for work more often, or you might notice they always seem tired – these are all signs that something more might be going on than just a bad night’s sleep.
• Cynicism and being distant: You might notice your employee’s attitude to work becomes more negative, or that they distance themselves from the rest of their team. These are signs of emotional exhaustion and can be flags for burn out.

How to prevent it

Being able to identify the signs of burnout in your tech team is important, but it’s ideal if you can stop it before it starts. As Workday alludes to in their report, employee health and wellbeing initiatives are important, but studies have found them to have minimal impact on burnout. Change usually needs to happen at an organizational level to make a meaningful difference.

Here are some top tips you can put to your organization if you feel your team are at high risk of burnout:

Close the gap between the front-line workers and the executives

Leaders can’t address problems they don’t know about, and 44% of US workers reported not feeling comfortable telling leadership that they feel burnt out. Open lines of communication throughout the entire hierarchy of the business, as well as employee engagement surveys, can help to ensure that burn out doesn’t fly under the radar. Regular check-ins with your team can help Managers stay on top of how their staff are feeling, and give them a chance to report back to senior leadership if the employee doesn’t feel comfortable leapfrogging straight to the top. 

Entrench wellbeing initiatives into the core of the company

We all love a lunchtime yoga class in the office, but as discussed, these individual initiatives don’t have a big impact. The company values and ethos need to reflect how the organization feels about its employees’ health and wellbeing. For example, ‘going the extra mile’ is a common company value, proudly advertised on company websites across the states. This might sound great to customers, but does it have a place in your company culture in relation to the workers? It’s difficult for managers to encourage their team members to take time off, enjoy a good work/life balance, and not feel guilty if they’re bedridden with the flu, when the company has explicitly told them they need to be going above and beyond constantly. 

Incorporate simple policies and procedures

Red tape can bog down workers with slow processes and complicated procedures, leading to an unmanageable workload and increased feelings of frustration. Simplifying workflows and streamlining the way the organization does business can free up more time for meaningful work, leaving workers feeling more attached to, and fulfilled in, their job roles. This in turn puts them at lower risk of burn out. Even if this can’t be achieved at an organizational level, think about what you can do within your tech team to reduce the burden of complex policies and procedures, and introduce simple workflows.

If you feel like your tech team, including yourself, is at high risk of burnout, remember, you’re not alone. There is no overnight fix for this occupational phenomenon, and with technology at the forefront of business success in this day and age, the pressure is on you and your tech workers to keep up. The important thing is to try and recognize burnout before it runs rampant through your team, and if you can, address the issue at a higher level so that meaningful changes can be made to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Need help with your tech team? Focus Cloud Group are a recruitment consultancy that have been dedicated to cloud technology ecosystems for 15 years. Our specialist knowledge, creative solutions and expert network mean we are well-placed to advise on putting the best foot forward with your team, and partner with you on your hiring journey. Get in touch today to find out how we can help you.