When your burnout becomes everyone’s problem: What to watch for and how to stop it

You might think burnout is a personal issue, something you quietly battle alone. But here’s the thing: Burnout doesn’t stay contained. It leaks out. It seeps into team meetings, family dinners, and even your group chats. One overwhelmed co-worker can set off a domino effect of stress, cynicism, and fatigue across an entire office. At home, a burned-out parent or partner can unintentionally create a low-energy, high-friction environment that wears everyone down. Burnout is, quite literally, contagious. And the more we ignore it, the more it spreads.

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So, why does burnout spread, and more importantly, how can we stop it?

'He lost the desire to do anything...'

It started with the little, insignificant details. Sleeping without dinner. Sleeping in on weekends after a week of working till late at night. Dubai-based Neha Kumar (name changed on request), a sales professional narrates the first-hand experience of witnessing her husband’s burnout and the effect it had on her family. “Over time, he lost the desire to do anything except focus on his work. It was exhausting to see him like that, and my children really missed his presence at meals and on the weekends. I just grew tired watching him, and it went on like that for two weeks,” she says. It came to a grinding halt when she found that her children had decided to plan a weekend away with their friends, as her son told her, “It’s just sad being home now.”

It was a painful jolt. “There was now an added anxiety that I was not only distant from my husband, but my children too,” she said. The changes didn’t happen overnight: It took many difficult and painful conversations with her husband, letting him know that this routine could go not go on any longer. "We'll just be four people living in this house soon," she explains.

He didn’t quit his job, as she initially hoped, but he slowly maintained strong boundaries between home and work. And, so they looked for different activities every weekend to do as a family, which also helped him through the stage of burnout.

Just as a person can light up a room with their cheer and positive energy, they can unintentionally dim it with their negative emotions. This is called the ‘emotional’ contagion, which is the tendency to unconsciously absorb and mirror the emotions of those around us.  When a coworker is overwhelmed, disengaged, or exhausted, their stress can ripple outward, influencing colleagues, managers, and even clients.

As research shows: Not only is it demotivating, but it also just worries the other person, deeply too. It is distressing to see someone so worn out and tired, and you don’t know how to fix it. It’s a ripple effect,” she says, recalling a particularly somber atmosphere in her previous organisation. Her boss was overworked and tired and barely took interest in what her team was actually doing, while mechanically giving them strict deadlines and piling on work endlessly. At the end, we were all tired, fighting, unproductive and sparring, because she was burned out.

A study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that burnout can spread among team members due to shared stressors and emotional exhaustion. Another study from the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology revealed that when leaders exhibit signs of burnout, their employees are more likely to experience it too. The reason? People naturally pick up on behavioural cues, whether it’s a colleague’s irritability, a leader’s cynicism, or a team’s general sense of hopelessness.

How burnout spreads

Salman Kareen, a specialist psychiatrist at Aster Clinics in Dubai, breaks it down:

Workplace culture: When people work in high-pressure environments that glorify overworking, exhaustion becomes the norm, pushing employees to push past their limits. If burnout behaviours already exist within a workplace or family setting, they can establish unhealthy patterns that others will be forced to follow.

Emotional contagion: When one person expresses frustration, stress, or exhaustion, those around them may unconsciously mimic these emotions. It’s in the little details: disengaged conversations, tense meetings, and short tempers. Relationships bear the weight of unseen exhaustion.

Increased workload: It’s a vicious cycle. One person is burned out or disengaged, and so their responsibilities fall on their colleagues. The virus of burnout continues. Kareem adds: "When someone can' fulfil their usual responsibilities, others must often pick up their job, potentially leading to resentment in colleagues."

Remote work and digital fatigue: Even virtual burnout is contagious. “You’re hounded by notifications, meetings, late-night meetings and emails. You feel trapped. And your loved ones who are watching you go through this, suffer with you,” says Harris.

First, you need to catch the warning signs, in yourself as the one being burned out. The stress of watching someone burn out in front of you can be crippling.

It eats into your psyche, and you keep wondering how to ‘fix’ them. Moreover, gradually, you can’t see the problem objectively: You keep shaking it off. So, to address burnout, you need to accept that your colleague, loved one or friend, is burned out and is affecting you, rather than shrugging it off: ‘I’m just worried about them, I’m okay’. You're not.

Have conversations with the person involved: Have a private conversation with the person affected, expressing your concern for their well-being. Let them know you want to support them but also be honest about how their burnout could impact your professional or personal relationship if left unaddressed.

Practise emotional awareness: Recognising when you’re absorbing others’ stress can help you consciously separate your emotions from theirs.

Prioritise recovery: Regular breaks, exercise, and looking for different hobbies together, can help reset your stress levels. It's important to set clear boundaries, and switching off when you leave the office. "Burnout can also stem from deeply systemic issues," explains Harris. "So, you need to assess that drive for perfectionism, the desire to please people and realise the impact it is having on you and others. You need to ask yourself, is work really your identity?"

Encourage psychological safety: A culture where employees feel safe discussing stress without stigma can prevent burnout from festering in silence.

Model healthy behaviours: Leaders who take time off, set boundaries, and avoid glorifying overwork can help shift the workplace culture.

Distribute workloads fairly: Keeping workloads manageable and ensuring employees aren’t consistently overburdened can prevent burnout from snowballing.