Stressed at work? Anxious about the wider world? You might be part of 'The Great Exhaustion'

For years, Sabrina Royal worked with one of Canada's big banks. She worked her way up from an entry-level job to a management position. But that's when her hours started getting out of hand.

"When it was good, I was working 8 a.m. to about 6:30 p.m.," Royal, 42, told CBC Radio's Cost of Living. "When it was bad, there were times when I was signing off at midnight or later."

On most days, she'd skip breaks and eat lunch at her desk. She felt anxious and tired — but thoughts of work made it hard to sleep. Eventually, it led to a prolonged brain fog and burnout.

"It's like watching myself from afar, not being able to be me," she said. "I know that I can pick up on things faster. I know that I can come up with responses more eloquently, more quickly. But it's such a struggle." 

Royal's struggles are not uncommon for working professionals, especially those in her age range. Economists and workplace analysts have coined several terms to explain facets of modern burnout since the COVID-19 pandemic upended the way people lived and worked.

There was the great resignation, when people left their jobs en masse circa 2021. "Quiet quitting" described people refusing to work outside their paid hours amid pressure to work overtime or be constantly on-call.

Now a new term has emerged: The Great Exhaustion, which starts with stress directly related to work and piles on wider anxieties about the state of the world — such as climate change, war, political instability and the rising cost of living.

"The Great Exhaustion is a reflection of this collective experience of being burned out, tired, emotionally fatigued, by work and all things in our world, as well, that go beyond work," said Jennifer Dimoff, an organizational psychologist who teaches at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa.

Even though The Great Exhaustion encompasses more than just work, the numbers about work-life satisfaction can still look grim by themselves.

An online survey of Canadian professionals from staffing agency Robert Half found that 42 per cent of respondents reported feeling burnt out, according to advance polling data shared with Cost of Living. Respondents were asked to rate themselves on a scale of one to 10: a rating of one to three meant not burned out; four to six meant neutral; and seven to 10 meant burnt out.

"We didn't define [burn out]. We just asked, 'Do you feel burnt out?' And they came back and said yes," said Michael French, national director of client solutions at Robert Half.

The survey, to be released in June, polled mostly working professionals in fields like finance, accounting, technology, marketing and human resources, at companies with 20 or more employees in Canada. More than 750 people were surveyed between mid-October and mid-November 2023.

Younger workers were more likely to report burnout, French said. More than 50 per cent of millennial-aged respondents and 51 per cent of Gen Z-aged respondents said they feel burnt out.

People from Gen X and the baby boomer generation generally reported lower levels of burnout — at 32 and 24 per cent, respectively.