Over 50% of Australians Have Taken Sick Leave for Mental Exhaustion

A new survey by people2people Recruitment has found that burnout has become a widespread workplace challenge in Australia, with more than half of employees reporting that they have taken sick leave due to mental exhaustion.

Nearly one-third of them said they had taken such leave within the past 12 months.

The findings suggest that long working hours, frequent overtime, and an unhealthy workplace culture continue to affect employee well-being, making burnout a growing concern for employers.

Burnout Becoming a Workplace Issue

According to the survey, over 50% of Australian workers have taken time off because of burnout or mental exhaustion at some point in their careers. Around 30% said they had done so in the last year alone.

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Suhini Wijayasinghe, Head of HR Solutions at people2people Recruitment, said burnout is no longer an issue affecting only a small section of the workforce.

When more than half of workers have needed time off because they were mentally exhausted, it shows this is no longer an individual resilience issue. It is a workplace issue.

Workplace Culture Tops the List of Burnout Drivers

The report identifies poor workplace culture as the biggest factor affecting employee wellbeing, with 48% of respondents citing it as the primary cause of stress and burnout.

Other contributing factors include:

Unrealistic KPIs (25%)
Staff shortages (15%)
Lack of workplace flexibility (12%)

The findings indicate that employees see organisational culture and management practices as having a greater impact on wellbeing than workload alone.

Employees Struggle to Disconnect After Work

The survey also highlights the growing challenge of maintaining work-life boundaries.

Key findings include:

Half of the employees log in outside office hours at least once a week.
One in five workers said they work every evening.
Around 14% log in once or twice a week, while another 18% do so several times a week.

According to Wijayasinghe, technology has made it easier for employees to stay connected, but it has also created expectations of constant availability, making it difficult for many workers to fully switch off.

Overtime Continues to Rise

Overtime has become a regular part of working life for many Australians.

The survey found that:

29% work between five and ten hours of overtime each week.
18% work around five additional hours weekly.
22% regularly work two to three extra hours beyond their contracted schedule.

The report warns that sustained overtime, combined with after-hours work, significantly increases the risk of employee burnout.

Employers Need a Preventive Approach

The survey recommends that organisations shift their focus from managing burnout after it occurs to preventing it through healthier workplace practices.

Suggested measures include setting realistic workloads and performance expectations, encouraging employees to take leave, monitoring overtime, supporting flexible work arrangements, promoting healthy leadership behaviours, and conducting regular wellbeing check-ins.

The report concludes that as organisations continue to deal with economic uncertainty, talent shortages and increasing productivity demands, preventing burnout will remain one of the most important workforce priorities in 2026.

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