For Alex Breen, a partner and co-owner of Kinsella Chartered Accountants in Canberra, it was the nightly waking at 2am or 3am worrying about clients that made him realise there was too much going on.
“Post-Christmas, most staff were back in the office by January 6 and things ramped up fairly quickly from there,” said Breen, who has two young children and a partner who also works full-time.
“The goal – or the finish line – was Easter, but with interest rates being high, everything feels like it’s going up at the moment. Between work, earning an income, and managing the day-to-day stuff at home, finding that balance can be tough.”
Commonly defined as a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion triggered by prolonged stress, burnout has already been found to be widespread among Australian workers this year, with cost-of-living pressures, family demands and increased workloads leading to high levels of stress and anxiety.
Research by human resources software provider ELMO found burnout rates jumped 48 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with the last quarter of 2024. One in five Australian employees had accrued four or more weeks of unused leave, many feeling reluctant to take it due to rising workloads and financial pressures.
Workforce consultant David Campbell, who has dubbed the early onset of burnout this year as “first-quarter fade”, said burnout had been building over the past couple of years in a number of industries due to constant busyness and a lack of breaks.
Burnout was rife among accountants, Campbell said, and a College of Law survey released earlier this year found more than two-thirds of Australian lawyers had experienced burnout in the previous 12 months.
A report by employee engagement platform Reward Gateway found a third of employees across all industries, including finance, construction and healthcare, reported feeling frequently burnt out or overwhelmed due to pressure at work.
“It’s sheer workload pressure and productivity expectations mixed with everything outside,” Campbell said.
“You’re always on in every setting. Whenever you talk to someone and ask, ‘How are you going?’ it always starts with, ‘Oh, I’m busy’. Our schedules are always booked.”
While artificial intelligence had freed up time for workers in many ways, it had led to them spending more time doing cognitively demanding work, which was also taking a toll.
“A lot of the work that we do using AI gets rid of that basic administration, and it also gets rid of that time that you’d normally be on cruise control for an hour or two a day.”
Campbell said it would be critical for middle management to support staff over the next 12 months and watch for signs of people being overwhelmed. “Quality of work is the big one that might drop off – the way that people engage with your organisation. A big risk is turnover.”
Breen said he had been able to unwind over the Easter and Anzac long weekend breaks, and making time for a good morning routine – which included the gym and coffee with friends afterwards – had helped him start to recover from burnout. He had also purchased an infrared sauna to help with stress recovery and sleep.
“Having a supportive partner who enables that time to de-stress and normalising the conversation with others around the issue of burnout is important,” he said.
He worried about his staff and the demands that came with working in accountancy at the end of the financial year, despite offering a flexible working culture.
“Health and wellbeing helps me to balance the stress and, as the owner of a business, I’m conscious of making sure the team feels supported too. We want people to come in, enjoy work and go home.”
