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Burnout Isn't a Wellness Problem. It's a Claims Problem.

Writer: Eric Jones
Eric Jones
3 days ago
2 min read

Leaders keep treating burnout like a wellness-program gap.

Add yoga. Promote the EAP. Schedule Mindfulness Tuesday.

Meanwhile, burnout is becoming a measurable operational risk, with a paper trail.

Notice

The Workers Compensation Research Institute reports that mental-health claim frequency rose 47% between 2015 and 2024. Claims lasting more than seven days showed a 40% increase.

The costs are harder to dismiss:

  • Average indemnity reached $14,250 at 12 months, compared with $9,822 for all claims.

  • At 24 months, the gap was $21,206 versus $16,013.

  • Temporary disability averaged 19 weeks at 12 months and 26 weeks at 24 months.

  • Clerical and professional workers had the highest claim rate: roughly 0.65 per 100 paid claims.

Infographic contrasting mental-health claim rates in professional work and physically hazardous work

Reframe

Burnout is not automatically a compensable claim. But unmanaged burnout can contribute to absence, disability, turnover, and mental-health claims.

That makes resilience-based leadership a risk-management practice, not a perk.

Gallup reports that 27% of U.S. full-time employees frequently experience burnout. Globally, engagement sits at just 20%, representing roughly $10 trillion in lost productivity.

Wellness support matters. It is simply not enough on its own.

Practice

Build workplace resilience support into daily operations:

  • Review workload, role clarity, time pressure, and staffing.

  • Train managers to listen before performance declines.

  • Track absence, turnover, disability duration, and claim patterns.

  • Create healthy team relationships where concerns surface early.

  • Measure whether team wellness coaching changes the work, not just attendance.

Employees who feel strongly supported by their manager are about 70% less likely to experience frequent burnout.

What would your claims data reveal about the way work is managed?

Where could stronger relationships prevent the next absence, escalation, or claim?

That is the real Return on Relationship: connection that protects people, and performance.

Sources

 
 
 

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© 2035 by Roxanne Dehodge.

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