Don’t Let Passion Lead to Burnout on Your Team

Passion is often heralded as the key to a fulfilling and successful career, but the authors’ recent research suggests that it can also come at a cost: Feeling passionate about work can lead to exhaustion and even burnout. Through studies with more than 700 employees across a wide range of industries, the authors found that people reported feeling less burned out on days when they felt more passionate about their work — but on the day following a particularly passionate day, employees actually felt more burned out than usual. This is because on days when employees experienced higher levels of passion, they also felt more energized, leading them to exert themselves more and thus be more exhausted the next day. To address this vicious cycle, the authors argue that employees should be proactive about managing their passion and make sure to build in time for rest and recovery. At the same time, rather than encouraging unsustainable passion and pushing people to burn themselves out, managers should help their teams navigate the challenges that can come with feeling passionate about work by managing workloads, monitoring emotional exhaustion, and building systems that foster work-life balance.