Creating an Anti-Burnout Culture: It Starts At the Top
During a previous speaking engagement with the Credit Union Executives Society (CUES), I had the privilege of discussing a critical question: How do we create anti-burnout cultures in our organizations? This question came up after a deep dive into strategies for addressing personal burnout, including recognizing different types of burnout, breaking the stress cycle, prioritizing self-care, and building work-life balance.
The audience was highly engaged, offering a range of creative solutions for reducing burnout in the workplace. Ideas included:
Setting up mindfulness rooms: Dedicated spaces where employees can engage in mindfulness activities to reset.
Promoting "mini-vacations" throughout the day: Encouraging breaks to help employees step away from the grind.
Sending reminders for micro-movements: Simple activities like stretching or moving around during the day via internal messaging systems like Teams.
Organizing walking challenges: Making movement a daily part of the workplace culture.
Reinforcing the right to take breaks: Creating an environment where taking a break is seen as productive, not something to feel guilty about.
These were all fantastic ideas, and I was genuinely impressed by the conversation. However, there’s one key element that is often overlooked but cannot be overstated:
Leaders need to model these behaviors.
The Importance of Modeling Anti-Burnout Behaviors
If we're serious about creating an anti-burnout culture, it can't just be something we tell employees to do. Leaders must actively model the behaviors we want to see, or else all of these efforts will feel hollow and superficial. Simply telling employees they don’t have to work late or reminding them to take care of themselves won’t make a difference if leadership doesn’t follow suit.
In too many organizations, leadership tells employees to prioritize work-life balance, yet the very people giving that advice are sending emails at midnight, working 12-hour days, and staying available on weekends and vacations. This creates a dissonance between what's being said and what's being done.
Why Leaders Must Lead by Example
Here’s the crux of why modeling matters: employees look up to their leaders as examples of success. These are the people who have been promoted, received raises, and gained recognition. Whether we like it or not, many employees equate career success with these markers of achievement.
If employees see that the only way to “make it” is to constantly grind, never log off, and sacrifice personal time, they’ll assume that’s the path they have to follow. No amount of corporate messaging will change this unless leaders practice what they preach.
This disconnect becomes especially problematic when leaders explicitly tell their teams to take breaks, unplug, and prioritize their well-being—while simultaneously modeling the exact opposite behavior. Employees will call this out as insincere, and it can create a culture of distrust and disengagement.
The Long Game: Building a Sustainable Anti-Burnout Culture
Creating a true anti-burnout culture is a long-term commitment. It’s not something that can be fixed with a few months of targeted efforts. If an organization has historically modeled workaholic behaviors, employees won’t trust a sudden shift unless it’s sustained over time.
Culture change takes time. It requires leadership to consistently model better boundaries—not just for a few months, but as a core part of how the organization operates. It’s about embedding these behaviors into the fabric of the workplace.
Setting the Right Expectations Through Actions
The main takeaway here is simple: actions speak louder than words. The culture in your company is not shaped by what you say, but by what you do. If you want to foster an anti-burnout culture, it starts with leadership setting the example. Your employees are watching, and if they see you modeling healthy work habits, they’ll be more likely to follow suit.
I’ve previously written about the various strategies organizations can implement to reduce burnout (check out part 1 and part 2 of my blog series). While all of those ideas are valuable, I firmly believe that modeling the right behaviors is the most critical piece.
How Does Your Company Stack Up?
What about your organization? Do you feel that your leadership truly models the anti-burnout culture they promote? Or is there a gap between the message and the reality? Let’s keep the conversation going—because creating a healthy, sustainable workplace culture benefits everyone in the long run.
