{"id":423095,"date":"2026-01-19T11:01:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T11:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/423095\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T11:01:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T11:01:15","slug":"two-in-five-young-workers-took-time-off-due-to-burnout-in-last-year-study-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/423095\/","title":{"rendered":"Two in five young workers took time off due to burnout in last year, study shows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Young adults in the UK are \u201cfacing pressures both inside and outside of work\u201d with almost two in five taking time off from their job due to poor mental health caused by stress in the last year.<\/p>\n<p>It comes as a survey found that more than nine in ten people reported experiencing high or extreme levels of stress.<\/p>\n<p>Attempting to boost the economy without tackling chronic workplace stress is like \u201ctrying to accelerate with the handbrake on\u201d, according to the chief executive of Mental Health UK.<\/p>\n<p>The charity called for organisations to \u201cmove faster\u201d to support managers in starting conversations about mental health, before staff burn out and \u201care pushed out of work\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The latest Burnout Report by Mental Health UK provides an annual snapshot of the nation\u2019s stress levels and includes a YouGov poll of more than 4,500 people, of which 2,591 were workers.<\/p>\n<p>The NHS describes burnout as \u201ca state of physical and emotional exhaustion\u201d caused by constant pressure at work.<\/p>\n<p>The survey found that more than nine in 10 (91%) people experienced high or extreme levels of stress in the last year.<\/p>\n<p>One in five (20%) workers took time off due to poor mental health caused by stress, a similar level to last year\u2019s report.<\/p>\n<p>People aged 25 to 34 were most likely to experience high or extreme levels of stress (96%), overtaking those aged between 35 and 44.<\/p>\n<p>However, the report suggests young adults aged between 18 and 24 \u201ccontinue to face a great deal of strain in the workplace\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Some 93% said they experiencing high or extreme levels of pressure and stress in the last year, with almost two in five (39%) taking time off with poor mental health, up 3% on the previous 12 months.<\/p>\n<p>Almost half of people in this age group (45%) told the survey that feeling isolated at work had contributed to their issues, with other factors including fears of redundancy (43%) and high workloads (57%).<\/p>\n<p>Almost two thirds (65%) of 18 to 24-year-olds reported poor sleep and money worries (64%), with 60% saying they feel isolated outside of work.<\/p>\n<p>Brian Dow, chief executive of Mental Health UK, warned that burnout is \u201cfast becoming one of the UK\u2019s most serious shared challenges\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He said: \u201cWe all want a thriving economy that benefits employers and workers alike, but unless we tackle chronic workplace stress and help people perform at their best, we are effectively trying to accelerate with the handbrake on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis year\u2019s report highlights continuing concerns about high levels of absence among younger workers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis group is facing pressures both inside and outside work, alongside an uncertain job market where AI is increasingly seen as a threat to some entry-level roles. For many, the social contract that rewarded previous generations for hard work is breaking down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile young people are often seen as championing better attitudes towards mental health at work, our survey shows many are staying silent about their own stress levels.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur workplace training team reports that young people do value regular check-ins on workload and wellbeing, when managers create the right environment for discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of those who took time off work due to stress, more than a quarter (27%) said they received no support when they returned to work, and fewer than one in five (17%) had a formal return to work plan put in place.<\/p>\n<p>Some 18% of workers told the survey they feel mental health is treated as a \u201ctick box exercise\u201d, while one in ten said mental health is not prioritised at all.<\/p>\n<p>For the first time, the poll asked women if menopausal symptoms were a contributing factor to burnout.<\/p>\n<p>More than two thirds of women (68%) aged between 45 and 54 agreed, along with more than a third (35%) aged between 35 and 44, and more than a quarter (27%) aged 55 and over.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Dow added that \u201cemployers have a vital role in helping people stay in work\u201d but managers \u201coften feel unsure about starting conversations on stress and mental health\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cIf we want to see a thriving workforce, organisations must move faster in supporting managers to act early, before stress and poor mental health turns into burnout and people are pushed out of work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>STV News is now on WhatsApp<\/p>\n<p>Get all the latest news from around the country<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029VaCESJzKgsNvKKNOYO2r\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">      Follow STV News <\/a>Follow STV News on WhatsApp<\/p>\n<p>Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/whatsapp-qr.png\" alt=\"WhatsApp channel QR Code\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Young adults in the UK are \u201cfacing pressures both inside and outside of work\u201d with almost two in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[64,63,137,514,515],"class_list":{"0":"post-423095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}