Whole careers could disappear if we don’t address burnout amongst young workers - Ros Jones
There’s a statistic in the latest Burnout Report by Mental Health UK that should make every employer sit up and take notice: 18–24-year-olds are now the age group most likely to be absent from work because of poor mental health caused by stress.
Moreover, fewer young people feel able to talk to their line manager about how they’re feeling. Put bluntly, this is a leadership problem. More specifically, it is a self-leadership problem: the way those at the top manage their own pressure, pace and expectations.
Across the UK, stress and burnout aren’t new. But its shape has shifted. While overall burnout-related absence hovers at around one in five workers, almost two in five of those aged 18–24 have taken time off work due to burnout or stress. They’re the newest hires, the apprentices, the rising talent. And they are struggling.
At the same time, social media conversations, whether framed as quiet quitting or justified effort management, are telling us something important too.
Young employees are doing only what’s contractually expected because they’ve learned the hard way that anything more feels unsustainable or unrewarded. Behind the snappy hashtag is a sense of exhaustion, a fear of speaking up, and a very real mental health burden.
Perceptions matter, and right now, young workers don’t feel heard
According to the Burnout Report, the number of 18–24-year-olds who feel comfortable opening up about stress to a manager has fallen sharply year-on-year.
Line managers are the thermostat of workplace culture. And thermostats don’t regulate anything they’re unaware of. Leadership begins with awareness. If leaders can’t recognise stress early, or respond with empathy and practical support, stress becomes silence - and silence becomes absence, disengagement, or resignation.
So what needs to change right now?
Stress is often invisible until it’s a crisis. Training line managers in early recognition and supportive conversation skills isn’t “soft stuff”; it’s risk management.
Annual wellbeing days or free yoga classes won’t prevent burnout. What will help is regular, structured dialogue between manager and team member about workload, boundaries and real-time pressures.
Young workers shouldn’t have to weigh up whether telling their boss they’re struggling will cost them their career. A culture where vulnerability isn’t punished is a retention strategy.
If your HR dashboard only tracks absence and output, you’ll only ever see the aftermath of burnout. Add engagement, stress indicators, and trust metrics and then act on what they tell you.
Burnout isn’t just a health issue, it’s a talent issue. We’re not talking hit-and-miss productivity dips. We’re talking about losing whole careers before they’ve begun. Employers face a stark choice: develop leaders who practise self-leadership or watch young talent quietly drift away.
Self-leadership is not another wellbeing initiative. It’s the discipline of understanding how your own thinking, behaviours and pressure thresholds shape the culture around you.
When leaders become conscious of how they drive pace, expectations and communication, culture shifts. And when culture shifts, absence reduces, trust increases and performance stabilises.
Ros Jones is a burnout and leadership coach and founder of the Self Leaders Sanctuary.