Question 1

What is burnout, and how is it different from stress?

Accepted Answer

**Burnout** is a specific occupational syndrome, not a synonym for being very tired or very stressed — and the distinction matters because the responses that help are different.

**The definition.** The World Health Organization classifies burnout in ICD-11 as an **occupational phenomenon** resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is explicitly **not** classified as a medical condition, and is defined as relating to the occupational context specifically. Three dimensions:

**Exhaustion** — energy depletion that rest does not resolve.

**Mental distance from the job**, or feelings of negativism and cynicism about it. This is the dimension people recognise least in themselves and colleagues notice first.

**Reduced professional efficacy** — a sense of ineffectiveness, frequently disproportionate to actual performance.

**How it differs from stress:**

**Stress involves over-engagement**; burnout involves **disengagement**. Stress is urgency and over-reaction; burnout is flatness and detachment.

**Stress produces anxiety**; burnout produces **cynicism and emotional blunting**.

**Stress feels like too much**; burnout feels like **not enough** — not enough capacity, not enough meaning.

**Rest resolves stress. Rest alone does not resolve burnout**, which is the most practically important difference and why "take a holiday" so often fails.

**Depression is a distinct clinical condition** that extends across all areas of life, whereas burnout is defined in relation to work. They overlap and can co-occur, and distinguishing them is a clinical matter rather than a self-assessment one.

**What the research points to on causes.** The evidence consistently implicates workplace factors more than individual resilience: **unsustainable workload**, **lack of control**, **insufficient reward**, **breakdown of community**, **absence of fairness**, and **value conflict**. This is why individual wellbeing interventions have a modest record when the underlying conditions are unchanged.

**If this is where you are**, it is worth speaking to your GP — persistent exhaustion has many possible causes, some medical, and self-diagnosis is unreliable. This is explanatory information, not a diagnosis.

Question 2

What is presenteeism, and why does it matter?

Accepted Answer

Being at work while unwell or unproductive — physically present but not functioning, whether through illness, exhaustion or disengagement. Research consistently suggests it costs organisations more

Question 3

How do you return to work after long-term sickness?

Accepted Answer

Through a planned, phased process rather than a single return date — and the evidence is consistent that a structured return with adjustments produces better outcomes than waiting until someone is

Question 4

What is constructive dismissal?

Accepted Answer

Resigning in response to a fundamental breach of contract by the employer, and being treated in law as having been dismissed — which is why it is described as constructive: the dismissal is

Question 5

What is a reasonable adjustment at work?

Accepted Answer

A change an employer must make to remove a substantial disadvantage faced by a disabled worker — and it is a legal duty, not a discretionary accommodation, which is the distinction that matters most.

Question 6

What is a performance improvement plan?

Accepted Answer

A performance improvement plan (PIP) is a formal, documented process setting out where an employee's performance falls short, what improvement is required, over what period, and with what support.

Question 7

What is the difference between a job description and a person specification?

Accepted Answer

The job description describes the role; the person specification describes the person who could do it. They answer different questions, and reading them as one document is why applications miss the

Related Questions