I was burning out my best people and didn't see it until a manager quit

For years I pushed for 60 hour weeks, thinking it showed dedication. Last month, my top project lead handed in her notice and said, 'I can't do this to my family anymore.' That was the tip-off. I checked our turnover and we lost 4 key people in the last 8 months, all citing workload. Has anyone else had to rebuild a team culture after pushing too hard?

3 comments

3 Comments

wyatt521mo ago

60 hour weeks just sound like poor planning honestly, if you need people grinding that hard something else is broken in how you're running things. Burnout is real but sometimes people use it as an excuse for wanting an easier gig when they just can't keep up.

betty_price141mo ago

Yeah, my friend ran a small design shop and did the same thing. He had this star designer who kept pulling all-nighters for client pitches. One Tuesday, she just didn't show up. Sent an email saying she was done, didn't even get her stuff. He found out later she took a job paying less just to get her nights and weekends back. He had to basically start over, hiring two juniors to replace her, and now he's super strict about weekend emails.

christopher_sullivan1mo ago

Saw a study that said burned out employees are way more likely to quit without another job lined up. They tracked people for a year and the ones reporting high burnout were almost three times as likely to just walk out. Makes sense, your brain hits a wall and says any change is better than this.