Burnout: early warning signs managers can spot

Burnout almost never happens overnight. It builds up over months, through small signs that colleagues notice without always connecting the dots. Managers are often best placed to spot them, as long as they know what to look for.

In Belgium, mental health conditions now account for nearly 39% of long-term work incapacity among employees: more than 209,000 people at the end of 2025. Behind these figures, there is often exhaustion that could have been spotted earlier.

The signs to watch for

On its own, none of these signs is alarming. What should raise a flag is when they pile up and persist.

• A change in rhythm. Someone who is usually punctual starts arriving late, or stays later and later without any change in workload.
• An unusual drop in quality. Oversights, careless mistakes, slipping deadlines from someone who is normally reliable.
• Gradual withdrawal. Speaking up less in meetings, skipping shared breaks, keeping the camera off.
• New irritability. Overreactions, impatience, cynicism about projects that used to motivate them.
• Fatigue that won't go away. Weekends and holidays are no longer enough to recover.
• Short, repeated absences. Headaches, back pain, recurring infections: the body often sounds the alarm before the mind does.

Why it goes unnoticed

The people most at risk are often the most committed. They compensate, take on more and hide their fatigue out of loyalty to the team. Their over-commitment looks like performance, right up until it breaks.

Everyone also reacts to stress in their own way. Some become more demanding and rigid, others withdraw, others get restless and take on more and more. A manager who expects only one kind of signal may miss the others. This is one of the strengths of the Enneagram: it shows how each personality behaves under pressure, making it possible to recognise very different signals from one person to the next.

How to start the conversation

Spotting the signs is not enough; you have to be willing to raise them. A few simple principles help you do it with care.

1. Choose a calm, private moment, never on the sidelines of a tense meeting.
2. Start from what you have observed, without interpreting: “I've noticed you've been staying late a lot these past few weeks.”
3. Ask an open question and really listen: “How are you finding things at the moment?”
4. Don't try to diagnose. A manager's role is not to treat, but to open a door.
5. Offer concrete support: adjusting the workload, a conversation with HR, one-to-one coaching or the occupational doctor.

Acting before breaking point

Prevention always costs less than long-term sick leave, both in human and in financial terms. Training managers to recognise these signs and adapt their approach to each personality is one of the most effective ways to protect a team.

That is exactly what we work on in our programmes for managers: understanding how each person operates, including under stress, so they can act early and appropriately.