The country is nearly at full employment, but U.S. workers may also be approaching full burnout. On the heels of the World Health Organization defining it as a syndrome resulting from workplace stress, a recent survey from staffing firm Accountemps found that nearly all senior managers (96%) believe their team members are experiencing some degree of burnout. In a separate survey, 91% of workers said they are at least somewhat burned out.

Senior managers were asked to report the level of burnout among employees on a scale of 1 (not at all burned out) to 10 (completely burned out), and the average was 5.6. One in 5 respondents rated their team's burnout level 8 or higher. Workers also cited an average burnout level of 5.6, with more than a quarter of respondents (28%) falling within the 8 to 10 range.

Workers and managers alike seem to agree burnout is an issue, but they don't see eye to eye on the main reason. When given a list of factors that may be contributing to employee burnout, workers ranked constant interruptions first, while senior managers believed unmanageable workloads were the biggest issue for their teams.

"Employees are often OK with working hard if they know that their efforts will not go unnoticed by their employers and it helps them advance their careers," said Michael Steinitz, senior executive director of Accountemps, a division of Robert Half. "However, maintaining high productivity cannot come at the expense of staff members' well-being and engagement."

Steinitz offered advice for organizations facing staffing challenges: "Managers need to identify responsibilities that can be reassigned or put on hold. They can also bring in temporary professionals to alleviate heavy workloads, support day-to-day needs and assist with projects requiring specialized skills. Companies that don't take steps to prevent employee burnout could drive top performers away and find themselves in a bigger pinch."