When High-Functioning Burnout Sits at the Desk Next to You

Supporting employees through burnout often begins with noticing what’s easy to overlook.

They’re often the one who replies first.

The one who quietly steps in when someone’s off sick.

The one who smooths over an awkward client call without complaint.

From the outside, they’re steady. A “safe pair of hands.”

Inside, they’re running on reserve.

They’ve started closing the bathroom door at work just to take a minute. Not because they’re ill, but because their body feels lead-heavy and their thoughts won’t settle. Lunch breaks are skipped for “quick” catch-ups. Weekends are for recovery, not rest. Holidays get postponed because “now’s not the right time to be away.”

This is high-functioning burnout.

And in workplaces across the UK, it’s happening in plain sight.

Why it slips under the radar

High-functioning burnout doesn’t match the image of someone in crisis. Deadlines are still met. Meetings are still attended. The decline is quieter: reduced creativity, fewer ideas offered, a loss of patience for small mistakes.

Psychologist Christina Maslach, whose research defined the modern understanding of burnout, describes it as a combination of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and reduced professional efficacy. In high-functioning burnout, those signs appear slowly, often disguised as “just a busy period.”

A 2023 CIPD Health and Wellbeing at Work survey found that presenteeism, or turning up despite feeling unwell, is now more common than sickness absence. This means many employees are burning out long before absence is ever considered.

The Health and Safety Executive’s 2024 figures show that stress, depression and anxiety now account for over half of all work-related ill-health cases in the UK - a steady rise since 2020.

AXA’s 2023 Mind Health Study likewise found that 48% of UK employees describe themselves as emotionally exhausted even while “functioning well.”

Why employees don’t speak up

Dr Gabor Maté writes that burnout often affects those who are deeply committed, conscientious, and driven to help others. They are often the people least likely to voice their own limits.

Research by Employee Benefits shows that fewer than 1 in 10 eligible employees use their organisation’s Employee Assistance Programme each year. Common reasons include confidentiality worries, lack of continuity with the same counsellor, and the feeling that formal services are for “bigger problems” than their own.

So they carry on, often unaware of how much it’s costing them.

Where a workplace counsellor fits in

When counselling is woven into the culture of a workplace, independent from management, confidential, and relational, employees don’t have to wait until they “can’t cope” to talk.

Person-centred workplace counselling means:

• The same counsellor each time, building trust over weeks, not minutes.

• Space to recognise early signs of burnout before absence is needed.

• Support focused on long-term wellbeing, not just a quick return to productivity.

Research consistently shows that early, relational support can reduce absenteeism and turnover. When employees have access to a consistent, independent counsellor, trust builds, conversations deepen, and difficulties are addressed before they escalate. It’s not only about wellbeing - it’s about stabilising performance, relationships, and retention.

A 2018 study in the British Journal of Guidance & Counselling found that workplace counselling significantly reduced anxiety, stress, and depression, with improvements still present three months later.

Why this matters to the whole business

Burnout doesn’t just drain the individual. It ripples through the team. Colleagues notice the withdrawal. Workarounds pile up. Morale drops.

Deloitte UK’s 2020 Mental Health and Employers report found that poor mental health costs employers £45 billion per year, with more than half of that cost down to presenteeism, not absence.

At The Farley, my role as an embedded workplace counsellor is to bring a person-centred approach into organisational life - one that prioritises psychological safety, continuity, and relational trust. Sessions are confidential and employee-led, but the wider impact often includes calmer teams, steadier communication, and a healthier rhythm across departments.

Burnout is not limited to salaried employees. Entrepreneurs and founders experience it at high rates, often without access to workplace mental health support. In these cases, therapy for entrepreneurs can provide the same confidential, relational space to talk and reflect.

High-functioning burnout rarely announces itself. It tends to unfold quietly, behind continued performance.

A conversation worth having

If you’d like to explore how a counsellor can be thoughtfully embedded within your organisation - whether as a pilot, a regular presence, or through ad-hoc employee support - I’d be glad to have a conversation. You can contact me here or email me directly at esther@thefarley.co.uk.

You can read more on my Employee Counselling Page.

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Further Reading for Leaders and HR Teams

• CIPD (2023). Health and Wellbeing at Work Survey. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

  
  

• Health and Safety Executive (2024). Work-related Stress, Anxiety or Depression Statistics in Great Britain.

  
  

• AXA (2023). Mind Health Study.

  
  

• Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2022). The Burnout Challenge: Managing People’s Relationships with Their Jobs. Harvard University Press.

• Maté, G. (2003). When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress. Vintage Canada.

• McLeod, J. (2018). The effectiveness of workplace counselling: A systematic review. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 46(2), 278–291.

• Deloitte UK (2020). Mental Health and Employers: Refreshing the Case for Investment.