What is burnout?
Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged or excessive stress. It is characterised by three main dimensions:
overwhelming exhaustion,
feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job
a sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment
Employees are categorised into one of three groups, which reflect the level of risk they are exposed to:
Low risk - No significant factors pointing towards the likelihood of suffering from burnout
Neutral - Minimal significant factors pointing towards the likelihood of suffering from burnout
High risk - Considerable significant factors pointing towards the likelihood of suffering from burnout
How we calculate burnout risk
The total risk score for Burnout is calculated as a weighted average of the scores from its three sub-indices, all based on data gathered from Daily Reflections in the YuLife app.
π§ Science Behind
The Daily Reflections' health questionnaire includes nearly 500 questions, each with its own relevancy period - the amount of time an answer continues to contribute to risk scoring.
Examples:
βDid you exercise yesterday?β β relevant for 1 day
βDo you drink?β β relevant for up to 1 year
A question only influences risk calculations while its relevancy period is active.
The sub-indices are:
Emotional symptoms
Physical symptoms
Behavioural symptoms
Emotional symptoms
This sub-index assesses the emotional core of burnout, including feelings of depression, lack of enthusiasm, cynicism, and difficulty managing emotions, which are central to emotional exhaustion.
Emotional Symptoms are weighted appropriately as emotional exhaustion is considered the core driver and most pervasive aspect of burnout.
β
Physical symptoms
This sub-index measures the physiological manifestations of burnout, including fatigue, sleep disturbances, headaches, and difficulty concentrating, which are direct indicators of physical exhaustion.
Physical Symptoms are weighted appropriately as they represent tangible and often debilitating consequences of prolonged stress.
β
Behavioural symptoms
This sub-index focuses on observable actions and patterns indicative of burnout, such as social withdrawal, reduced engagement in hobbies, increased absenteeism, and maladaptive coping behaviours.
Behavioural Symptoms are weighted appropriately as they are critical, but often downstream manifestations of the emotional and physical toll.
β¨ Making use of AI
By having our AI-driven models continually scan the latest publicly available research and learn from it in real time, our burnout model is constantly being refined and improved. This allows us to design more informed question sets and apply evidence-backed weightings to both the questions and their responses. To learn more, see here.