It’s only February and already you feel tired, irritable and frustrated at the office. You have little enthusiasm for the enormous amount of work ahead of you, struggle to get motivated and are angry at your colleagues and bosses for demanding too much of you. You’re also angry at yourself. You allowed these demands to pile up. This has happened before – often. Sound familiar?

If you can identify with these feelings, you’re not alone. Thousands of employees in South Africa are experiencing the symptoms of burnout. And the number is growing. While there may be some comfort in knowing you belong to a large group of fellow sufferers, the dangers of burnout are substantial. Unless checked, burnout is likely to damage your physical and mental health, harm your personal and professional relationships and severely impair your ability to perform tasks at work. At its most severe, it can lead to psychological breakdown and even suicide. Organisations whose employees suffer from burnout often experience high levels of dissatisfaction in the workplace, frequent resignations, impaired productivity and poor decision-making among staff and executives.