Across Australia, a significant number of workers are contemplating a job change within the next year, driven largely by the pervasive issue of workplace burnout.

New research from Allianz Australia found that almost 80 per cent of employee responders, and almost 66 per cent of surveyed managers, don’t believe their organisation enforces good workplace habits and boundaries.

Moreover, 78 percent of managers identified systemic obstacles that worsen the situation. These include insufficient time and resources, a lack of appropriate technology, and clashes with other workplace priorities.

Meanwhile, 59 per cent of employees said they’d experienced work-related mental distress, often sparked by workload pressure, meeting overload, and unrealistic expectations.

On average, Australian employees claimed they spend 3.31 hours a week on jobs or meetings deemed “unnecessary”, and 32 per cent felt unable to take proper breaks.

Despite new right-to-disconnect laws, 19 per cent of employees said technology made it difficult to switch off from work, and 25 per cent said their cost-of-living worries affected their workplace performance.

And 2.73 million Australians are considering quitting their jobs in the next 12 months.

Allianz’s own numbers showed a relative increase of 28.4 per cent for mental distress compensation claims between the 2021 and 2025 financial years, while the average time off per claim rose 10 per cent to 81 days.

“Our claims data tells us that mental stress and work pressure is the second highest contributor of primary active psychological claims (34 per cent),” Allianz Australia executive general manager personal injury Mark Pittman said.

“While Allianz works to support injured workers who have been harmed by workplace stress, we recognise that the best outcomes are achieved through prevention.”

The company’s research revealed a vast majority of employees were unable to schedule personal time for themselves and were struggling with pressures outside work, including household duties, caregiving, and unsupported parenting duties like school drop-offs.

Further, only a stark minority of managers believed their workplace was well set-up to accommodate working parents and carers.

“Allianz is calling on Australian workplaces to take a holistic view of employee wellbeing,” Allianz Australia national manager mental health strategy for personal injury, Brianna Cattanach, said.

“Business leaders can support this through job design that ensures: manageable workloads, a natural ebb and flow to work demands, adequate ‘recovery’ time during work hours and ground rules for disconnecting after-hours.”

Helen Lawson Williams, co-founder of anti-burnout program TANK, said burnout could vary person to person, but it didn’t have to be considered part of the job.

“Employees can start by recognising when their stress (and) recovery balance is off, which could feel like fatigue, overwhelm, irritability, or caring less about their work than usual,” she said.

“Speak up before things escalate, and be specific about what’s making it harder to limit stress or recover well – whether it’s meeting overload, lack of breaks, unrealistic deadlines or inability to focus due to pressures outside the workplace.”