Estimate burnout risk from workload.
Burnout research consistently points to the same drivers: sustained excessive hours, work intruding into recovery time, too few genuinely work-free days, and low control over how the work gets done. This index weights the first three as load and treats autonomy as a buffer, because the same workload is far less damaging when the person decides how to meet it. The sustainable hours threshold shifts with autonomy for the same reason.
Weighted burnout risk
Score = (hours - 37.5) x 2.2 + after-hours contacts x 1.8 + (8 - recovery days) x 3.5 - (autonomy - 5) x 2.5, capped 0-100
Self-assessment aid only, not a medical or psychological diagnosis. If you are experiencing exhaustion, hopelessness or an inability to function, speak to a doctor or a qualified mental health professional.
Because the demand-control model, one of the best supported findings in occupational health, shows that high demands are only strongly harmful when paired with low control. Autonomy does not remove the load but it substantially reduces the damage.
Roughly two genuinely disconnected days a week — about eight a month — is the level at which recovery keeps pace with demand. Below five a month, fatigue accumulates faster than it clears.
No. Burnout is a clinical and occupational construct assessed with validated instruments such as the Maslach Burnout Inventory. This is a structured self-check for workload patterns, useful for prompting action rather than for diagnosis.