New Delhi: The founder of a startup has shared why offering employees time off to deal with burnout may not be enough if they return to the same workload.
Jatin Saini, founder of House of Creators, said six burnout leaves had been taken at his company in five months, but none had resolved the underlying problem. In a social media post, Saini explained how the company changed its approach after realizing that time off alone could not address the pressures employees faced at work and at home.
Saini recounted the experience of an employee who recently took her second burnout leave. Her father had been unwell for months, leaving her to manage responsibilities at home along with her job. One morning, she did not have the energy to open her laptop, so she took the day off and returned to work the following day. However, Saini said the company recognized that simply allowing her to rest would not address the problem if she returned to the same workload, noting that leave and sleep do not fix exhaustion if the load remains unchanged.
The company therefore redistributed some of her responsibilities among her manager and teammates when she returned, put certain tasks on hold, and established regular check-ins. The same approach was used when a manager began struggling under additional responsibilities after an employee's exit, prompting the firm to move deadlines and redistribute projects to ease the pressure.
Explaining the thinking behind the policy, Saini said burnout leave was intended to serve as an early warning that something in the workplace needed to change. He described the leave as an alarm that helps the company identify where systems are failing and address problems before they harm staff. He also reassured employees that their leave would not be judged as a lack of commitment and that workloads would be actively shared.
Saini reflected on the reluctance many employees feel about asking for help, admitting he had behaved similarly in past employment by working until he burned out without understanding why taking leave felt difficult. He added that people often mistakenly view burnout as proof of good work, which is not the case.
The discussion prompted online conversations about whether redistributing work is enough, with some professionals pointing out that shifting tasks could simply transfer the burden to other team members. Others questioned whether redistributing responsibilities might affect performance evaluations and job security, noting that employees often hide their exhaustion out of fear of being sidelined.
Many agreed with the central argument that rest cannot solve a problem waiting for an employee upon their return, emphasizing that real change occurs only when organizations are willing to alter the conditions that made the rest necessary.