STATEMENT 1 / 150 of 15 answered
How often do you feel this way?
"By the end of the workday, I have nothing left."
What burnout is, in short
Burnout is a response to chronic workplace stress that hasn't been managed. The World Health Organization describes three signs: exhaustion, increasing mental distance or cynicism about your job, and a drop in how effective you feel at work.
The WHO classes burnout as an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition, and it applies specifically to work. This test follows the three-part model of Maslach's research with our own statements and a seven-point frequency scale. Profiles are a guide, not a diagnosis.
By What's Your IQ · Reviewed 4 Oct 2026- Format
- 15 statements, 5 per sign, never to every day
- Signs
- Exhaustion, cynicism, reduced effectiveness
- Result
- 0–30 per sign and one of five profiles
- WHO status
- Occupational phenomenon in ICD-11 (QD85), since 2019
WHERE IT COMES FROM
Burnout is usually a mismatch, not a weakness
Maslach and Leiter found burnout grows when one or more of six areas of work don't fit the person doing it. Click each area to mark how it fits for you right now.
QD85burnout's code in the WHO's ICD-11Listed under factors influencing health status, not mental disorders. The WHO is explicit that it refers to work, not other areas of life.3
1974Named. Psychologist Herbert Freudenberger described "staff burn-out" among volunteers at a free clinic in New York.1
1981Measured. Christina Maslach and Susan Jackson published the first standard burnout questionnaire, built around exhaustion, depersonalisation and accomplishment.2
2016Five profiles. Leiter and Maslach showed people fall into distinct patterns, and that full burnout is less common than the overextended or disengaged profiles.4
2019Recognised. The WHO added a definition of burnout to ICD-11, effective from January 2022.3
- Freudenberger, H. J. (1974). Staff burn-out. Journal of Social Issues, 30(1), 159–165.
- Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (1981). The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 2(2), 99–113.
- World Health Organization. (2019). Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International Classification of Diseases.
- Leiter, M. P., & Maslach, C. (2016). Latent burnout profiles: A new approach to understanding the burnout experience. Burnout Research, 3(4), 89–100.