Six months' full pay for burnout-related sickness absence
The Issue
Burnout is preventable. So why are people paying for it with their health, their savings and their futures?
The World Health Organization defines burnout as an occupational phenomenon. Caused by work. I'd argue that definition doesn't go far enough, because it says nothing about the long-term, life-altering impact burnout has. But even on its own terms, the conclusion is clear: if work causes burnout, work must take responsibility for it.
Right now, it doesn't. Statutory Sick Pay is £123.25 a week. People experiencing burnout are going back to work far too early because their sick pay has run out, or because they're burning through their savings just to stay afloat. They return to the same workplaces that made them ill, still in crisis, often with no meaningful support.
I'm calling on the government to introduce a legal minimum of six months' full pay for burnout-related sickness absence.
Employers will say they can't afford it. My answer is simple: if you can't afford the recovery, invest in the prevention.
Six months is not generous. It's the bare minimum. Recovery from burnout can take years. Research shows the impact of a single toxic workplace can last for years, even when burnout isn't present.
I've spent 12 years doing this work. I've supported more than 700 leaders through burnout and recovery, and trained more than 200 coaches across 15 countries. Through Burnoutology, the discipline I founded, I've mapped the factors that cause burnout. When organisations address them, burnout can be prevented. The knowledge exists. Too many organisations are choosing not to use it, and many are going backwards.
Every time I speak, people come up to me afterwards and tell me the same story. My inbox says the same thing. This isn't a handful of individuals. It's a pattern.
No one should have to stay in a job that's damaging their mental, physical and emotional health, or that pushes them into financial hardship when it does.
Organisations have a choice: prevent burnout, or pay for the recovery. Sign this petition and help start that conversation with government.
Kelly Swingler, Burnoutologist and Founder of Burnoutology
30
The Issue
Burnout is preventable. So why are people paying for it with their health, their savings and their futures?
The World Health Organization defines burnout as an occupational phenomenon. Caused by work. I'd argue that definition doesn't go far enough, because it says nothing about the long-term, life-altering impact burnout has. But even on its own terms, the conclusion is clear: if work causes burnout, work must take responsibility for it.
Right now, it doesn't. Statutory Sick Pay is £123.25 a week. People experiencing burnout are going back to work far too early because their sick pay has run out, or because they're burning through their savings just to stay afloat. They return to the same workplaces that made them ill, still in crisis, often with no meaningful support.
I'm calling on the government to introduce a legal minimum of six months' full pay for burnout-related sickness absence.
Employers will say they can't afford it. My answer is simple: if you can't afford the recovery, invest in the prevention.
Six months is not generous. It's the bare minimum. Recovery from burnout can take years. Research shows the impact of a single toxic workplace can last for years, even when burnout isn't present.
I've spent 12 years doing this work. I've supported more than 700 leaders through burnout and recovery, and trained more than 200 coaches across 15 countries. Through Burnoutology, the discipline I founded, I've mapped the factors that cause burnout. When organisations address them, burnout can be prevented. The knowledge exists. Too many organisations are choosing not to use it, and many are going backwards.
Every time I speak, people come up to me afterwards and tell me the same story. My inbox says the same thing. This isn't a handful of individuals. It's a pattern.
No one should have to stay in a job that's damaging their mental, physical and emotional health, or that pushes them into financial hardship when it does.
Organisations have a choice: prevent burnout, or pay for the recovery. Sign this petition and help start that conversation with government.
Kelly Swingler, Burnoutologist and Founder of Burnoutology
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Petition created on 9 November 2026