The Burnout Numbers We Can’t Ignore

In June 2025, The Guardian reported UK burnout at a record high nearly half of UK workers say they feel exhausted but don’t feel safe to speak up. Gallup shows it’s the same in the US: 44% feel burned out at least once a week. Across Europe, Eurofound the EU’s agency for working and living conditions reports disengagement at around 40% the so-called “quiet quitting” wave that’s harder to see than carbon data.

Carbon Footprints vs. Trust Footprints

While climate metrics keep getting sharper, the human side stays under-measured. BCG and others highlight how organisations track detailed climate targets but rarely apply the same rigour to trust, energy, or real human sustainability the “S” in ESG that so often lags behind the “E”.

We know how to reduce carbon footprints. But what about the hidden trust footprints that quietly wear teams down?

Generational Pressures — and the AI Factor

This gap shows up differently across generations:
• Younger employees burn out first and now see parts of their early careers reshaped by AI. Entry-level tasks, junior research, first drafts: more is automated, leaving many asking how they’ll build the depth that used to come with time.
• Mid-career managers hold it together balancing new tools, tight budgets, and trust.
• Many experienced employees’ risks being assumed “less digital” yet in reality, plenty are leading the way with AI tools and new workflows. They’re the bridge but only if organisations keep the space open for them to lead and share what they know.
AI promises speed but it won’t build trust or upskill people by itself. Leaders can’t just wait for a training slide they need to help people share, question, and learn safely now.
What Real Human Sustainability Looks Like
If we want to hit climate goals, we can’t burn out the people doing the work. If we want AI to deliver, we can’t lose whole generations along the way. If we want resilient organisations, we can’t pretend trust doesn’t need measuring.

Practical human sustainability looks small but matters most:

• Space for people to say, “I’m at my limit or I don’t know yet.”
• Managers who listen and help people ask the so-called stupid questions.
• Tools that reduce the noise without shutting people out.

A Gap Worth Closing

Four years into working for myself, I see this gap every week hidden burnout, trust eroded quietly, leaders carrying more than they can hold alone.
We have the systems to track carbon. Now we need the same rigour to track trust, capacity, and the human signals that tell us whether people want to keep showing up.