You leave your house before the sun rises, brave the jam, bulldoze through reports, meetings, KPIs, office politics, head back home (braving the jam again), and just as you reach home, you find that you have a dozen work emails to attend to.

Just another day in Kuala Lumpur (and possibly many other places in Malaysia).

So, it's probably not surprising that Kuala Lumpur was ranked 13th out of 69 cities around the world with the highest workplace burnout rate.


According to research site Savvy Sleeper, other than Malaysia, three other capitals from Southeast Asia also fell in the top 15 countries on the list. They include Manila (5th place), Jakarta (6th place) and Hanoi (7th place).

Key categories measured

The study reportedly focused on key health and work-related categories to standardise the research, including:

• Percentage of the population sleeping less than seven hours a night

• Percentage of the population working more than 48 hours a week

• Time spent in traffic

• Mental health disorders and prevalence

• Lack of motivation at work

• Employee "presenteeism" and productivity

• Lack of vacation days

• Annual work hours.

"Our research suggests businesses should make addressing some of the factors affecting employee work-life balance a priority.

"Not only will this ensure staff health and wellbeing are protected, but it will also help companies continue to recruit and retain top talent,' said the report.

Sleeper Savvy's study was compiled using data from seven sites including the International Labour Organisation, the Global Employee Engagement Index, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, as well as more than 340,000 employee reviews on Glassdoor.

Burnout a result of unmanaged stress

The study also detailed how the World Health Organization included burnout in its International Classification of Diseases in May 2019, adding that burnout was a result of unmanaged work stress.

The symptoms include:

1) Feelings of low energy and exhaustion.



2) Decreased motivation and increased distance from work, or feelings of cynicism towards a role and even wider society.



3) Reduced performance and results at work.

1 in 5 employees suffer from burnout

It also said that according to research from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, 1 in 5 employees rick suffering from burnout.

"With increasing professional pressures, heavy workloads and unclear expectations, employees often find themselves working later, socialising less and having impacted sleep."

"It can lead to a vicious cycle of stress. By socialising less, employees are less able to get support from friends and loved ones. And poor sleep leads to tiredness and poor performance at work – which in itself reduces an employee's confidence in their abilities and motivation to work," the study detailed.

Severe burnout can also lead to heart disease, high blood pressure and mental health issues.

So, take burnout seriously. Try and keep the scales balanced and if you think it will help with your case, send your boss a copy of this report! (You can even highlight the bit where we talk about diseases associated with burnout if it helps).

Hang in there everyone!