Rumination Doesn't End With the Workday: How Leaders Can Curb Burnout

Editor's note: Posts published on From the Workplace are written by outside contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of SHRM.

Burnout is a persistent challenge for organizations. Many employees report feeling emotionally drained, exhausted, and overwhelmed by work demands. In fact, workers, HR professionals, and HR executives all identified employee stress and burnout as an important area of need to address, according to SHRM’s 2026 State of the Workplace report. While burnout is often discussed in terms of workload and stress, one overlooked manifestation occurs after employees log off: work-related rumination. 

Work-related rumination occurs when employees repeatedly think about work-related issues during nonwork hours. They may replay workplace problems, worry about future demands, or struggle to mentally disconnect from unfinished tasks. Rather than recovering from the workday, they continue carrying work with them cognitively, often experiencing tension, fatigue, and anxiety

This challenge may be particularly relevant in today's workplace. As organizations navigate artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, shifting job responsibilities, and increasing demands for adaptability, employees face greater uncertainty about expectations, priorities, and the future of work. When people lack clarity, they often spend additional mental energy trying to make sense of change. Leadership may play a larger role in this process than many organizations realize. Poor leadership is a significant contributor to employee stress and burnout, according to SHRM's 2025 Insights: Workplace Mental Health survey. While HR leaders cannot eliminate every source of uncertainty, they can help employees make sense of it. Findings from knowledge-based employees suggest that proactive leadership behaviors that create structure, alignment, and clarity may reduce ineffective forms of work-related rumination. 

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A Leadership Framework for Reducing Rumination  

Leaders can help reduce employee rumination by creating greater clarity in three ways. 

1. Encourage metacognitive reflection. Help employees step back and evaluate challenges objectively through project debriefs, lessons learned, and discussions that distinguish controllable concerns from uncontrollable ones. By helping employees reframe challenges and understand how to approach them, leaders can reduce repetitive cycles of worry.  

2. Practice far-sighted goal setting. Connect daily tasks to longer-term priorities so employees understand how today's work contributes to future success. Clarifying future goals and direction helps employees focus their energy on meaningful progress rather  than uncertainty about what comes next. 

3. Foster two-way information sharing and employee voice. Employees are less likely to become trapped in cycles of worry when they feel informed and involved. Leaders can  reduce uncertainty by encouraging employees to share perspectives, provide feedback, and participate in discussions about workplace challenges and change. This exchange creates a stronger sense of control and alignment, reducing the speculation and ambiguity that often fuel work-related rumination.  

Together, these behaviors help employees spend less energy worrying about work and more energy focusing on productive action. 

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The Strategic Opportunity for Leaders 

Emerging evidence from a cross-industry study on knowledge-based workers I conducted suggests that proactive leadership is associated with lower levels of affective work-related  rumination, the repetitive thinking characterized by worry and emotional strain. One reason may be that proactive leaders create environments where employees feel informed, involved, and capable of influencing workplace outcomes. When employees have opportunities to contribute ideas, ask questions, and understand the reasoning behind decisions, they are better equipped to navigate uncertainty without carrying it home. 

Workload and the ability to psychologically disconnect from work both shape employee well-being. As organizations navigate AI adoption and rapid workplace change, leadership behaviors that create clarity may become increasingly important for sustaining employee well-being.  

The question for leaders is not simply how to reduce employee workload, but how to reduce unnecessary uncertainty. In today's workplace, reducing burnout may not begin with helping employees work less — it may begin with helping them carry less work in their minds after the workday is over.

Iris Khan is a People Science Associate at Roblox and applied behavioral research scientist with 5+ years of experience specializing in leadership, employee well-being, onboarding, and personnel selection across technology, healthcare, nonprofit, higher education, and public service organizations.