Recognising burnout and workload problems: signs, causes and a team stress risk assessment
For team leaders, line managers, HR coordinators and health and safety representatives who need to act on workload pressure before it harms people. Complete 'Workload and wellbeing signals' first: it covers noticing overload in one person and talking privately about it. This course goes further: recognising the team and individual signs of work-related stress that HSE describes, reading what the WHO's ICD-11 description of burn-out does and doesn't mean, sorting causes into HSE's six Management Standards areas, using timesheet and leave data to spot sustained excess demand, writing a stress risk assessment entry that tackles causes, and holding a supportive conversation that signposts help. Jurisdictions: Great Britain (HSE guidance and the employer's legal duty to assess the risk of work-related stress) with US context from NIOSH; check local law elsewhere. This course is not medical advice: managers don't diagnose stress, burn-out or any health condition, and it doesn't qualify you as an occupational health or mental health professional.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Length
- About 110 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Identify signs of work-related stress in a team and in individual workers, keeping observations separate from diagnosis
- Categorise workload problems against the six HSE Management Standards areas and focus on causes that affect groups
- Calculate workload indicators from hours and leave data to spot sustained excess demand
- Write a stress risk assessment entry that records the cause, who is affected, actions, owners and a review date
- Hold a supportive workload conversation and signpost support without diagnosing or disclosing
Course outline
- 1.Identifying signs of work-related stress in a team and in individual workersLesson · 18 min
- 2.Categorising workload problems against the six HSE Management Standards areasLesson · 18 min
- 3.Calculating workload indicators from hours and leave dataLesson · 16 min
- 4.Writing a stress risk assessment entry with causes, actions, owners and a review dateLesson · 20 min
- 5.Holding a supportive workload conversation and signposting supportLesson · 16 min
- 6.Recognising burnout and workload problems: signs, causes and a team stress risk assessment: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 13 questions
- 7.Recognising burnout and workload problems: signs, causes and a team stress risk assessment: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- HSE: Work-related stress and how to manage it (overview, definition and legal duty)
- HSE: Work-related stress and how to manage it, 2. Causes of stress at work
- HSE: Work-related stress and how to manage it, 3. Signs of stress
- HSE: Work-related stress and how to manage it, stress risk assessment
- HSE: What are the Management Standards?
- HSE: Management Standards (steps of the approach)
- HSE: Management Standards, Step 1: identify the risk factors
- HSE: Management Standards, Demands
- HSE: Stress Talking Toolkits
- GOV.UK: Maximum weekly working hours
- WHO: Burn-out an "occupational phenomenon": International Classification of Diseases (28 May 2019)
- CDC/NIOSH: Stress and Work
See it with your own jobs and topics
Tell us about your team and we'll walk you through setup, from choosing jobs to your first skills check.