Burnout Prevention and Resilience at Work Training
A one-day programme on burnout as an organisational problem rather than a personal failing. The World Health Organization classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, with three dimensions: exhaustion, mental distance or cynicism about the job, and reduced professional efficacy. The definition places the cause in the workplace, which is where the fix has to be.
This programme is co-delivered with a registered counsellor or psychologist from our trainer network. Orbix handles the organisational, policy and compliance content; the clinical material is delivered by a practitioner qualified to teach it. The session is educational and preventive. It is not therapy, and it does not train participants to diagnose or treat anyone. The programme deliberately spends more time on job design, workload and manager behaviour than on individual coping techniques, because the evidence is fairly consistent that teaching people to endure a badly designed job produces short-lived results.
HRD Corp SBL-Khas Claimable
Programme Agenda
9:00 AM - 9:15 AM
Welcome, Ground Rules and Overview
Introduction to the session and objectives, and ground rules for a topic participants may be living through.
9:15 AM - 10:15 AM
What Burnout Is and What It Is Not
The WHO occupational classification and its three dimensions. How burnout differs from ordinary tiredness, from a heavy but finite busy period, and from clinical depression, and why the distinction changes the response. The stages by which it develops, and the signals that appear at team level before anyone raises them individually. The cost to the organisation in turnover, error rate, sick leave and quiet disengagement.
10:15 AM - 10:30 AM
Break
10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
The Job Demands-Resources Model
The framework that explains most of what happens: demands that deplete, resources that sustain, and the imbalance that produces strain. Working through the common demands, including workload, time pressure, emotional labour, role ambiguity, role conflict and constant interruption, and the resources that buffer them, including autonomy, clarity, feedback, support, recognition and fairness. Participants map their own team against both lists.
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Diagnosing Your Own Workload
Distinguishing genuine volume from friction: rework, unclear priorities, decisions that will not get made, meetings that substitute for progress, and always-on availability. Making work visible, capacity conversations that reach a decision rather than a shrug, and the practice of explicitly deciding what will not be done. Prioritisation frameworks that survive contact with a real manager.
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Lunch
1:30 PM - 2:15 PM
Recovery
Why recovery is a physiological requirement rather than a reward, and the research on what actually restores capacity: psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery experiences and control over one's own time. Within-day and between-day recovery, the effect of an always-connected messaging culture, and why annual leave taken while monitoring a work group chat does not count. Designing recovery into the working pattern rather than hoping for it.
2:15 PM - 3:15 PM
Boundaries and the Individual Layer
The personal practices that help once the job design is sound: saying no with an alternative, negotiating deadlines early rather than apologising late, managing notification and availability expectations, and separating urgency that is real from urgency that is habitual. Cognitive patterns that intensify strain, and simple techniques from the clinical partner for interrupting them. Delivered with an explicit caveat that these are supports, not substitutes for fixing an overloaded role.
3:15 PM - 3:30 PM
Break
3:30 PM - 4:15 PM
The Manager's Role and Team-Level Intervention
What managers control that individuals do not: workload allocation, clarity of priority, protection from interruption, modelling of hours and availability, and the response when someone raises a problem. Running a team workload review. Spotting the high performer heading for exhaustion, who is usually the last person to complain. Escalating a structural problem that no amount of team-level effort will fix.
4:15 PM - 4:45 PM
Action Planning
Participants commit to one workload change, one recovery practice and one team norm, with a review date.
4:45 PM - 5:00 PM
Wrap-Up and Q&A
Key takeaways, resources, and close.
Key Outcomes
- Define burnout using the WHO occupational classification and distinguish it from tiredness and from depression
- Apply the job demands-resources model to diagnose strain in their own team
- Separate genuine workload volume from organisational friction and rework
- Design recovery into working patterns and explain why detachment is a requirement rather than a reward
- Use personal boundary-setting practices as a support alongside, not instead of, job redesign
- Run a team workload review and escalate structural causes that sit above team level
Training Mode Physical / Online / Hybrid / e-learning
HRD Corp SBL-Khas Claimable
Level Foundation, suitable for all employees, with additional manager-focused content for supervisors, team leads and human resources
Duration 1 Day (8 Hours) | 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Venue In-house at the client's premises, or delivered via the client's preferred platform (Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or equivalent)
Assessment Team demands-resources mapping exercise plus a short knowledge check
Certificate Certificate of Completion issued to all participants upon full attendance