Meet Burnouts less well known relative, “Rust-out”

Special thank you to Toby Culshaw for his guidance, support and giving me the confidence to write this article.

It’s not “Burnout” you’re experiencing, its “Rust-out” I said to my friend Sarah over a coffee and there are over 67% of people like you during the year who feel that all or part of the time[1].

Sarah had confessed; “It feels like burnt out though… I have no energy anymore… but I don’t understand why… I’m not under a great deal of pressure…in fact I’m a bit bored and disengaged from it all”.  I explained that rust-out is very similar to burn out, it is just as debilitating for individuals, damaging to companies and that she needs to change things and possibly seek some form of help before it gets worse.

# Setting the scene

It’s easy to understand why someone like Sarah hasn’t heard of Rust-out and in fact how many people have. Almost everyone in the corporate world has heard of the term “Burnout” along with its root causes and symptoms to look out for. However, the little-known sibling of this phenomenon called “Rust-out” is so unknown that employees and employers might be missing the worrying and costly signs.

In today’s modern world, burn out, which is defined in the Cambridge Dictionary as something that; “causes someone to lose energy and enthusiasm, either from stress or because the person is working too hard[2]” is fairly common and seen all around us with our families, friends and colleagues. In fact, a Poll by the National Alliance on Mental Illness in 2024 uncovered that 52% of employees had feelings of Burnout[3]. Sadly, it is even seen by some as a badge of honour, symbolising that you are a go getter with a “Lunch is for whips” mentality.

# The background of Rust-out

Rust-out, which although felt by around 2/3 of employees as mentioned above, has no mention in the Cambridge Dictionary, appears far more difficult to pin down, is less accepted in our culture and in reality shares is just as damaging as Burnout. Arguably, this term came into greater prominence around the 2010’s and since then has had more research thrown at it to understand the condition from both a business and people perspective.

To simplify things, Rust-out can be seen as the opposite of working too hard or undergoing overstimulation which are elements associated with the condition of Burnout. Therefore, Rust-out is the counter outcome to this where employees feel under-stimulated and experiencing chronic boredom in their jobs. When a recent Gallup poll in 2023[4] found 62% of employees they surveyed were not engaged at work there is growing evidence that potentially there is a very large number of people who are experiencing Rust-out

Using the above image from Schaufeli and Salanova’s research[5] who have adapted the circumplex model of emotions from Russell (Russell, 1980)[6] this shows visually that the emotions experienced on the outside of the circle are the combination of the level of activation a person experiences along with the pleasure that activity generates. Activation in this case generally can be seen as the stimulation, interest and purpose that a person gets in their current role.

Therefore, when combining activation with the pleasantness people experience in their role we see; when employees have positive experiences and high activation, they feel a state of engagement. When employees have negative experiences and low activation, they may suffer from states of boredom which in turn could lead to boredom and into the condition of rust-out.

It is in this bottom left-hand corner which demonstrates where both states of boredom and Burnout result in similar emotions, are caused by similar conditions and so could be confusing from a diagnosis perspective. Finally, it is important to mention, that rust-out is more than just the temporary state of boredom, but is something more chronic and potentially psychological in nature.

# What causes rust-out

But what are those circumstances that cause more than just a state of boredom and lead to the extreme condition of rust-out? There are numerous articles that talk about the root causes of rust-out; Psychology Today (2020)[7] explains the surface level causes as; “boredom, monotony in routine, or a sense of dissatisfaction with a career”.

The Guardian (2008)[8] goes further by talking of more tangible causes such as; “The deskilling of once complex jobs, lack of empowerment, paperwork overload, endless meetings, repetitive tasks, and so on”. Effectively, a lack of a sense of purpose and meaning that is so often talked of being essential and promoted by companies in today’s modern world can lead to problems with employees.

In reality, with today’s modern environment where the combination of advancements in AI taking more complex tasks, a global climate giving people a sense of helplessness and lack of control as well as companies investing less and less in L&D and their people (Statista 2024)[9], we can assume that disengagement will continue to increase and as a result rust-out will become more of the norm.

Of course, this phenomenon doesn’t just need to be the result of the largescale societal seismic shifts that were mentioned. Rust-out can be caused by companies and managers not giving their employees the right work, a challenging environment to thrive in or allow them to feel valued. Although not an extensive list it is not hard to empathetically imagine that anyone, in a position where they have a work environment where they feel undervalued, have no freedom to explore creatively and experience monotony day in day out would experience negative side effects.

# Symptoms to look out for with people experiencing Rust-out

It is important to recognise the symptoms of Rust-out so that people can get the help and support they need as well as companies can assist individuals (please note the below is in no way an extensive list):

For individuals:

• Low energy levels
• Lack of motivation and purpose
• Disengagement from work
• Feelings of being undervalued
• Increasing cynicism
• General signs of depression

For companies:

• Decreases in productivity
• Low employee engagement
• Higher turnover rates
• Increased absences and sickness

# What is the problem

The result of this chronic boredom and lack of stimulation at work can lead to numerous problems for society, companies and individuals both professionally and for their mental health. When conditions of boredom, lack of engagement etc. become too much to bear, symptoms of rust-out can start to develop resembling the following psychological symptoms for people; low mood, agitation, anxiety, serious health issues (Seppälä, P et al (2023))[11].

Furthermore, it is not a step too far to believe that over a long period of time, individuals who are exposed to these constant emotional states due to work, can become severely depressed and seek destructive behaviours to try to regain a sense of control. The issues of course don’t just sit with individuals but companies themselves could predictively experience negative side effects; staff sickness, lack of engagement at work, poor quality of work and low productivity.

Therefore, we should see rust-out as a lose-lose situation for every actor mentioned and additionally for overall society. As a final data point that demonstrates the condition is a problem, in that same Gallup poll mentioned above (Gallup, 2023), it was estimated that low engagement has led to a predicted global GDP loss of $8.9 trillion or 9%.

# Solution / Next steps

Although, further literature is required to study this phenomenon so that we can better understand it, there are clear measures that make this condition fully preventable. Firstly, symptoms of rust-out would not appear instantaneously in people and like many psychological conditions such as symptoms of depression, the issue would normally build up over time and in stages[12]. This means that opportunities to intervein can occur multiple times before it gets too serious and is at minimum partially correctable.

For individuals:

• The first step in finding a solution would be to determining how long they themselves think this period of chronic boredom and lack of stimulation will last and act appropriately by trying to take control and find a sense of meaning in their current job, seeking support from colleagues and leadership where they can.
• If in the long run individuals see no solution in their current role or company based on current circumstances, taking steps of working towards their next role will hopefully help give a sense of purpose and challenge.
• However, just like a frog in a slowly warming pan of water, Rust-out symptoms can gradually appear over time. It is important that people stay self-aware so that they can sense a change in them and their circumstances and not suddenly be hit with the sense of overwhelming in one go. 

For companies:

• Companies must realise that rust-out is not just low engagement, which is a metric that many companies use as THE health benchmark with their employees, but something far greater. Rust-out is seen with jobs that have low psychological effort/skill and have limited personal growth, development and meaningful goals or as Kawada Shimazu et al. sum it up; low job demand and low job resources (2024)[13].
• Give employees meaning in what they do both from their current role but also being supportive of people taking ownership of their careers is a powerful step in addressing this issue. Companies really need to check in with their employees and ensure they are given the appropriate work that challenges and develops their people to their individual needs. Finally, it is just good business where research from one meta-analysis of 70 studies showing that employees who feel valued are more satisfied with their jobs and ultimately more committed to their work[14].
• However, companies need to tread carefully as they can be self-fulfilling with their actions to the address the perceived negative behaviour of employees and make things worse. Rather than seeking to understand and treat the symptoms of rust-out they could seek out methods of punishment such as performance reviews, and punishment, further disheartening employees and making the conditions worse.

# Conclusion                       

1. Rust-out should not be underestimated. With more than 50% of people surveyed saying that they have experienced the state at some point, this is just as common a condition as Burnout.
2. The effects of this condition should not be underestimated by anyone. Rust-outs symptoms are just as severe to the individual and organisations as Burnout and actions should be taken to address the problem before it takes hold.
3. Good news is, that as the condition does not occur over night, there are steps that can be made to address this issue before it becomes severe. Just as with many things, people need to stay grounded and attuned to how they are feeling and companies need to be supportive to people’s individual needs with a little bit of empathy added to the mix.  

What's your experience with rust-out in your workplace?

• Have you noticed these signs in yourself or your team?

• What strategies have worked for you in maintaining engagement?

• How does your organization address this challenge?

Share your thoughts in the comments below and let's start an important conversation about workplace well-being.

#WorkplaceWellness #EmployeeEngagement #Leadership #HumanResources #ProfessionalDevelopment #MentalHealth

[1] https://www.mmhmm.app/blog/rust-out-experienced-by-67-of-knowledge-workers

[2] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/burn-out

[3] https://www.nami.org/support-education/publications-reports/survey-reports/the-2024-nami-workplace-mental-health-poll/

[4] https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace.aspx

[5] Schaufeli, Wilmar & Salanova, Marisa. (2014). Burnout, boredom and engagement at the workplace. An Introduction to Contemporary Work Psychology. 293-320.

[6] Russell, J. A. (1980). A circumplex model of affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(6), 1161–1178. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0077714

[7] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/new-beginning/202009/behavioral-health-providers-are-burning-out-or-rusting-out

[8] https://www.theguardian.com/money/2008/jan/02/workandcareers.features

[9] https://www.statista.com/statistics/795932/reasons-why-the-training-industry-budget-decreased-us/

[10] https://clickup.com/blog/rust-out-vs-burnout/

[11] Seppälä, P., Harju, L., Virkkala, J., & Hakanen, J. J. (2023). Is boredom at work bad for your health? Examining the links between job boredom and autonomic nervous system dysfunction. Stress and Health. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.3326

[12] https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/depression-in-adults/symptoms/

[13] Kawada M, Shimazu A, Miyanaka D, Tokita M, Sakakibara K, Mori N, Hamsyah F, Yuheng L, Shojima K, Schaufeli WB. Boredom and engagement at work: do they have different antecedents and consequences? Ind Health. 2024 Apr 3;62(2):110-122. doi: 10.2486/indhealth.2023-0028. Epub 2023 Sep 26. PMID: 37766571; PMCID: PMC10995674.

[14] Rhoades, Linda & Eisenberger, Robert. (2002). Perceived Organizational Support: A Review of the Literature. The Journal of applied psychology. 87. 698-714. 10.1037//0021-9010.87.4.698.