From healthcare provider to IT manager: how burnout occurs differently in each sector

Take Mark, an elderly care nurse. He loves his work and the residents he sees every day. It is precisely this dedication that means that he works extra shifts time and time again when colleagues drop out. “I can't let people down, can I?” he says. His strong social drive gives him satisfaction, but is also his pitfall. Loyalty keeps him going until it exhausts him.

At the other end of the spectrum is Elena, IT manager at an international organization. Her agenda is full of meetings and unexpected crisis situations from early morning to late evening. She feels the constant pressure from stakeholders who need her everywhere at the same time. Strategic thinking and innovation are her strengths, but in practice, they are drowning in fires and ad hoc decisions. For someone with a result-oriented and innovation-oriented drive, this is deadly tiring: always on, never room to breathe.

And then Merel, a secondary school teacher. She is known for being enthusiastic and creative, someone who inspires her students and always goes the extra mile. But in addition to her classes, her time is filled with administration, parent discussions and meetings. The roles are piling up: teacher, mentor, problem solver, administrative assistant. The contact with her students — which energizes her — falls further and further into the background. The result: a growing sense that she is overtaking herself.

Three stories, three sectors. And yet the same thread: burnout is not only caused by the amount of work, but because of the mismatch between someone personal motives and daily reality. Where Mark crosses his limits out of loyalty, Sophie feels trapped in tasks that don't suit her energy, and Merel loses motivation because her core strength — creativity — is covered up.

This shows that there is no standard approach to preventing burnout. Healthcare is struggling with structural shortages and the pressure of loyalty. IT and management are all about complexity and constant availability. In education, core tasks often clash with side issues and role confusion. The context varies, but the cause is similar: people lose energy when they structurally have to work too much from resistance.

That's where the key lies: working from motives. A driver analysis shows what gives someone energy (expression) and where the biggest risks lie (resistance). It became clear to Mark that his social involvement is his strength and his risk. Sophie showed that she actually gets energy from strategic work and innovation, but that putting out fires exhausts her. And for Merel, the analysis showed that creativity gives her wings, while administration annoys her and costs energy.

By making these insights negotiable, their managers and teams were able to make conscious choices: set boundaries, distribute tasks better, create space for what someone is good at. Not to reduce their involvement or commitment, but to keep their strength sustainably employable.

Burnout looks different in every sector, but the common thread is clear: it starts with invisible loss of energy and ends with long-term failure. By gaining insight into motives, you make that process visible before it escalates. This way, you are not only building prevention, but also a work environment where people thrive.

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