By coinnews 
00:00 Dave Briggs
The 2025 Mercer Trends report found that over 80% of workers are at risk of becoming burned out, and that for younger people, financial stress is a major contributor, with majorities of both millennials and Gen Z living paycheck to paycheck. So how can younger workers build a lasting financial cushion? Joining me now, we’ve got Jennifer Moss, workplace culture strategist and author of Unlocking Happiness at Work. Jennifer, great to have you here with us. What are some of the consequences of higher burnout that you’ve measured?
00:42 Jennifer Moss
It’s, you know, really interesting that we’ve seen this increase in burnout. Even the Mercer Trends report, the new data just came out, and we’re even seeing it increase again this year. Peak pandemic, and we didn’t even see these levels of burnout. So, you know, mental health is a real concern, and if we’re not prepared for being able to take that time off, it could have, you know, a real impact on our well-being.
01:17 Dave Briggs
So you have something that you call practicing burnout budgeting. What exactly is that, and how can workers practice it?
01:28 Jennifer Moss
You know, I think back before burnout was such a ubiquitous word and everyone was talking about it, we did have this sort of a concept of saving for a rainy day, and we, you know, I know I grew up with my dad always saying, “Make sure that you have that ability to quit your job if it’s not something that you want to be doing anymore.” And now we’re seeing it from a burnout standpoint that there’s such an increase. We have seen the highest level of mental health disability leaves since the pandemic than we saw for decades before, you know, in history. So we want to be able to have that money, that just in case money, but allocated just in case we need to take that time off for mental health, for burnout, for chronic stress, which, like I’m I said, it’s just exploding since the pandemic.
02:36 Dave Briggs
Do you recommend saving a certain amount, a threshold, percentage basis, or putting it into a specific type of account?
02:47 Jennifer Moss
We should have it in a protected savings account. One of the best ways to think about this is how long it takes to recover from a burnout episode. It’s typically, if we are actually hitting the wall, we are looking at two to three months of recovery, which might seem like a lot of expense to save up. That’s really, you know, three months worth of paychecks that we want to have saved up. So it’s really just about starting with one week and then another week, but if we can get to a place where we have protected savings for three months, then we’re in a really good spot. And if we are in a situation where it’s really toxic, that gives us that freedom that allows us to make those choices if we need to.
03:45 Dave Briggs
You know, sometimes I’m not sure if it’s burnout or my spring allergies, but in any case here, if you are trying to figure out whether or not you should take a micro retirement, as has seemingly started to become a little bit more popular among younger generations, Gen Z, millennials, who have retirement crisis stress, but then also are just trying to navigate some of the current uncertainty. What are some of the effective ways to, if you need to, take a little mid-career micro retirement and plan for that and save for it effectively?
04:30 Jennifer Moss
Yeah, I’m seeing that a lot, and I think one of the things with Gen Zs that we constantly talk about is this idea that work-life balance or well-being is somehow antithetical to work ethic, and I totally disagree with that. One of the ways, I have these five really quick and simple tips to think about how to create a burnout budget. One is just focus on enough. So again, it’s like a couple of weeks of savings still gives us that sense of relief, making sure that we automate that relief. So, you know, making sure that we’re kind of having it taken off and it automatically going to a savings account. Make sure we’re using our benefits like it’s money. There’s therapy that might be free, EAPs can help us with tuition reimbursement and wellness programs and commuting benefits. We also want to make sure that we’re auditing our emotional spending. So often, when we’re really stressed out, we tend to want to eat the ice cream, want to go out and spend a bunch of money on new clothes or online shopping. Make sure you’re realizing when that’s happening. And then really important is talking about money openly. There’s so much shame and stigma around this stress, around living paycheck to paycheck. One in four young people are putting off family planning right now, which is really significant. So these are the ways that we can create a burnout budget and do it safely, but also give ourselves that space if we’re not having a good experience of work, if we’re burned out, that we can get that relief because we have budgeted for it.
06:21 Dave Briggs
Jennifer, thanks so much for taking the time. You know, for the sake of my employer as well, I’ve decided that it is my seasonal allergies, and I am not burned out, not yet, not yet at this point. Thanks so much, Jennifer.
06:46 Jennifer Moss
Thanks so much.