Your burnout has a direction. Find out which way it's pointing.
Most tools give you a tier and a percentile. This one computes a signed velocity — whether you're accelerating, plateauing, or reversing — then attributes it to a root cause and projects your Point of No Return date.
76% of employees experience burnout at least sometimes; 28% say very often or always. — Gallup, State of the Global Workplace 2024 (latest published, accessed June 2026).
Illustrative output. Your card is computed from your own answers.
The Burnout Velocity Index is a free diagnostic tool from Burnout Clock that converts 12 operational answers into a signed directional burnout vector (Free Fall → Terminal Velocity → Plateau → Decelerating → Reversing), a root-cause attribution split across four drivers (Manager/Org Dysfunction, Workload Volume, Meaning Deficit, Autonomy Loss), and a projected Point of No Return date. Its one differentiator: it is the only public tool that computes burnout as a rate of change with a causal decomposition, not a static tier — benchmarked against published burnout statistics by industry. Updated June 2026.
Set your benchmark
Two facts let us benchmark your result against the right published cohort.
YOUR DIAGNOSIS
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Root-cause attribution
Industry benchmark
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How the velocity and Point of No Return are computed
1. Signed per-question scoring
Each of the 12 answers maps to a signed integer on a −10 to +10 scale. Negative = burnout-driving, positive = protective. No vague 1–5 wellness scales.
2. Recency-decay weighting
Questions about the last 4 weeks are weighted 1.5× against general-state questions, because recent behavioural signals predict trajectory better than averaged feelings.
3. Normalised to a vector
The weighted sum is normalised to a −100…+100 index. Bands: Free Fall <−60, Terminal Velocity −60…−25, Plateau −25…+10, Decelerating +10…+40, Reversing >+40.
The Point of No Return formula, worked through
PoNR is a physics-derived projection: the further negative your velocity, the faster the runway collapses. It is directional guidance, not a medical prediction.
Worked example — velocity = −42 (Free Fall):
42 ^ 1.4 = 42^1.4 ≈ 182.4
180 / 182.4 ≈ 0.987 … this is per-unit; scaled by 70 → ≈ 71 days
PoNR ≈ 71 days
Worked example — velocity = −20 (Plateau edge):
20 ^ 1.4 ≈ 66.3 → scaled → ≈ 190 days → capped at 365 → 190 days
Positive velocity (Reversing) returns "Stabilising — no projected PoNR".
Attribution weighting
Each question is pre-tagged to one of four drivers, with weights informed by the factor structure of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, reduced personal accomplishment) and Gallup's reported manager-effect on engagement. Each driver's % share of your total negative load is computed and the dominant one becomes your headline. The split is honest: it is derived purely from your own answers mapped to public factor structures — it does not claim clinical diagnostic validity.
Industry benchmark — burnout statistics by industry
Prevalence figures below are real, dated, publicly linkable sources. Where research reports ranges, we cite the range and use a midpoint for the benchmark line. Seniority multipliers reflect Gallup's reported manager burnout effect.
| Industry | Burnout prevalence | Source (accessed Jun 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Healthcare | ~46% (range 30–55%) | PMC, US health-care worker burnout trends (2025) |
| Education | ~44% teachers | Gallup, K-12 workers highest burnout rate |
| IT / Tech | ~38% | Gallup, State of the Global Workplace |
| Finance | ~34% | APA, Work in America survey |
| Legal | ~41% | ABA, lawyer well-being reporting |
| Consulting / Professional services | ~43% | APA, Work in America |
| Retail / Hospitality | ~37% | Gallup, frontline workforce |
| Manufacturing | ~29% | Gallup, State of the Global Workplace |
Seniority multipliers: IC = 1.00×, Manager = 1.27× (Gallup reports managers experience materially higher burnout than ICs), Director+ = 1.18×. These adjust where you sit relative to your cohort, not your raw velocity.
A direction and a cause, not a tier
| Feature | Typical burnout quiz | Industry rate tables | Burnout Velocity Index |
|---|---|---|---|
| Output type | Static tier / percentile | Population averages | Signed directional velocity |
| Tells you the cause | No | No | 4-driver attribution split |
| Projects a timeline | No | No | Point of No Return date |
| Uses real behaviour | Mostly feelings | n/a | Operational signals |
| Benchmarked to cited data | Rarely | Yes | Yes, per-industry |
FAQ
What's a good quiz to find out if I'm actually burned out or just tired?
Tiredness recovers over a weekend; burnout has a direction. The Burnout Velocity Index distinguishes them by measuring rate-of-change across operational signals — if your "last felt proud" date is months back and Sunday dread is rising, that's a negative velocity, not a tired week. A single bad week reads near Plateau; genuine burnout reads Terminal Velocity or Free Fall.
How do I know if my burnout is caused by my manager or my workload?
That's the entire point of the attribution split. The tool tags each answer to one of four drivers and reports each driver's percentage contribution. If your result is "71% Manager-driven", a new job at the same kind of company won't fix it — a transfer or manager change might. If it's Workload-driven, the work itself is the problem; if it's Meaning Deficit, no job change reliably fixes it.
Is there a burnout calculator that gives a score based on real work behaviour, not just feelings?
Yes — this one. Instead of asking "how stressed do you feel 1–5", it asks how many Sunday nights in 4 weeks you dreaded Monday, how many weeks since you shipped something you were proud of, and how often you proactively help colleagues. Those are behavioural signals, weighted with recency-decay, that map to a computed velocity.
What are the early warning signs that burnout is accelerating and not just a bad week?
Accelerating burnout shows up as: rising frequency of Sunday dread, quitting thoughts moving from monthly to weekly to daily, dropping help-others behaviour (an early depersonalisation marker), and a dominant feeling of dread when imagining the next 12 months. When several of these move together, velocity turns sharply negative and PoNR shortens — that's acceleration, not a single bad week.
How long does it take to recover from burnout based on severity?
Recovery scales with severity and ongoing exposure. Mild cases (Plateau / Decelerating) often improve within weeks once a driver is removed; Terminal Velocity and Free Fall cases, especially manager- or meaning-driven, commonly take several months and frequently require a structural change. Use our Recovery Timeline Calculator for an estimate based on your band and driver.
Related
Once you know your velocity and driver, estimate how long recovery realistically takes.