Burnout Quick Screen

Introduction

This quick screen condenses the core signs of burnout into 3 core questions. It is adapted from common screening practice that combines fatigue, emotional disengagement and self-doubt, and adds a duration check to avoid over-flagging short-term dips.

If 2 or more signs are present and have lasted more than 8 weeks, a full validated burnout assessment such as the CBI or OLBI is recommended.

What is this quick screen?

This is a four-question triage built around the features most central to burnout: exhaustion, detachment, and a sense of reduced effectiveness — plus one question about how long you have felt this way. It is a door, not a measurement: a minute of your time that tells you whether the fuller burnout questionnaires on this site are worth taking.

How to use it

Answer for how things have been on most days recently, not during one extreme week. If you answer yes to any of the three questions, the duration question helps you see whether this is a rough patch or a persistent state. The whole screen takes under a minute, and nothing is uploaded anywhere.

How to read your result

This screen uses one simple rule: if at least two of the three core signs are present and have lasted more than eight weeks, the result points to a likely burnout pattern; the same signs without that duration suggest early warning signs worth keeping an eye on. Either way, a “yes” is a signal to look closer, not a label. If your answers suggest burnout may be present, the natural next steps are the fuller questionnaires: the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory separates personal, work-related, and client-related burnout, and the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory distinguishes exhaustion from disengagement.

What this screen cannot do

Four questions cannot represent a construct that full inventories measure with a dozen or more. This screen cannot diagnose burnout, cannot rule it out, and says nothing about depression or physical illness, which can feel similar. It is a reflection aid — decisions about health belong with you and, where relevant, a professional.

References

• Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 397-422. 10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.397