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From Stella, your emotional wellness AI

Burnout quiz: no score, no level

Seven questions on energy, distance from work and getting things done.

Question 1 of 7 A few minutes, even on a tired day

At the end of a workday lately, what's left in you?

Your answers come back here as a card. No score, no level.

Updated By the Stella team

How it works

This burnout quiz asks seven questions about the three things the World Health Organization describes in burn-out: exhaustion, growing distance from your job and feeling less effective at it. Tap a quick pick or use your own words. It takes a few minutes and gives no score or level. Your answers come back as one card, ending with one thing you'd ask for this week.

  1. Answer seven questions about work

    Two are about your energy, two about how far away the job feels and two about what still gets done. Tap a quick pick or say it your way, and skip any you like.

  2. Name one thing to ask for

    The last question asks what you'd ask for if one thing about work could change this week. A day off, some help and one clear priority all count.

  3. Get your answers back

    The card reads your answers back under three plain headings, in your words. It doesn't rate you, and what you do with the ask is up to you.

Example results: three burnout quiz cards

The three cards below use invented answers, written for this page. They show how the card groups what you say under energy, distance from work and getting things done.

Example written for this page

The nurse who used to love it

Energy, end of a workday: Running on empty. I sit in the car for ten minutes before I drive.

Energy, after time off: Barely any. Two days doesn't do it any more.

Distance from work, the night before: Dread.

Distance from work, when someone asks: A sigh, then I do it.

Getting things done, harder now: Being patient. I used to be the calm one.

Getting things done, still going well: The urgent stuff. I'm still good in an emergency.

What you'd ask for: “No more back-to-back nights.”

Example written for this page

Remote, busy and flat

Energy, end of a workday: Not much. I close the laptop and stare at my phone.

Energy, after time off: Some. By Tuesday it's gone.

Distance from work, the night before: Flat. I don't feel anything about Monday.

Distance from work, when someone asks: Irritated, before I've read the message.

Getting things done, harder now: Concentrating. I reread the same paragraph.

Getting things done, still going well: The basics. Nothing I'd be proud of.

What you'd ask for: “One priority.”

Example written for this page

A manager covering two jobs

Energy, end of a workday: Tired but okay, most days.

Distance from work, the night before: Resentment. I'm doing two jobs on one salary.

Distance from work, when someone asks: Fine, I guess.

Getting things done, harder now: Deciding. Small calls take me all day.

Getting things done, still going well: Helping people. My team still comes to me.

What you'd ask for: “Some help.”

You skipped time off. That's fine on a long week.

What the burnout quiz asks

The quiz asks about three things, two questions each, then one thing you'd ask for. Every question is about an ordinary moment, like the night before work or what's left at the end of the day, so you can answer from this week and not in general. Here's why each one helps. The same seven questions can be answered with a pen.

At the end of a workday lately, what's left in you?
Start with the plain fact of how you finish the day. Tired but okay and running on empty are different answers, and only you know which one it's been.
After a weekend or a day off, how much comes back?
Ordinary tiredness tends to lift with rest. When time off doesn't bring much back, that's worth seeing in writing.
The night before you go back to work, what do you feel?
How you feel about going back says something about the distance between you and the job. Flat counts as an answer, and so does dread.
When someone at work asks you for something, what's your first reaction these days?
A first reaction is hard to fake. If the sigh arrives before the yes, that's the distance showing up in an ordinary moment.
What feels harder to do well than it used to?
Feeling less effective is the part people tend to blame on themselves. Naming one specific thing keeps it about the work, not about your worth.
What still goes well at work, even now?
Something usually still works, and it belongs on the card beside what doesn't. If nothing comes up, that's an answer too.
If one thing about work could change this week, what would you ask for?
One ask is easier to make than a full fix. Having the words ready can help when the moment to say them comes.

The three signs the WHO describes

The World Health Organization describes burn-out as what can follow long-running stress at work that hasn't been managed, and it names three signs. The card uses plain words for each one.

The WHO uses the word for work specifically. If what's wearing you down is looking after someone, the caregiver quiz asks about that instead.

Exhaustion
Feeling drained of energy in a way that rest doesn't easily put back. On your card this is Energy.
Distance from the job
Feeling further away from your work, or more negative or cynical about it than you were. On your card this is Distance from work.
Feeling less effective
A sense that you're not doing the job as well as you could, or that doing it well takes more than it used to. On your card this is Getting things done.

Source: news note on how burn-out is described in the International Classification of Diseases, World Health Organization, 2019.

Source: article on workplace burnout and its three dimensions, American Psychological Association, 2023.

Burnt out or tired: telling them apart

Tired usually has a short story. You had a hard week, you slept badly, a deadline landed, and a quiet weekend puts most of it back.

Burnt out is a longer one. The tiredness is still there after time off, and it arrives with the other two signs: the job feels further away than it did, and things you were good at take more effort. That's why two of the questions ask about rest.

One answer by itself doesn't settle it. Read the card as a whole. If Energy, Distance from work and Getting things done all read worse than they would have a year ago, that's a different picture from one bad month.

Job burnout: what you can change this week

A week won't fix a job. It's long enough to move one thing, and one thing is what the last question asks for.

Make the ask on your card
Say it to the person who can do something about it, in the words you wrote. One request is easier to hear than a list.
Turn one thing down
Pick the request that costs the most and gives the least, and say no to it this once.
Hand one thing over
Something on your list can be done by someone else, or done later. Ask.
Take the time you're owed
If you have leave, book a day. Time off is what your two Energy answers are about.

When it's more than work

Sometimes work is only part of it. If the exhaustion follows you through weekends and holidays, if your mood has been low for a while, or if things outside work have stopped feeling good too, see a doctor. The NHS suggests seeing a GP when you've felt tired for a few weeks and aren't sure why, or when it's affecting your daily life.

A quiz can't tell you what's behind it and isn't meant to. A doctor can look at the things a page can't.

Source: page on tiredness and when to see a GP, NHS.

When talking it through helps

A card can show you where the energy went. It can't help you plan the ask, or think through what you'd do if the answer is no.

Stella is your emotional wellness AI. Tell her what work has been like, by voice or text, and she helps you sort out what's yours to change, find the words for the ask and choose one small step when you're ready. She isn't a doctor and doesn't stand in for one.

Questions about this quiz

What is burnout?

Burnout is what long-running stress at work can turn into when nothing changes: you feel drained, the job feels further away or you've grown negative about it, and you feel less effective than you used to. Those are the three signs the World Health Organization describes, and this quiz asks about each one in plain words.

Am I burnt out or just tired?

Rest is the quickest way to tell them apart. Ordinary tiredness mostly lifts after a good night or a quiet weekend. With burnout the tiredness tends to stay, and it comes with feeling distant from your job and less able to do it well. Two of the seven questions here ask what time off gives back.

Can a quiz tell me if I'm burned out?

No. No quiz or online burnout test can see your job, your health or your week, and this one doesn't try. It gives no score and no level. It asks seven questions about energy, distance from work and getting things done, then reads your own answers back so you can judge for yourself.

Is burnout a medical condition?

No. The World Health Organization describes burn-out as an occupational phenomenon, something that comes from work, and does not classify it as a medical condition. That doesn't make it small. Exhaustion or low mood that lasts, or that follows you outside work, is a reason to see a doctor, who can look at what a quiz can't.

What's the difference between burnout and stress?

One way to put it: stress is too much, and burnout is running out. Under stress there are too many demands, and you still feel it would be fine if things eased. With burnout the energy has gone and often the caring with it. If you mostly feel urgency, that's closer to stress. If you mostly feel flat, look closer.

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