Despite evidence that stress is detrimental to our physical, mental and emotional health, the U.S. workforce has clung tightly to the myth that stress is the price we pay for success.

This myth isn’t just misguided; it’s dangerous. It fuels patterns of overwork, self-doubt and the kind of burnout that sneaks in wearing a name tag that says ambition.

Burnout as a badge of honor

A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research by Columbia Business School Professor Silvia Bellezza and co-authors Neeru Pahari and Anat Keinan of Harvard University found that busy-ness and burnout are seen as status symbols. The authors note:

“The more we believe that people have the opportunity for social affirmation based on hard work, the more we tend to think that people who skip leisure and work all the time are of higher standing.”

But here’s the truth: Stress isn’t the price you pay for success—it’s the thief that steals it. Rewarding stress and burnout fosters destructive patterns of overwork, self–doubt and relentless pressure to do more, prove more and be more. It’s disguised as drive, rewarded as resilience and praised as passion. And that’s what makes it so harmful.

The cost of celebrating stress

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health defines job stress as “the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of a job do not match the capabilities, resources or needs of the worker,” noting that this mismatch can lead to health issues—and even injury.

Physical impacts of chronic stress include heart disease; high blood pressure; muscle tension and pain; headaches; poor sleep; stomach discomfort; and excessive weight gain or loss. Chronic stress wears on your mind, too. It can show up as depression, anxiety, burnout, emotional outbursts, social withdrawal, substance use, restlessness, fatigue or irritability.

And the U.S. Department of Labor found that chronic stress doesn’t just harm individuals; it undermines organizational performance and culture. Left unaddressed, stress increases absenteeism, diminishes productivity, raises the risk of workplace incidents and erodes morale, accelerating disengagement and turnover.

Chronic workplace stress that hasn’t been managed leads to burnout. According to the World Health Organization, the three dimensions of burnout include overwhelming exhaustion; feelings of cynicism or mental distance from one’s job; and a reduced sense of professional efficacy.

Burnout isn’t cured by meditation apps, lunchtime yoga or chair massages on Fridays. Burnout is addressed by changing the conversations, cultures and conditions that cause it.

3 ways to prevent burnout

What gets measured gets managed—and HR is at the center of that equation, tracking performance, productivity and profit. But if stress isn’t on that dashboard, HR may be missing one of the biggest drivers of burnout, disengagement and unnecessary turnover.

When stress goes unseen, it doesn’t go away; it just shows up later in the results. Culture change is hard, but there are three things HR leaders can start doing today to stop rewarding burnout.

1. Educate everyone—at all levels—about stress

On an individual level, stress is often deeply isolating. Employees may assume they’re the only ones struggling or believe that if they were stronger, more capable or more together, they wouldn’t feel this way. So, they stay quiet. They keep pushing. They ignore—or actively hide—the early warning signs of stress, sometimes even from themselves.

When organizations normalize this kind of silent suffering, they unintentionally reinforce workplace cultures that reward stress and burnout. Stress thrives in isolation; relief begins with connection.

Offer training and open discussions to help people recognize the signs of stress in themselves and others. Use tools like the Stress Ruler to help people measure their stress. Catching stress early can prevent the more serious consequences of chronic stress and burnout.

And because a person’s manager has the most significant impact on their stress at work, ensure managers have the tools and resources they need to care for their teams and for themselves.

2. Highlight available resources

In many organizations, stress support is treated like an emergency exit—only mentioned when something goes really wrong. It’s time to change that.

Resources, like OSHA’s workplace stress toolkit, shouldn’t be reserved for a crisis; they should be part of how an organization operates. Include them in onboarding. Mention them in meetings. Drop them into newsletters.

When stress spikes (and it will), the more HR has normalized support and created a culture of psychological safety where employees feel safe to speak up or ask for help without fear of retribution, the more likely employees are to use it.

3. Create a culture of joy

Did you know that joy is a strategic resource for preventing burnout? Joy helps people move through hard work with greater resilience, creativity and humanity—the very capacities organizations need most right now.

From an organizational perspective, joy matters because it spreads the same way stress does—socially and systemically—but with a very different outcome. Experiences of joy activate oxytocin and dopamine, strengthening trust, psychological safety and collaboration across teams, directly influencing engagement, retention and performance.

This is where HR leaders play a critical role. When joy is intentionally modeled and supported—through leadership behaviors, manager training and structured joy-building practices—it signals that connection and wellbeing are part of how work gets done.

Incorporating joy starts with consistent, visible practices: celebrating small wins, naming what’s working, encouraging moments of levity and creating space for genuine connection. When one person models presence, calm or joy, it gives others permission—and a biological cue—to do the same.

These moments may seem small, but over time, they form the cultural foundation that helps teams perform sustainably with less stress and more joy.

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