Whitepaper

The Six Archetypes of Burnout

Burnout is not one thing. It’s six things, distributed unevenly across your organization. This whitepaper walks through the PressureIQ archetype model, the scoring methodology, and how each archetype shows up in the wild.

No newsletter spam. We follow up once with a Briefing invite.

The PressureIQ Engine

Burnout doesn’t look the same on every team.

Six behavioral archetypes, derived from a forced-pair scoring methodology across four pressure domains. Each archetype has a distinct burnout pattern — and a distinct intervention. This is the engine BurnoutIQ deploys inside your organization.

The Carrier

The one everyone counts on.

Enterprise signal
High institutional knowledge. Often the bottleneck nobody named.
Burnout pattern
Resentful exhaustion. Quietly drops standards before they quit, then quits without notice.
Targeted intervention
Distribute load. Name backup ownership. Mandate handoff documentation.

The Burner

Brings the energy.

Enterprise signal
Sets the team's emotional thermostat. Engagement scores track this person.
Burnout pattern
Cynicism arrives first. The energy leaves the room with them.
Targeted intervention
Protect recovery windows. Rotate visible roles. Recognize early.

The Fixer

Always has the answer.

Enterprise signal
Solves so fast nobody else gets the rep. Team learns helplessness.
Burnout pattern
Reduced sense of accomplishment. Starts to question their own value.
Targeted intervention
Coach to teach, not solve. Block calendar for deep work.

The Guard

Knows how to protect.

Enterprise signal
Quiet veto power on risk. Often the reason a project stays in scope.
Burnout pattern
Withdrawal. Stops flagging. Stops escalating. The risks land anyway.
Targeted intervention
Reaffirm psychological safety. Make 'I see a risk' a low-cost behavior.

The Giver

Heart leads the way.

Enterprise signal
Carries the team's emotional labor. Not on any org chart.
Burnout pattern
Compassion fatigue. The kindness flatlines before the productivity does.
Targeted intervention
Pair with coaching. Bound 1:1 minutes. Recognize emotional labor explicitly.

The Racer

Always in motion.

Enterprise signal
Highest velocity. Lowest reflection. Prone to wreck-on-the-curve moments.
Burnout pattern
Crash burnout. Looks fine until it doesn't — a 90-day risk window.
Targeted intervention
Force pauses. Pre-mortem rituals. Slow ceremonies before fast sprints.

Want the engine, not just the paper?

The whitepaper is the model. BurnoutIQ Core is the deployment.

See BurnoutIQ Core →