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    Interactive assessment

    Manager Energy & Workload Audit

    A four-dimension check on whether your current role and conditions are sustainable. Measures demands, autonomy, support, and recovery.

    Manager burnout is one of the most underreported problems in organisations. It builds gradually, shows up as lower-quality decisions, shorter patience, and reduced team development, before it becomes visible. This audit draws on Maslach and Leiter's burnout research and Karasek's demand-control model to assess whether you're working in conditions that are genuinely sustainable. Most managers overestimate their resilience and underestimate their depletion.

    Questions or items
    20 questions or items
    Completion time
    Around 10 minutes
    Dimensions
    Workload & Demands, Autonomy & Control, Support & Resources, Recovery & Sustainability
    What you receive
    Personalised results with configured interpretation bands, section scores and development guidance.

    What it covers

    • Workload & Demands
    • Autonomy & Control
    • Support & Resources
    • Recovery & Sustainability

    Rate each statement from 1 (Rarely or never true) to 5 (Almost always true). Be honest with yourself. This tool is only useful if it reflects reality.

    Results: Personalised results with configured interpretation bands, section scores and development guidance.

    How this interactive diagnostic works

    This page provides the documented overview before the interactive experience is loaded. It lets you read the purpose, the material covered and the way the result is presented without entering answers or sending a request. When you choose to continue, the interactive version uses the same material shown here. It records your selections while you work and only calculates its result when its required items are complete.

    Analytics consent is required before the interactive experience is mounted. Declining consent does not start the diagnostic or its tracking. If you continue, the existing experience remains responsible for its own input, score and lead-capture step. Where the route requests a first name and work email, its existing form handles validation and submission. This overview does not replace those steps or submit a lead.

    Statements in this diagnostic

    The interactive version groups the statements below by section. Read them in relation to the situation named in the instructions, then use the response scale shown by the diagnostic. The section descriptions are part of the existing configuration and explain the aspect each group is intended to examine.

    Workload & Demands

    High demand isn't itself a problem; unmanageable demand without the corresponding resources and control is what creates depletion (Karasek, 1979).

    1. My workload is manageable within normal working hours most weeks
    2. Competing priorities are manageable: I'm not constantly firefighting
    3. I can complete meaningful work without chronic interruption
    4. The expectations placed on me from my manager, team, and stakeholders are realistic
    5. My level of responsibility is matched by the level of authority and resource I have

    Autonomy & Control

    The single most protective factor against burnout is having genuine control over how you do your work. Autonomy isn't a perk; it's a health condition.

    1. I have genuine control over how I organise my working day
    2. I can make decisions within my area without excessive approval processes
    3. I have meaningful input into decisions that affect my work and my team
    4. I feel trusted to manage my team without micromanagement from above
    5. I can set the pace and approach of my work when the work allows it

    Support & Resources

    Managers are often the last to ask for help. Social support, adequate resources, and genuine management of managers are all protective against depletion.

    1. I receive genuinely useful support from my own manager
    2. I have access to the people, information, and tools I need to do my job well
    3. I don't have to fight or advocate hard just to get basic resources
    4. When I'm struggling, I have people I can talk to honestly
    5. My development is invested in, not just my performance output

    Recovery & Sustainability

    Recovery isn't weakness; it's what makes sustained performance possible. Without adequate recovery, output quality drops before quantity does.

    1. I regularly have time to step back and think strategically rather than only reacting
    2. My work doesn't routinely intrude into personal time or weekends
    3. I can take leave without guilt or returning to an unmanageable backlog
    4. I protect time for recovery between intensive periods of work
    5. I'm building habits that are sustainable long-term, not running on reserve

    How the result is read

    The interactive diagnostic totals the selected item scores by section and across the whole assessment. It then matches those totals to the configured interpretation bands and shows the section-level results alongside the overall result.

    • Unsustainable, 20 to 44: Your current conditions are not sustainable. The pattern that leads here typically involves high demand, limited control, insufficient support, and no real recovery. This isn't a personal failing; it's a systemic problem. The question to answer honestly is: what one thing, if changed, would make the biggest difference? Start there. If you can, talk to your own manager about what you're experiencing.
    • At Risk, 45 to 64: You're managing but the conditions aren't healthy. Look at your lowest-scoring section: that's where the strain is highest. The risk at this level is that you adapt to the depletion and stop noticing it. Watch for early warning signs: shorter patience with your team, reduced quality of thinking, difficulty switching off. Those are signals, not character flaws.
    • Manageable, 65 to 84: Your conditions are broadly sustainable. There are likely specific areas of friction. Your section scores will show you where. The goal isn't to optimise every dimension; it's to ensure the lower ones don't erode further over time.
    • Sustainable, 85 to 100: Your conditions are genuinely healthy. You have reasonable demand, meaningful control, good support, and real recovery. The work now is maintaining these conditions as the organisation evolves, and modelling them for the managers in your team.

    Sources named in this diagnostic

    • Maslach, C. and Leiter, M.P. (2016) 'Understanding the burnout experience', World Psychiatry, 15(2), pp. 103-111.
    • Karasek, R.A. (1979) 'Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain', Administrative Science Quarterly, 24(2), pp. 285-308.
    • Sonnentag, S. and Fritz, C. (2007) 'The Recovery Experience Questionnaire', Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 12(3), pp. 204-221.
    • Leiter, M.P. and Maslach, C. (2005) Banishing Burnout. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Where to take the next step

    Our management development programmes build practical skills for supporting people, focus and sustainable delivery.

    Explore Management Development

    Frequently asked questions

    What does the Manager Energy & Workload Audit measure?

    Manager burnout is one of the most underreported problems in organisations. It builds gradually, shows up as lower-quality decisions, shorter patience, and reduced team development, before it becomes visible. This audit draws on Maslach and Leiter's burnout research and Karasek's demand-control model to assess whether you're working in conditions that are genuinely sustainable. Most managers overestimate their resilience and underestimate their depletion.

    How many questions are in the Manager Energy & Workload Audit?

    It contains 20 questions grouped into 4 dimensions: Workload & Demands, Autonomy & Control, Support & Resources, Recovery & Sustainability.

    How is the Manager Energy & Workload Audit scored?

    Responses are scored within each section and totalled across the diagnostic. The total is compared with the configured interpretation bands.

    What happens after I complete the Manager Energy & Workload Audit?

    After the required items are answered, the existing first-name and email gate is shown before the results are displayed. The result includes an overall interpretation, section scores and development guidance.

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