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 result 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 result bands, section scores and development guidance.
How this interactive diagnostic works
Read what it covers here first. Nothing is saved or sent until you continue. Your result is calculated once every required item is answered.
If it asks for your first name and work email, you enter them in the diagnostic itself. This page sends nothing.
Statements in this diagnostic
Statements are grouped by section. Answer each one for the situation named in the instructions, using the scale shown.
Workload & Demands
High demand isn't itself a problem; unmanageable demand without the corresponding resources and control is what creates depletion (Karasek, 1979).
- My workload is manageable within normal working hours most weeks
- Competing priorities are manageable: I'm not constantly firefighting
- I can complete meaningful work without chronic interruption
- The expectations placed on me from my manager, team, and stakeholders are realistic
- 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.
- I have genuine control over how I organise my working day
- I can make decisions within my area without excessive approval processes
- I have meaningful input into decisions that affect my work and my team
- I feel trusted to manage my team without micromanagement from above
- 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.
- I receive genuinely useful support from my own manager
- I have access to the people, information, and tools I need to do my job well
- I don't have to fight or advocate hard just to get basic resources
- When I'm struggling, I have people I can talk to honestly
- 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.
- I regularly have time to step back and think strategically rather than only reacting
- My work doesn't routinely intrude into personal time or weekends
- I can take leave without guilt or returning to an unmanageable backlog
- I protect time for recovery between intensive periods of work
- I'm building habits that are sustainable long-term, not running on reserve
How the result is read
Your answers are totalled for each section and overall. Each total falls into one of the bands below.
- 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 DevelopmentFrequently 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 totalled within each section and across the diagnostic, and each total falls into a result band.
What happens after I complete the Manager Energy & Workload Audit?
Once the required items are answered, you enter your first name and email to see your results: an overall interpretation, section scores and development guidance.