Burnout is on the rise as layoffs reshape the tech industry

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

LeadDev’s Engineering Leadership Report 2025 reveals a growing burnout crisis, fueled by layoffs, expanded scope, and declining morale.

In tech, burnout has gone from buzzword to epidemic, accelerating with every new round of layoffs.

According to LeadDev’s Engineering Leadership Report 2025, 22% of 617 surveyed engineering leaders and developers reported facing critical levels of burnout.

Furthermore, 24% of respondents reported being moderately burned out, 33% experiencing relatively low levels of burnout, while 21% can be categorized as “healthy.”

Based on the Maslach Burnout Inventory – a well-established psychological tool for measuring occupational burnout – LeadDev surveyed participants on how often they experience emotional exhaustion from work, how frequently they feel cynical or disengaged, and how regularly their job demands encroach on personal time. The answers are almost entirely at odds with industry sentiments not even five years ago. 

Tech layoffs and subsequent fallout 

The growing sense of burnout in tech is not occurring in isolation. It coincides with an ongoing wave of layoffs that began in 2023 following a precedent set by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who criticized bloated management hierarchies that same year. This year, the trend has only intensified, impacting work-life balance for engineering leaders. According to the 2025 LeadDev survey, 38% reported working longer hours, while only 7% worked less.

When the Dennis Henry, a software architect at Okta, moved from a small local company to the fast-paced world of Silicon Valley SaaS, terms like layoffs and reductions in force (RIFs) felt distant – something they’d only encountered in news headlines. 

But over the past five years, those concepts have become “starkly real,” writes Henry in his blog post, reflecting the shifting realities of the wider tech industry. 

For instance, in May 2025, Microsoft announced it had laid off approximately 3% of its global workforce – its largest cut since eliminating 10,000 roles in 2023 – as part of a company-wide restructuring. This follows smaller, performance-based layoffs in January affecting fewer than 1% of its 228,000 employees.

Prior to this, in January 2025, Amazon began cutting staff after identifying “unnecessary layers” within its structure. CEO Andy Jassy announced a plan to boost the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15% by the end of Q1 2025.

Instead of executing broad layoffs, Amazon took a nuanced approach. The tech giant cut roughly 14,000 managerial positions – around 13% of their total – through team consolidations and structural reassignments, as confirmed in internal communications.

By April, 2025 the company confirmed it had met this target, having streamlined teams and reduced managerial overhead to improve efficiency and decision-making speed.

Google took similar measures in December 2024, when CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the company had eliminated 10% of its managerial positions over the past year.

In 2023, Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke issued a memo, which announced a 20% staff reduction, citing an “unhealthy” ratio of individual contributors to managers – a problem he noted is common across the tech industry.

Klarna has taken the most drastic approach, reducing its workforce by 40% between the end of 2022 and 2023, a change CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski attributed largely to investments in artificial intelligence and natural attrition in its workforce.

“This global wave of tech layoffs has unleashed a parallel and often-overlooked crisis – a severe impact on mental health,” Henry added in his blog post.

When colleagues are laid off, their projects don’t magically disappear; they are reallocated to those who remain. “Doing more with less” becomes the new, often unsustainable, normal, writes Henry. 

Survivor’s syndrome

For those who’ve weathered layoffs, relief isn’t a prevailing emotion; rather, survivor’s syndrome is – manifesting as guilt, anxiety, and reduced morale.

“There’s a constant fear of being next,” Kelly Vaughn, senior engineering manager at Zapier, says. In turn, engineers experiencing survivor’s syndrome often overcompensate – working harder, saying yes to more, and suppressing concerns out of fear of speaking up even if “they are drowning.” 

Employees often feel pressured to be grateful just to “still have a job,” suppressing their emotions in an environment where job insecurity and lack of psychological safety stifle open dialogue.

“People don’t raise red flags – the flags get buried,” said Vaughn. 

​​Frequent reorganizations, shifting priorities, and unclear strategy make it difficult for engineers to feel secure in their roles or see long-term value in their work. Recognition feels inconsistent, and progress starts to feel more like ticking boxes than meaningful impact. 

According to LeadDev’s Engineering Leadership Report 2025, 40% of 617 surveyed engineering leaders noted that their teams are less motivated than a year ago.

“Even if management assures the team this round is final, shaking off the dread of future cuts is incredibly difficult. This job insecurity isn’t abstract; it gnaws at people daily,” Dennis writes.

This breeds doubt about whether their efforts truly matter.

“If the company doesn’t provide clarity, resources, or stability, motivation will continue to decline, no matter how good your manager is,” said Vaughn.

Burnout hits managers

According to LeadDev’s Engineering Leadership Report 2025, 65% of surveyed developers and engineering leaders reported expanded responsibilities, with 40% managing more direct reports. Only 3% saw a decrease in scope.

As tasks mount, leaders – despite their best intentions – can become disconnected from day-to-day risks, as the focus shifts from team health to projecting stability and success. 

More often than not, this is because they’re caught in the middle – trying to support their teams while juggling more responsibilities, more uncertainty, and fewer people – “struggling in their own right because they’re juggling more work and more fires with fewer team members,” explained Vaughn.

Vaughn added, “Engineers aren’t the only ones who become detached from their work. When managers are stretched thin, they aren’t able to adequately support their team.” 

“Managers feel like they’re juggling too many people and too many fires, and ICs feel disconnected from their manager, losing trust in the leader who should be looking out for them,” said Vaughn.

Reversing the damage 

The damage of layoffs can be undone, Vaughn argued, but only if companies shift their mindset.  

“Organizations need to stop managing based on optimism and start managing based on reality,” said Vaughn.

To reverse the damage caused by burnout and layoffs, organizations need to fundamentally rethink how they operate. 

This starts with aligning work to actual team capacity rather than idealistic or overly ambitious plans, being intentional about what goes on the roadmap, and cutting scope where necessary to keep workloads manageable.

Investing in managers is equally critical. When managers are stuck in constant crisis mode, they can’t support their teams effectively. They need space to coach, develop talent, and foster resilience.

Redefining success is also essential. Instead of measuring output by speed or volume, organizations should focus on long-term, sustainable impact. That means carving out time to address technical debt and building breathing room into plans to avoid burnout cycles.

Finally, leadership must make care visible. Engineers need to see that their well-being matters – not just their output. 

A culture that values people as much as performance is key to rebuilding trust and sustaining high-functioning teams.

To read more about how engineering leadership is changing in response to widespread AI disruption, dig into the full Engineering Leadership Report.

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