How to Know if Your Team is Overworked? Subtle Signs Leaders Often Miss

You know that feeling when you’ve been running so fast, you get to the end of the day and can’t recall what you’ve done? Your team might be there too, still moving, but running on fumes.  

As a leader, part of your job is to recognize when your team is overworked, so you can pause, reassess workloads and shift from managing tasks to coaching your people for long-term success.

Read on for tips on spotting when someone is overworked.

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Why this matters

Stress and burnout are daily realities for many employees.  

Telus Health’s 2025 Mental Health Index shows that 40% of Canadian workers feel constantly stressed, while 1 in 4 (24%) report experiencing burnout most of the time or always (Mental Health Research Canada, 2024). The top drivers? Workload and competing demands (Statistics Canada, 2023).

In some sectors, the numbers climb even higher. In healthcare and public health, for example, burnout rates have reached alarming levels, with up to 79% of professionals reporting exhaustion and disengagement (BMC Public Health).

This isn’t just data. These are your people — and many of them may be closer to running on empty than you think.

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How to spot when your team is at capacity

Sometimes the warning signs are obvious. Other times, they’re subtle, showing up in tone, behaviour or even silence. Here are some examples, with cues to watch for:

Energy shifts. The once-enthusiastic teammate who used to start meetings with creative ideas now keeps their camera off, offers shorter updates or skips optional team huddles.  

• What to watch for: Small changes in presence can signal someone is running low.

Quality dips. Work still gets delivered, but projects that were once polished now feel rushed, with more errors or back-and-forth corrections.

• What to watch for: Declining quality is often a red flag for capacity strain.

Always “heads down.” A colleague who once sparked new ideas now only gives yes/no answers or defaults to “whatever you think.”

• What to watch for: Silence that looks like agreement may actually be fatigue or overload.

Emotional cues. Stress can slip through in tone — snappier emails, frustration in meetings, sighs when new projects land or perhaps full-on silence.  

• What to watch for: Shifts in tone or avoidance behaviours often reveal hidden stress.

Time away from work. More sick days, half-days or logging off earlier than usual can signal attempts to carve out recovery time.  

• What to watch for: Sudden changes in attendance may point to burnout brewing.

The key? Don’t wait until someone says, “I can’t do this anymore.” Once you start noticing the signs, the next step is adjusting how you lead.

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From managing to coaching: Guiding your team through capacity challenges

Leading through high-capacity moments isn’t about micromanaging or endlessly reshuffling workloads. It’s about building trust, offering clarity, removing barriers and helping your team stay effective under pressure — instead of just surviving the week.

Here’s how to shift from firefighting to forward-focused coaching:

1. Build safety and set clear expectations

• Encourage open updates: Team members should feel safe flagging overload early.

• Model transparency: Share when you reprioritize or ask for help yourself — it sets the tone.

• Respond constructively: Ask, “What can shift?” instead of assigning blame.

2. Actively coach, not just assign

• Swap “tell” for “ask”: Instead of “Get this done by Friday,” try “Is there a blocker I can help remove, so you can focus on this?”

• Use one-on-ones to look beyond updates: Ask, “What’s taking up the most time right now?” or “What’s working well that we should double down on?” End with one ‘stop, start, continue’ action to make it concrete.

• Keep development in sight: Even in busy seasons, talk about skills and career growth, so everyone sees the bigger picture.

3. Balance demands with resources

• Offer autonomy: Set the “what” and “why,” and trust your team with the “how.”

• Create buffers: Add a 30-minute post-project regroup to reflect on the project and plan before the next sprint.

• Foster peer mentorship: Encourage teammates to share approaches, tools and shortcuts that save time and prevent duplication of effort.

4. Coach for endurance

• Normalize lessons-learned debriefs: Use them to capture efficiencies and prevent repeated mistakes, not to assign blame.

• Celebrate progress along the way: Try “We handled that busy week together” to boost morale and resilience.  

• Encourage smart pacing: Prioritize high-impact work, not just volume.

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Serve up energy rather than focusing on output

Your team isn’t the sum of deliverables. They’re people with emotional fuel tanks that need refilling. When leaders focus only on deadlines and output, they eventually end up managing burnout, turnover and disengagement. Conversely, leaders who actively monitor workloads and coach their team members create the conditions for energy, creativity and growth to thrive.

What does this look like in practice?

• Protect recovery time. Build breathing room between big projects, whether it’s a regroup hour, a team debrief or even a lighter meeting schedule the following week. Recovery fuels long-term productivity.

• Recognize efforts. Acknowledge the late nights, the problem-solving and the collaboration it took to get to the finish line. Recognition fuels energy.

• Prioritize impact. Ask, “Which three tasks this week will have the biggest payoff?” and put low-value work aside.

• Make space for creativity. Even during peak capacity, carve out time for idea-sharing or brainstorming to remind people that their input matters beyond the to-do list.

• Model smart pacing yourself. If you answer emails at midnight, your team feels they should too. Log off visibly to set the example that recovery is part of performance.

With two-fifths of employees experiencing constant work-related stress, serving up energy is leadership in action — and it’s what keeps teams engaged, resilient and ready for what’s next.

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