Burnout is becoming an unavoidable reality in the British workplace. 2025 research found that as many as 55% of UK professionals reported having experienced employee burnout in their current job, with more than half citing more than one occurrence.
This burnout particularly manifests on a Sunday evening, with over a third (33.1%) of professionals admitting to worrying about the week ahead.
- 31.2% experience ‘Sunday Scaries’ occasionally, while 1 in 7 (12.9%) experience ‘the dread’ every Sunday
- 7% of workers fail to switch off from work at all, experiencing anxiety about work the full weekend
The main causes of Sunday Scaries
The leading cause of Sunday stress, according to resume.io UK‘s research, is worries about workload or meeting deadlines. 37% of workers cited exhaustion from work and burnout as the main motivator for worrying over the weekend. Comparatively, 15.7% cited unrealistic expectations from their managers as the main reason for concerns about work.
1 in 9 employees quit after the Sunday Scaries hit
The emotional toll of the Sunday Scaries is causing professionals to rethink their careers. Almost two-fifths (36.60%) admit they’ve considered leaving a job due to Sunday anxiety, but as many as 11.7% have admitted to handing in their notice the following week.
Even more worryingly, more than one-third (34.2%) of professionals believe that switching jobs wouldn’t solve the issue, claiming that “anxiety is part of working life in general”.
Gen Z revealed as most affected by Sunday anxiety, while Boomers remain the most resilient
Nearly one in five (18.35%) Gen Z professionals feel anxious about the workweek every Sunday, compared to the minority of 8.26% who have never felt anxious about work. In contrast, over a fifth (21.21%) of Baby Boomers report never experiencing Sunday anxiety, and a further 33.3% say it only happens rarely.
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