Burnout Among Women of Color: Causes, Impact, and How Organizations Can Lead Change
Burnout among women of color is increasing at alarming rates, with Black women facing severe workplace stressors and inequities. I spoke at a WSJ summit alongside Michael Leiter, a foremost burnout researcher, whose work with Christina Maslach defines burnout as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors at work. According to their research, burnout is characterized by exhaustion, cynicism and detachment, and a reduced sense of accomplishment. Racism and bias can activate all three dimensions.
Women of color make up about 20 percent of the U.S. workforce, according to the Women Business Collaborative 2024 Women of Color Report. Yet the 2020 State of Black Women in Corporate America report by Lean In found that Black women face more barriers to advancement than most other employees. More recent research continues to show that racial and ethnic diversity has a stronger impact on financial performance than gender diversity, yet women of color still face persistent inequities.
Throughout my international experience spanning over fifteen years, I have seen too many highly qualified women of color not going as far up the career ladder. And if they do, some have had to put up a long, arduous fight, which perpetuates burnout. The physical toll is real. According to the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, Black women are biologically an average of 7.5 years older than white women, and 27 percent of this difference is linked to perceived stress and poverty.
So, how do we help women of color with burnout to improve their well-being and career fulfillment? There are four key steps.
Step 1: Understand Workplace Factors Driving Burnout for Women of Color
Microaggressions Creating Chronic Stress and Identity Strain
Women of color are often subject to external thoughts and expressions in the form of microaggressions, and for some, it can be exhausting and impact self-worth and identity. Microaggressions create chronic interpersonal stress, which directly fuels the exhaustion dimension of burnout.
Microaggressions come in three forms:
Microinsults — Subtle rudeness or insensitivity that demeans racial identity.
Microinvalidations — Communications that negate or dismiss lived experiences.
Microassaults — Overt or coded racially insensitive language.
The Impact of Pay Inequity and Undervaluation on Burnout
Being overworked and underpaid or knowing that your work is not valued in the same way as your peers can bring about cynicism and detachment, two core components of burnout.
Pay gap data from the Women Business Collaborative 2024 Report shows that for every dollar paid to white men:
Black women earned 64 cents
Latina women earned 51 cents
Asian and NHPI women earned 80 cents
The U.S. Department of Labor found that Black women lost 42.7 billion dollars in wages in 2023, and Hispanic women lost 53.3 billion dollars in wages compared to white men. Pay inequity reinforces the feeling that effort does not lead to fair reward, which directly contributes to burnout’s reduced accomplishment dimension.
Systemic Barriers That Limit Advancement and Fuel Burnout
In 2020, women of color represented 18 percent of entry-level positions but only 3 percent of C-suite roles. Progress since then has been slow, and representation gaps remain wide. Systemic barriers still limit access to promotions, sponsorship, and stretch opportunities. The 2024 Women in the Workplace report by McKinsey shows that women of color remain significantly underrepresented at every level, with the biggest drop occurring at the first step into management. This then creates long-term career stagnation, which fuels burnout by undermining a sense of progress and accomplishment.
Step 2: Track Burnout and Representation Together to Identify Root Causes
Where do your employees fall on a burnout spectrum? Are your people of color more burned out? What are their burnout triggers? How might your organization be contributing?
According to McKinsey, only 7 percent of companies set representation targets for gender and race combined. By tracking segmented data, you can effectively create a burnout recovery roadmap and clarify how to create and support change. Understanding these patterns helps organizations intervene early, reduce chronic stressors, and support healthier work experiences.
Step 3: Build Belonging and Provide Direct Support Through Community and Coaching
Culture Amp and Paradigm surveyed over 7,000 individuals and found that a sense of belonging was the single metric consistently tied to employee engagement and experience. Belonging reduces isolation, which is a known contributor to burnout.
Employee resource groups are a great avenue to convey belonging. If your organization already has an ERG, consider whether you are paying your group leaders or whether their work makes up a percentage of their current job role. Adding extra work on top of their 9-to-5 signals how much you value your resource groups, and they deserve to be valued. When adequately funded, you can offer expert-led conversations and workshops to support women of color.
Community is a core element of burnout prevention. When organizations overlook the real needs and experiences of their ERGs, they miss opportunities to reduce burnout and strengthen culture. But when employees feel supported, they are more likely to be happier and less stressed at work. Providing on-demand career coaching options is a direct way to show career support, and it is cost-effective. According to the International Coaching Federation, 86 percent of companies significantly regain their coaching investment. Many organizations also report improvements in performance, communication, and well-being.
Step 4: Equip Managers and Strengthen Your Brand Through Inclusive Leadership
Gallup estimates that managers are responsible for 70 percent of the variance in employee engagement. Yet many managers still do not feel prepared to talk about race or support employees with diverse lived experiences.
Gallup also found that 42 percent of managers strongly agree that they are prepared to talk about race, and less than half report having received diversity training. Participating in even one expert-led training or meeting about race significantly strengthens managers' comfort around these essential conversations. When managers are equipped, they reduce interpersonal stressors that contribute to burnout.
Burnout among women of color is not just a personal issue; it is a brand issue. When companies fail to support them, the impact extends far beyond the individual, influencing reputation, talent attraction, retention, and long-term trust. Employees and consumers notice how organizations treat their people.
A brand is shaped not only by what a company sells, but by how it behaves. When women of color feel supported, valued, and able to grow, it strengthens the entire brand from the inside out. Building a positive corporate culture takes time, but starting now increases the likelihood that everyone in your organization can grow, thrive, and contribute to a stronger, more trusted brand.