The Burnout Problem Most Leaders Are Missing

In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Anju Choudhary, Chief People Officer at Xoxoday, to unpack why burnout is not just a wellbeing problem, but a work design and change design problem. Anju explains why organizations often treat burnout as an individual resilience issue, when the real problem is often the way teams are overloaded with unclear priorities, constant change, weak manager support, and poor recognition systems. She shares why leaders need to stop rewarding unsustainable hustle and start designing cultures where people can perform, grow, and recover without burning out. Most importantly, Anju breaks down the practical ways HR leaders can reduce burnout, build trust, and create healthier performance cultures, from clearer feedback and better change management, to manager enablement, recognition, AI coaching, team playbooks, and reward strategies that actually connect to the lived employee experience. **🎓 In this episode, Anju discusses:** 1. How unclear change creates cognitive overload for teams 2. Why burnout is a design issue, not just a resilience problem 3. Why leaders must stop rewarding unsustainable hustle behaviors 4. Why managers need better support for crucial conversations and change 5. How recognition and feedback shape the culture employees actually experience 🙏 Thank you to our series partner, Arist Meet the end-to-end AI agent for enablement that finds talent gaps, builds personalized interventions, and delivers learning directly in the flow of work → https://arist.com/resources/webinars/agent?utm\_source=hr\_leaders\_podcast&utm\_medium=sponsored&utm\_campaign=hr\_leaders\_podcast\_cr\_june\_2026 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.