DDI: 19% of Leaders Often Feel "Used Up" After Work
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Nearly one in five leaders (19%) frequently feel "used up" at the end of the workday, according to DDI's Global Leadership Forecast 2027. The consultancy calls it a key warning sign of burnout and says the risk has grown since 2025 across every generation.
Gen Z leaders are hit hardest, with 26% saying they often feel this way. DDI points out that many of them are taking their first leadership roles during a period of disruption, often with fewer layers of support above them and less experience to draw on.
Readiness gap
Sixty-six percent of organizations have restructured in the past two years. At those organizations, only 11% of HR professionals say their leaders are very capable of handling the pace and nature of change. Only 17% of leaders describe themselves as change-ready, a share that has barely moved since 2025.
Pressure adds to the strain. DDI found that 73% of leaders feel strong pressure for perfection while new challenges keep arriving. Leaner teams and tighter budgets leave less room for error, and many fear a misstep could cost them their role.
Readiness appears linked to energy. Leaders who feel prepared for change are 1.5 times more likely to have energy left at the end of the workday. Those who do not believe their organization's leadership handles change well are twice as likely to feel used up. Leaders who worry their skills will become less relevant are 2.3 times more likely to often feel this way.
Overall, 83% of leaders do not feel prepared to manage change. Trust in a manager seems to help: leaders who strongly trust their manager are roughly twice as likely to feel very prepared to anticipate and react to change. Development matters too. Leaders who receive assessments, manager coaching and AI-enabled learning together are 9.3 times more likely to be rated very capable of managing rapid change.
Staying put anyway
In the 2025 edition, 40% of highly stressed leaders had considered leaving their leadership roles to protect their well-being. This year the figure is 15%, and only 6% intend to leave within the next year.
DDI ties part of the shift to the job market. It cites economic uncertainty, a cooler hiring market, rising living costs and AI reshaping what roles will look like, a pattern widely described as "job hugging". The report says staying may feel like the safer choice even when leaders are running on empty.
It also suggests a second reason. Leaders may admit their exhaustion in an anonymous survey but be less willing to say so at work, particularly if they already worry their skills will not keep up.
The report says this carries a cost for organizations. Leaders who often feel used up are 3.9 times more likely to learn about issues later than they should have. DDI adds that because leaders may be reluctant to show exhaustion or uncertainty, organizations may not see the risk until performance starts to slip.
Source: DDI