Could Starting a Side Hustle Prevent Workplace Burnout?

“Burnout” refers to a feeling of exhaustion that many people get at work. In a 2025 article for the New York Times, Katie Mogg wrote that people who have it often feel “physically and emotionally drained,” potentially even before the workday begins, and that they may “feel cynical about work and think they’re underperforming.”

Burnout is associated with symptoms like:

• An inability to focus
• Irritation
• Headaches
• Loss of appetite
• Drowsiness

What sets burnout apart from “normal” tiredness is that it’s chronic. It doesn’t go away after resting. Sufferers feel just as unmotivated and irritable after a relaxing weekend as they do after a long week.

According to Jennifer Moss, a researcher and writer who focuses on this phenomenon, “ingrained burnout” can easily linger for “more than a year,” even with rest.1

In some ways, the phenomenon can mimic serious psychiatric conditions like depression, although it’s less severe and goes away without treatment (most of the time).

How common is workplace burnout?

Burnout is very common. Mogg cited a recent study by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) that found that more than half of full-time workers had experienced it within the past year.

Similarly, in early 2026, The Guardian reported on a survey by Moodle that found that 66% of US workers had suffered from burnout at some point. However you measure it, it seems to actually be more common to develop this condition at least once than to never experience it.

The classic explanation for burnout is that it’s caused by overwork.

The equation is simple: too many tasks and not enough time equals an exhausted and stressed worker who will eventually lose their motivation and focus.

That view “feels” right. It’s intuitive enough that relatively few people ever bother to question it. However, for some time, research has suggested that it might, in fact, be questionable.

In 1999, two academics, Michael Leiter and Christina Maslach, published a paper called “Six areas of worklife: a model of the organizational context of burnout” in the Journal of Health and Human Services Administration.2 As the title suggests, they identified six “areas” that matter to people’s sense of contentment with their work:

• Workload: This refers to exactly what it sounds like: how much work people have to do and how much time they have to do it in.
• Control: This is the level of autonomy people have over their work. In plain English, it’s whether they feel micromanaged or trusted, and whether they can exercise a reasonable level of judgment over how they execute their tasks.
• Rewards: This refers to both the tangible rewards that people receive for a job well done (i.e., money) and the intangible ones (praise and recognition).
• Fairness: This is how fair rewards feel—whether they’re awarded arbitrarily or can be reliably and predictably “earned.”
• Community: This is the sense of camaraderie people have with their coworkers and whether their workplace feels friendly or not.
• Values: Lastly, this is whether people feel good about their workplace’s mission (whatever it is), or whether they spend their working time contributing to something they either don’t care about or find actively distasteful.

Notably, only one of those workplace areas directly relates to how much work an employee has on their plate at any given time.

Leiter and Maslach’s contention (which, in their paper, they argued was supported by an existing body of research) was that burnout is caused by frustration just as much as stress.

When people are forced to do work they disagree with, feel like the difference between good and bad work isn’t recognized, and so on, they—understandably—start to dread going into the office, and this takes an emotional toll that can easily lead to burnout, even if the sheer amount of work is manageable.

The scholarly response to Leiter and Maslach’s six areas of burnout

In the three decades since Leiter and Maslach’s paper was published, many other psychologists and workplace researchers have weighed in on it.

In 2023, for instance, a group of researchers conducted a large survey of software developers and found that burnout risk can be mitigated by improving aspects of a workplace’s culture like “inclusivity” and by providing professional development opportunities. None of those changes addresses workload, which supports the idea that burnout is a more complex phenomenon.

Contrary perspectives

However, not all scholars agree. Another common explanation for burnout—which was first put forward in 2001—is the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, which strongly emphasizes workload.3

A 2022 systematic review of the JD-R model’s academic support noted that the original paper that advanced it has been cited over 13,000 times. Today, it’s arguably the most widespread framework for understanding burnout in the world.

An unsettled area of research

Neither view of burnout is fully accepted, and they aren’t necessarily contradictory.

In their paper, Leiter and Maslach didn’t claim that all six areas they identified were equally important, which leaves room for workload being the most meaningful. Similarly, JD-R proponents usually allow for other factors that may at least contribute to burnout.

Still, the two sides often disagree, and neither can claim to have been conclusively proven right. The fairest statement that can be made about burnout is probably that there isn’t a clear consensus about what exactly causes it yet.

It is also possible that no single framework can fully account for the phenomenon. Yad Senapathy, the CEO and founder of Project Management Training Institute (PMTI), a workplace training company, told us that in his experience, there isn’t “one true cause of workplace burnout.”

“Burnout is deeply personal,” he said. “The problem most companies have is treating it as a universal issue that can be solved with a universal fix.”

The debate over burnout isn’t purely academic.

If the NAMI’s study is to be believed, burnout is endemic, at least in many white-collar fields. What’s more, many people right now are taking on even more work outside their day jobs just to survive.

This is especially true for younger workers. A 2024 Deloitte study found that nearly half (45%) of Gen Z members and more than one-third (36%) of millennials had a side hustle. Most weren’t doing this for love of the game; the most commonly cited motivation was a lack of money.

This was corroborated by a recent Side Hustles survey, which found that 49% of gig workers were hustling to “cover basic expenses” and “stay afloat” financially.

If millions of people are working side jobs to survive, are they in danger of burning out from overwork? If the JD-R model is true, the answer is probably yes.

If the picture is more complicated, then, well—the picture is more complicated.

A work therapist’s view

Side Hustles contacted Jack Szary, LMHC, a therapist and the founder of Rhythm Wellness Mental Health Counseling. Szary specializes in working with professionals in stressful careers, who he said are at a high risk of burning out.

In his experience, he said, while burnout usually has at least something to do with overwork, the full picture is “maybe more nuanced than that.”

“In my opinion, burnout happens when you are consistently and chronically giving more than you are getting back in return,” he said. Like Leiter and Maslach, he cited both tangible and intangible rewards as being important to avoiding it, with examples of the latter being “delight in the challenge” or “a sense of personal satisfaction at a job well done.”

Motivation matters

For this reason, Szary suggested that “whether a side hustle increases or decreases a person’s odds of burnout entirely depends on the motivation for doing it in the first place.”

Put simply, if your hustle is something you’re passionate about and just happen to be able to earn money from, it has a good chance of reducing your odds of burning out even if it adds to your workload.

“However, if you are pursuing a side hustle simply to make money or distract yourself from your dissatisfaction with your 9-to-5, this is only going to increase your chances of hitting burnout,” said Szary.

This was, by far, the most common view that the experts we talked to shared. Just like there’s no one cause of burnout, there’s no one answer to whether a side hustle will make things worse or better. For most people, it probably entirely depends on the side hustle.

In an ideal world, everyone (or at least every worker at risk of burnout) would be able to monetize their favorite hobby or otherwise earn side income doing something they were truly passionate about.

Of course, in the world, not every side hustle can be fun. If your financial circumstances mean you need money right now and you don’t have time to set up a small arts-and-crafts store on Etsy (or whatever you happen to dream of), there’s a middle ground: pick something different from your day job.

Dr. Roz Cohen, the Chief People Officer at Laird Norton Wetherby, suggested to us that it’s best to look for a side hustle that “uses a part of your brain your main job doesn’t.”

If, for instance, you’re an accountant, it’s probably a good idea to look for something creative that isn’t numbers-based for your side gig. If you’re in a customer-facing position (like a sales or retail gig), consider finding something that doesn’t require you to talk to the public, and so on.

“The question worth asking is, does this give me energy or take it away?” said Cohen.

Pick a gig that matches your personality

It’s also a good idea to make sure your chosen side hustle suits you. If you, personally, are an introvert, then it’s a good idea to pick a side hustle that’s a good fit for introverts.

In other words, even if your day job doesn’t involve talking to people, you still might want to avoid a side hustle that’s centered around that if doing it really tires you out.

This is part of why delivery driving, for instance, is a popular gig. Side Hustles talked to several dozen workers for gig apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash, and one of the most commonly cited perks of that kind of work—shared with us by the majority of the people we interviewed—is that it’s possible to do it while listening to music, a podcast, or an audiobook, with only half your brain worrying about your immediate task.

It’s a side hustle that allows you to earn money during your recharge time, which means it’s probably better for fighting burnout than one that requires you to be constantly “on.”

Conversely, if you’re an extrovert and being alone makes you anxious and stressed, you’ll probably be at far less risk of burning out if you pick something more social, like driving for Uber’s rideshare service.

Pick a gig that matches your values

Some of the career coaches and mental health experts we spoke to suggested prioritizing work that you find genuinely meaningful.

This fits with the “it’s also about your values” perspective that Leiter and Maslach would probably endorse, and it’s a piece of advice that has broken out of the corporate and academic world and begun appearing in the mainstream.

Allison Green, who runs the popular workplace advice blog Ask a Manager, commented on this in a 2024 post, “this one weird trick cured my burn-out.” She wrote that although she “loved her work,” she’d still found herself at risk of burning out until she added a new job to her plate—in her case, doing volunteer work for a veterinary project.

“I don’t know why I thought this was a reasonable decision,” she said. “I was already stretched so thin … but something in me really wanted to do it.” She went on to write that “this new volunteer work made me feel joy again,” largely because, as an animal lover, she identified with its mission.

As with prioritizing passion projects, finding a side hustle that you truly believe in is easier said than done. Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to earn money working for their favorite cause. (Notably, Green’s volunteer work is exactly that—not something she’s earning money from.)

However, it’s also possible to find fulfillment in everyday gigs. If, for instance, you’re someone who likes animals, you could become a dog walker or pet-sitter and see if that scratches the same itch that volunteering for an animal shelter or vet clinic would.

Whatever you personally believe in, there’s probably a gig out there that’s at least adjacent to it.

Don’t neglect your outside-of-work fulfillment

Lisa Chen, a Los Angeles–based psychotherapist who focuses on burnout, stressed a final point to us: avoiding burnout in both your main job and side hustle isn’t just about what happens during your work time.

After all, the unfortunate truth is that sometimes, your work just isn’t under your control. People need money to live, and millions of people put up with imperfect work situations every day because they’re trying to get by.

If you’re at risk of burnout and changing jobs (or side hustles) isn’t on the table, she suggested, you should “find things in your life that you freely choose to do and enjoy and build from it, because meaning does not have to be found in work, it can be found elsewhere.”

Put another way: even if you can’t earn money from it, picking up a volunteer gig might not be the worst idea. It could give you the energy you need to stick it out longer with both your job and any side gigs you have.

Whether the burnout creeping up on you mostly has to do with overwork or with other factors, try to pay attention to your energy levels, too. As many of the experts we spoke to said, consider how you’re responding to what you’re doing, and if any (avoidable) task seems to be sapping your reserves at an unsustainable rate, try to ease off of them as much as possible, even if you can’t completely drop them.