Burned Out at Work? Your Boss Doesn't Think So!

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While you're busy sweating bullets because of factors that go far above and beyond the summer heat, your boss could be sipping on an ice cold glass of lemonade, thinking everything is hunky dory. A recent survey showed that 77 percent of workers say that they are burned out at work, while only one in four employers think their staff is over-stressed.

Those employers who do note a drop in productivity are blaming it on the summertime blues, believing that nicer weather, vacation fever, and kids being out of school are the main reasons for employee lethargy, and believe it's seasonal.

Meanwhile, employers are blaming it on the recession. The study, for which CareerBuilder surveyed 2,600 hiring managers and human resource professionals, and nearly 5,300 employees, found that the recession is really getting to workers, even though they're gainfully employed. Nearly half (46 percent) of employees reported an increase in their workloads, mostly because of staff downsizing. They said that they suffer additional stress with the fear of losing their jobs.

"The recession produced consequences for not just those who were laid off, but also for the many employees who were asked to work harder as a result of leaner staffs," said Brent Rasmussen, president of CareerBuilder North America. "While getting more out of a smaller workforce is a sign of organizational agility during unpredictable times, it's hard to see such yields in productivity holding forever. Headcount will be needed to meet increasing demands."

Don't expect to see the necessary hiring take place until the end of the summer, however. Employers are reluctant to make any hiring moves until the national budget issues are worked out, and once that happens, they'll still probably wait to see how their staff performs once they're all back from vacation. There are likely several long, hot summer weeks ahead.