Burnout is a type of psychological stress. Occupational burnout or job burnout is characterized by exhaustion, lack of enthusiasm and motivation, feelings of ineffectiveness, and also may have the dimension of frustration or cynicism, and as a result reduced efficacy within the workplace.

The term burnout in psychology was coined by Herbert Freudenberger in his 1974 Staff burnout, presumably based on the 1960 novel A Burnt-Out Case by Graham Greene, which describes a protagonist suffering from burnout.

More recently the term brownout has been used in the business world to describe a less serious version of burnout. It refers to staff who are disengaged and demotivated in their job role.

Occupational burnout is typically and particularly found within human service professions. Professions with high levels of burnout include social workers, nurses, teachers, lawyers, engineers, physicians, customer service representatives, and police officers. One reason why burnout is so prevalent within the human services field is due in part, to the high-stress work environment and emotional demands of the job.