The Power Pendulum Has Shifted at Work: Why Burnout and Invisible Talent Are Two Sides of the Same Crisis
A workforce risk hiding in plain sight
Today’s workplace is fundamentally different than the work pre-pandemic---and both organizations and the workforce are at risk of the systemic issue that isn’t being spoken about.
On one side, are professionals who are still employed but quietly burned out — doing the work of multiple roles, operating under constant urgency, and feeling pressure to produce more with fewer resources.
On the other side, are incredibly capable, experienced professionals — many women in their 40s — sending out dozens of resumes and hearing nothing back. They are educated, qualified, and ready to add value, but seem invisible in today’s job market.
The two sides are not separate problems.
They are the result of a power recalibration in the workplace — and understanding that shift is the first step toward solving both.
From the Great Resignation to the productivity era
During the Great Resignation, employees held power. Organizations were empathetic, flexible, and practiced retention-first strategies.
Today, that tone has shifted.
Employees are under pressure with messages like: “We need more, faster.” “We are going to optimize and right-size.” “Productivity must continue.”
This change is not cultural or isolated — it is structural, an indication of a bigger system issue.
AI is raising the baseline
Widespread adoption of AI tools has altered expectations of output. The message to employees is unspoken but clear: “with better tools — you should be able to do more.”
As AI is integrated into everyday workflows, timelines shorten, performance standards shift and what used to be “excellent” work is now considered baseline.
In the short term, this often looks like a win.
But this approach carries long-term consequences.
Why burnout is no longer just exhaustion
Burnout today is not about being tired.
It is about misalignment.
Many high performers are experiencing an unfamiliar tension --- the success they’ve built no longer fits who they are becoming yet they feel guilty for wanting something different. Instead of leaving immediately, they disengage quietly.
This creates what organizations often miss:
Declining discretionary effort
Reduced creativity
Compliance without commitment
Output that looks acceptable — until it suddenly isn’t.
Burnout isn’t visible until after damage has already been done. Burnout prevention must start with alignment, not exhaustion — a principle I apply in my workforce alignment and leadership consulting.
Why qualified job seekers are becoming invisible
At the same time, experienced professionals searching for work are facing a different — but related — challenge.
The job market has changed. The hiring systems and algorithms are different but the true change lies in how positioning affects decision making.
Today’s workplace increasingly rewards what is visible, legible, and easily measured. Within the organization talent that is clearly seen as high performing is given more responsibility, pressure, and workload until burnout sets in.
Outside the organization talent that is not positioned loudly enough — regardless of depth or experience — becomes invisible. The issue is not capability on either side, but how value is recognized, signaled, and rewarded. When organizations rely on focus on the wrong indicators of performance and relevance, they overuse the talent they see and overlook the talent they don’t.
The hundreds of thousands of people—particularly women—educated, experienced and out of work for periods of time that used to signal intentional departure from the workforce.
You read about their struggles in online communities. They’ve been out of work 9, 12, 18 and some 24 months. Applying everywhere and 20, 40, 60, 80 resume submissions go unanswered because they aren’t well positioned in the job market.
Instead of seeing the world as changed, these unanswered submissions bring panic and desperation. Confidence drops and their identity becomes forming around rejection.
Neither rejection or burnout are a tool for professional success,
The through line: proactive alignment
The common thread connecting burned-out employees and invisible job seekers is the absence of proactive alignment practices.
Agency with alignment means regularly checking:
Who am I becoming?
Where do I create value now?
How does my work support — or conflict with — that reality?
What adjustments create realignment?
Without those check-ins, people either: Stay too long and burn out, or make reactive career moves driven by fear rather than clarity.
Neither path is ideal.
What organizations are missing
Many leaders mistake increased output for engagement.
In the short term, productivity may rise. But when pressure replaces alignment, organizations eventually face a reckoning:
High performers reduce effort and disengage quietly
Retention declines unexpectedly
Institutional knowledge walks out the door
Public reputation suffers
Burnout prevention cannot start at exhaustion.
It must start with alignment.
A better solution for organizations
The solution is not more perks, more pressure, or more performance management.
It is intentional alignment.
I work with organizations to:
identify early indicators of disengagement before performance drops
address role compression and misalignment
re-engage high performers without increasing workload
create sustainable productivity models in AI-enabled environments
This work bridges leadership, engagement, and workforce strategy — helping companies retain talent while protecting sustainable performance.
Why this moment matters
We are at an inflection point.
Organizations can continue demanding more output until the system breaks — or they can redesign how work, identity, and performance coexist.
Burnout and invisible talent are not separate crises.
They are signals.
And leaders must learn to read those signals early to sustain success long after this moment passes.
If your organization is seeing rising burnout, declining engagement, or unexpected retention challenges, alignment may be the missing conversation.
Let’s explore what realignment strategies are best suited to your business and industry.
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Charlene Ridley is a leadership strategist, corporate consultant, and speaker who helps organizations and professionals navigate burnout, disengagement, and workforce misalignment before performance declines.
With over 20 years of experience across corporate leadership, entrepreneurship, and nonprofit work, she is known for helping leaders and high performers realign work, identity, and performance in rapidly changing environments.
Charlene is the creator of the HEART Goals™ framework and has been featured as an expert source in GoBankingRates, cited alongside Barbara Corcoran. She works with organizations to build sustainable engagement, retention, and productivity in AI-enabled workplaces.