Founder tried to tackle burnout with paid leave. Then he realised what was missing

Jatin Saini, founder of House of Creators, said six burnout leaves had been taken at his company in five months, but none had resolved the underlying problem.Founder tried to tackle burnout with paid leave. Then he realised what was missing (Photo: Jatin Saini/LinkedIn) New Delhi,Oct 16, 2026 12:37 ISTThe founder of a startup has shared why offering employees time off to deal with burnout may not be enough if they return to the same workload.Jatin Saini, founder of House of Creators, said six burnout leaves had been taken at his company in five months, but none had resolved the underlying problem.In a post on LinkedIn, Saini explained how the company changed its approach after realising that time off alone could not address the pressures employees faced at work and at home.“5 months ago, we introduced burnout leaves at our company. 6 have been taken, not one of them fixed anyone’s burnout,” he wrote. Saini recounted the experience of an employee who recently took her second burnout leave. Her father had been unwell for months, leaving her to manage responsibilities at home along with her job. One morning, she did not have the energy to open her laptop, so she took the day off and returned to work the following day.However, Saini said the company recognised that simply allowing her to rest would not address the problem if she returned to the same workload. “A leave does not fix burnout, neither does sleep, if you are returning to the same load,” he wrote.The company therefore redistributed some of her responsibilities among her manager and teammates when she returned.“Alaqsha put some things on hold and now checks in on her every two weeks,” he said.The same approach was used when a manager began struggling under additional responsibilities after an employee's exit. The company moved deadlines and redistributed projects to ease the pressure.Explaining the thinking behind the policy, Saini said burnout leave was intended to serve as an early warning that something in the workplace needed to change.“That is what the burnout leave actually is at House of Creators: the alarm,” he wrote, adding that an employee taking leave helped the company identify where its systems were failing and address the problem before it harmed someone.He also reassured employees who might be hesitant to take time off that their leave would not be judged as a lack of commitment.“I know my team reads my posts, so let me say it here: when you take one, nobody is counting. We are redistributing,” he said.Saini further reflected on the reluctance many employees in India feel about asking for help, admitting that he had behaved similarly when he was employed elsewhere. He said he had continued working until he burnt out, without understanding why he found it difficult to plan or take leave.“Somewhere we decided burning out is proof of good work. It is not,” he added.Read the post here:The post prompted a discussion about whether redistributing work is enough to address burnout, and whether employees can take leave without worrying about the consequences for their careers.A professional pointed out that redistributing responsibilities could simply transfer the burden to other team members, asking how the company planned to protect those who absorbed the additional work.Another argued that burnout leave should not merely act as a pause button, but should signal the need to address the conditions that caused the burnout in the first place.Concerns were also raised about performance appraisals and job security. One user questioned whether redistributing an employee’s workload could affect their end-of-cycle evaluation, and whether a recovery timeline had been agreed upon.The user added that employees might conceal their burnout not because they cannot express what they are experiencing, but because they fear being sidelined or eventually pushed out of their jobs. Burnout, the user noted, can affect performance, leaving employees unable to work at their best.Others agreed with Jatin Saini’s central argument that rest alone cannot solve a problem that remains unchanged at work.“Rest cannot solve a problem that is waiting for you when you return. The real difference comes when organisations are willing to change what made the rest necessary,” one user wrote.Another user shared a simpler approach to leave at their own company, saying employees could take a day off if they were unwell, needed to care for a sick family member or had any other reason, without their leaves being counted or tracked.- Ends