Nearly half of workers believe that their employers don't view it's okay to take off for mental health reasons, which is why many do not take more mental health time off. (Photo: Shutterstock)

It's January. The days are short and gloomy and the holiday season is behind us. Are you finding that more employees are calling in sick (federal agencies aside)? No, it's no a seasonal flu going around. More likely, your employees are among the roughly one third of those who say they've taken a mental health day to stave off burnout–but don't want to admit that's the reason.

According to the University of Phoenix's Job Burnout Poll 2018, more than half of U.S. working adults have experienced job burnout. To combat, 34 percent have called in sick to take a mental health day in the past 12 months, taking an average of 2.5 days. A majority (61 percent) say they have taken at least a day for physical ailments, taking about 3.5 days.

Related: 4 ways to prevent employee burnout

Those numbers could probably be higher. Nearly half of workers believe that their employers don't view it's okay to take off for mental health reasons, which is why many do not take more mental health time off. Roughly two in five workers say they are just too busy at work to take the time off.

Parents of children under 18 are more likely than other workers to have taken at least one day for mental health reasons (42 percent vs. 28 percent) in the past 12 months.

Signs of job burn out in the eyes of the respondents include anxiety (67 percent), fatigue (66 percent), depression (58 percent) and anger (55 percent). For those who have experienced burn out, 65 percent experienced anxiety, fatigue (68 percent), depression (48%) and anger (53 percent).

Most workers (86 percent) feel worker burnout is connected to job satisfaction, though many (85 percent) are satisfied with their job. Nearly half (44 percent) say they are very satisfied.

Older employees are more likely than those aged 18-34 to believe burnout is very connected to satisfaction – ages 18-34 (39 percent), 45-54 (54 percent), 55-64 (48 percent), and 65 and older (50 percent).

Burnout is one of the most significant threats to employees disengaging from work and even quitting, but HR leaders can help ease the effects, according to HRDive.

“Strive to help staff members achieve a sustainable work life balance that benefits the business as well as the employee,” HRDive writes. “Some businesses do so by offering employee assistance programs that not only educate workers about mental challenges they may face in the workplace, but also give them the tools to overcome those challenges.”

Read more:

• Technology, work/life balance top factors in employee happiness
• What's driving employees' job satisfaction?
• 5 employee productivity challenges (and how to overcome them)