The World Health Organization's ICD-11 defines burnout as 'a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.' It isn't a diagnosis in itself, but the fact that it's formally recognized at all says something about how far workplace stress can build before it becomes impossible to ignore. This test checks how much of that stress has built up in you right now, across 12 questions, and shows it through four intuitive traffic-light stages. It focuses on urgency rather than cause, which is deliberate — knowing how close you are to the edge matters before you have time to untangle exactly why.

Green means work and life are in decent balance and your resistance to stress is holding up well. Yellow marks the start of fatigue — more sighing, more reliance on caffeine — though you're not fully burned out yet. Red is a sign that stress has hit its limit: focus scatters, irritability climbs, and the body starts to hurt. Black means you've already checked out emotionally, going through the motions the way people describe 'quiet quitting.' Just like an actual traffic light, these four stages exist to give you an intuitive read on how urgently you need to stop. The point of naming each stage separately is that the right response is different at each one — a short walk might be enough at yellow, but red or black calls for something more deliberate.

For this result to actually be useful, it helps to check back regularly rather than take it just once. The slide from yellow to red rarely happens overnight — it usually builds gradually over days or weeks — so catching the signal early leaves real room to head off something bigger. If you land on yellow, you don't need a dramatic overhaul; a short break and clearer boundaries around work can be enough on their own.

That said, this is a self-report check, not a clinical diagnosis, and stress doesn't necessarily move through these four stages in strict order. If you land on red or black and that state has held for more than a few weeks, treat this result as a starting point — plan real rest, and consider bringing it to a professional.