"I no longer have enough in the tank."
Jacinda Ardern giving just one simple reason why she called it quits – experts say she was likely well on her way to burnout.
Burnout is a state of mental, physical and emotional exhaustion caused by job-related stress.
Clinical psychologist Jacqui Maguire says Ardern had either already burnt out or she was close to it.
"She may be operating or acting now in a preventative way to ensure she puts measures in place before she becomes burnt out."
Professor Jarrod Haar, a human resource management expert at AUT, agrees.
"She's probably looked at it and thought, wow, I’m exhausted now, and by the end of the year, win or lose the election, she'll just be a total burnt out mess."
He's running a long-term study on burnout in New Zealand's workforce, which he started in early 2020.
He uses four metrics to measure risk of burnout: Levels of exhaustion, mental distance (employees no longer considering what they do to be of worth) emotional impairment and cognitive impairment.
"I think what we can say about the Prime Minister’s statement is that she is exhausted, which was that first sign of burnout," Maguire says.
Haar’s research shows those in leadership roles are twice as likely to become burnt out. Haar says the prime minister’s job is no exception.
"It does come with a lot of, you know, public backlash, especially this kind of last year."
He says the latest figures show just over 18% of NZ’s workforce is at high risk of burnout – but is concerned those statistics don’t tell the full story.
"A lot of people, the majority, aren't good at recognising when they’re burnt out, so I do kind of applaud the Prime Minister for realising; actually, I'm toast."
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