project Happiness Report

Project stress is at an all-time high

What the data says about project management well-being.

The Pressure on Project Professionals

A look at the wellbeing challenge in project management.

The Wellbeing Challenge

50%
of project managers experience burnout – the highest of any profession surveyed. [1]
72%
say their main project has harmed their mental wellbeing. [2]
40%
suffer from long-term stress in their roles. [1]
85%
burn out from unrealistic deadlines when facing company challenges. [3]

The Knock-on Effects

37%
of project managers have thought about leaving the profession due to pressure. [3,4]
27%
Manager engagement is at a historic low, down from 30%. [5]
£7.1T
Global cost of low employee engagement ($8.9T or 9% of GDP). [5]

Key Causes of Stress

Workload & Deadlines
  • 85% of project managers handle several projects at once. [3,4,6]
  • 54% of all employees say workload is their top cause of stress. [7]
  • People are 70% more likely to burn out from unreasonable deadlines. [8]
The Resource & Leadership Gap
  • 44% of project managers say a lack of resources is a top challenge. [3,4]
  • Perception Gap: 43% of project managers feel teams are understaffed, but only 20% of senior leaders agree. [3]
  • A manager’s actions account for 70% of their team’s engagement. [5]

Sources:

  1. CNBC / LinkedIn (2024); Association for Project Management (APM) Data.
  2. APM, “The Mental Health of Project Professionals” (2025).
  3. Smartsheet, “Future of Work Management Report” (2023).
  4. Project Management Institute (PMI), “Pulse of the Profession” Series.
  5. Gallup, “State of the Global Workplace” Report Series.
  6. Harvard Business Review on Context Switching.
  7. American Psychological Association on Workforce Stress.
  8. Harvard Business Review on Project Failure & Deadlines.