Burnout stems from an inherent imbalance in cybersecurity responsibilities
If you’re leading a company today, you already know cybersecurity isn’t just a box to check. It’s continuous, high-stakes, and unforgiving. Your security teams aren’t just solving problems, they’re absorbing pressure. Not once a month. Every day.
Here’s the reality: Cybersecurity professionals have to be correct 100% of the time. Threat actors only need to be right once. This imbalance builds stress, and stress without relief creates burnout.
It doesn’t help that even when your security team does everything right, there’s still no real payoff. They detect a breach, contain the damage, and maybe even prevent data loss, but the attacker disappears. No recognition. No resolution. Just more alerts waiting.
Over time, people burn out not from failure, but from the absence of meaningful wins. They stop seeing results, only tickets, false positives, and the same questions day after day. If you’re seeing morale issues or turnover in this department, this is likely one of the drivers.
Your role as a leader is not to micromanage the technical side, but to understand the structural challenges your cybersecurity teams face. This one, perpetual vigilance with no clear victory, needs your attention. That means creating ways for your teams to not just endure, but to experience meaningful progress.
Brenden Smith, CISO at FirstBank, put it clearly during RSA Conference. He pointed out the way unresolved threats and false alarms create mental exhaustion, and how easy it is for teams to fall into a cycle of anxious, reactive work without clear outcomes. That’s not just bad for morale, that’s bad for business.
Structured red team testing can alleviate employee stress
Red team testing is often misunderstood. Many executives see it as a technical tool, a test of defenses. That part’s true. But what’s often missed is its value as a team performance asset.
Unlike real-world attackers, red team exercises operate within a set framework. The defenders are aware that something’s coming. It’s not chaos, it’s a challenge. And, importantly, it ends with a measurable outcome.
Your security teams need more than just tasks, they need clarity and closure. Real breaches don’t offer that. But red team exercises do. When handled right, they allow your teams to apply their skills, succeed, and see the result. That improves capability, but also confidence.
Here’s the key, don’t overdo it. Red team testing, when stacked on top of overnight work or crisis response, can become another stressor. Brenden Smith from FirstBank emphasizes that timing matters. Schedule these simulations thoughtfully. This isn’t about catching them off guard; it’s about practice with purpose.
Use red team exercises not just to uncover holes in your system, but to develop your people. Reward progress. Recognize improvement. You’re not just testing your defenses, you’re building up a more resilient, skilled, and engaged team.
This is a sensible, strategic way to invest in the well-being and performance of your security talent. And right now, that matters more than ever.
Post-incident educational opportunities transform setbacks into avenues for professional growth
Incidents are going to happen. That’s the baseline. What matters more is how your organization processes them, technically, operationally, and culturally. When a breach occurs, your people need more than a debrief. They need to grow from it.
Investing in targeted education after an incident helps your cybersecurity staff turn failure into forward movement. It’s not about blame, it’s about turning complexity into competence. Whether it’s learning a missed detection method or mastering a tool that could change the outcome next time, these moments can become transitional. Teams take something difficult and leave with new value.
Emy Dunfee, Director of Security and Information Management at FirstBank, shared a practical approach. When there’s a breach, or even a close call, identify the threat vector, then match a team member with a course, workshop, or resource that addresses it. That transforms a pain point into a learning opportunity.
The execution here doesn’t need to be expensive. Not every solution requires flying people to global conferences. Online courses, webinars, or virtual summits often cover what’s needed at a fraction of the cost and time commitment. The key is relevance and timing.
This structure also adds psychological value. The employee who receives, and applies, new knowledge feels more capable, more valued, and more in control. That’s not a temporary morale boost. That’s sustainable engagement. You’re challenging your team, and immediately backing them with solutions that help them level up. That’s a smart management strategy.
Offering learning opportunities aligned with personal interests
Cybersecurity work can become overly repetitive, especially at an operational level. Open tickets. Review threats. Respond. Repeat. Without variation, even top performers can become disengaged. Giving employees room to grow beyond the immediate needs of their job can reverse that trend.
You don’t have to assign training strictly around past incidents or active gaps. If someone on your team wants to explore something beyond their usual scope, like automation, scripting, or AI-driven detection, make space for that. It keeps sharp minds engaged and helps reduce the mental load of repetitive task flow.
This isn’t just a morale play. When people learn based on areas they’re curious about, they retain and apply knowledge at a deeper level. You end up with security staff who aren’t just reacting to threats, they’re driving innovation in how those threats are identified and mitigated. For executives, that means better outcomes, not just happier staff.
Again, this doesn’t need to strain the budget. As Emy Dunfee from FirstBank points out, many high-value training opportunities are either free or come at a low cost. Think in terms of relevance and interest, not resume-building. If your employee wants to learn coding, or dive into cloud network configuration, fuel it. If they bring that skill back into the environment and it improves detection time or workflow efficiency, you’ve gained leverage.
The bigger signal you’re sending, though, is that you’re investing in them as long-term contributors, not just incident responders. People don’t stay in jobs, they stay with leaders who give them space to evolve. That’s your leverage. Use it.
Educational platforms reinforce long-term engagement and preventative measures against burnout
Long-term success in cybersecurity isn’t just about reacting well, it’s about proactively preparing your teams for what’s next. This means you need to equip them with constant access to current, high-quality content so they can keep pace with evolving threats, systems, and tooling.
Platforms like Pluralsight solve that at scale. With more than 6,500 technical courses and 3,500 hands-on labs, the platform gives your employees speed and flexibility in how they upskill. Whether it’s cloud security, threat modeling, machine learning, or even leadership and communication, the content is there when they need it.
This isn’t just technical enablement. It’s also strategic workforce development. When your cybersecurity teams have consistent access to learning resources, it reduces dependence on reactive problem-solving. They can get ahead of trends, tighten your infrastructure, and reduce the risk of costly breaches or operational drag.
It’s also a signal to your people. You’re proving that you see them as long-term players. That creates retention. And if you think burnout only happens from overwork, think again, it also happens when high-performing staff feel their skills are stagnating. You avoid that when you give them the freedom to grow wherever they see value.
Pluralsight has the industry validation to back up its impact. It received the highest possible score in the 2025 Forrester Wave™ for technology skills development platforms. That makes it not just a learning tool, but an asset that supports business continuity, innovation, and talent retention.
Burnout reduction involves systemic changes beyond education and simulated exercises
If you want to seriously address burnout in your cybersecurity team, you need to solve for more than just knowledge gaps and role fatigue. This isn’t complicated, but it does require discipline in how operations are structured and how leadership shows up for the team.
Start by looking at workload patterns. If your team is constantly overwhelmed by alert volume, you’re not solving a people problem, you have a tooling and process problem. Rationalize the alerts. Prioritize response. Begin removing unnecessary noise that’s eating up energy without adding value.
Then, address task design. Are your engineers stuck in looped workflows that don’t produce business insight or improvement? Break up the cycle. Introduce rotational responsibilities or cross-functional work when possible. If roles are too siloed, fatigue sets in faster.
Communication matters just as much. Establish a feedback-driven culture where workflows can be discussed, risks can be shared without fear, and postmortems are conducted without blame. If your security team believes their good work is invisible to leadership, they’ll look elsewhere for validation.
Also, build in flexibility without reducing accountability. Using flex time policies to acknowledge personal responsibilities or recovery time after critical incidents is not a cost, it’s preventative maintenance.
Lastly, make sure your team is well-trained in risk acceptance. Not all security concerns will align with business priorities or be implemented by product teams or leadership. If defenders aren’t supported in knowing when to raise issues versus when to log and move on, frustration compounds.
As an executive leader, adopting this broader strategy is about protecting the people who protect your data, infrastructure, and customer trust. That’s not a soft issue. That’s a core operational requirement. Act like it.
Key highlights
- Burnout is driven by structural imbalance in cybersecurity roles: Cybersecurity staff face constant pressure with limited resolution or recognition, leading to disengagement. Leaders should restructure performance feedback and celebrate clear wins to counteract emotional fatigue.
- Red team exercises offer structured wins that reduce stress: Simulated attacks give security teams defined challenges and achievable outcomes, improving morale. Leaders should schedule red team tests during low-stress periods to support engagement without adding pressure.
- Post-incident training turns failure into progress: Providing targeted education after security incidents helps employees learn and rebound with stronger capabilities. Executives should treat incidents as development triggers, not just operational interruptions.
- Personalized learning helps break burnout cycles: Giving technical staff space to explore topics tied to their interests sustains motivation and cognitive engagement. Leaders should fund flexible learning options that broaden skills without demanding immediate ROI.
- Ongoing access to educational platforms builds readiness and retention: Tools like Pluralsight let employees upskill on demand, keeping security teams sharp and future-ready. Leaders should invest in accessible platforms to signal long-term commitment and reduce turnover risk.
- Burnout prevention requires system-wide changes: Training alone won’t fix burnout without rethinking workloads, task design, recognition, and scheduling. Executives must prioritize operational alignment and flexible policies to keep high-performing cyber teams resilient.
