Every U.S. engineering leader knows the signs: missed deadlines, high turnover, disengaged standups. Burnout has become one of the most expensive and persistent challenges in software organizations. According to Gallup, 76% of employees experience burnout at least sometimes and in engineering teams, the impact shows up fast in velocity, code quality, and retention.
The problem? Many eng leaders are trying to solve burnout with perks or internal restructuring, when the real issue is the talent pipeline itself. If you can’t hire and retain the right engineers, your team will always be operating at a deficit.
The Leadership Trap: Hiring Only From a Local Talent Pool
On paper, it looks like there should be plenty of developers available in the U.S. after the massive layoffs of the past two years. But dig deeper, and the picture is more complicated:
- Seniors devs are mostly locked up: The most experienced engineers are still mostly concentrated at big tech companies that can afford to pay premium salaries. They rarely hit the open market, and when they do, the bidding war puts them out of reach for most teams.
- Flood of junior and mid-level talent: Layoffs and bootcamp grads have created a glut of applications, but many candidates lack the seniority needed to work independently or drive architectural decisions.
- Signal-to-noise overload: One job posting can attract thousands of applications, typically a mix of mid-level devs, underqualified applicants, and even AI-generated résumés. Sifting through that flood drains time and resources without yielding the talent you actually need.
The result? Even when you land a hire, it often comes after months of screening and overpaying for the wrong profile, leaving your existing engineers overworked and your org structure fragile.
Why Burnout Is a Hiring Problem, Not Just a Management Problem
Leaders often assume burnout is about workload or poor management, but research consistently shows it’s tied to resourcing gaps. If your current team is understaffed or forced to pick up the slack for missing roles, burnout is inevitable.
That means solving burnout requires expanding your hiring strategy, not just adjusting workloads.
The Global Solution: Why U.S. Leaders Are Looking to LATAM
Forward-thinking engineering leaders are looking south, to Latin America, for answers. Here’s why:
- Top-tier skills: From React and Node.js to AI/ML, senior LATAM engineers are working with the same stacks U.S. teams rely on every day.
- Time zone alignment: Unlike offshore regions, LATAM engineers work in near-identical time zones to U.S. teams. Collaboration feels seamless.
- High retention: Revelo data shows that distributed teams in LATAM experience lower attrition compared to U.S. peers, in part due to competitive local compensation packages.
- Cost efficiency: Hiring in LATAM reduces payroll costs while maintaining seniority and quality.
This isn’t about outsourcing. It’s about building resilient, global teams that can share the workload and prevent burnout from consuming your best people.
How to Get Started With LATAM Hiring
The good news: the infrastructure to hire in LATAM is mature and accessible. With platforms like Revelo, U.S. eng leaders can:
- Tap into pre-vetted talent across key stacks like React, Node.js, and Python.
- Streamline compliance — no need to manage complex contracts or local employment laws.
- Hire fast — average time-to-hire in LATAM through Revelo is weeks, not months.
For a deeper dive, visit Revelo.com.
In Summary
Burnout isn’t just a culture problem, it’s a hiring problem. The fastest way to protect your existing engineers and sustain team health is by widening your talent pipeline beyond the U.S.
Engineering leaders who adopt a global mindset and hire in LATAM aren’t just saving costs, they’re building teams that are more resilient, collaborative, and future-proof.
Start building a burnout-proof team today.
👉 Hire top LATAM developers with Revelo
.webp){kind=small}
