I feel sorry for em. I worked a job kind of like that in a corporate call center, you had all these stats they required you to meet, which was hard, its hard to explain. But its like being an hamster on the wheel, seems to be no end till your just too tired anymore to keep it going. Hence, the burnout theory.
Well atleast the hamster has the sense to get off the wheel and eat once and a while. The artist keep going until they die =] (run out of ideas or get tired of getting passed over instead of speaking up)