"Is exhaustion at our workplace the new normal?"

Workplace exhaustion is no longer an incidental experience – for many, it has become part of everyday life. 

In one of our regular surveys, we asked: 

“How often do you feel exhausted by the daily work routine?“

What did people respond:

• Relatively common phenomenon – 30%
• Only on days with more work – 26%
• Every single working day – 24%
• Work rather energizes me – 19%

 

What do the numbers reveal?

1. Predominantly a sense of chronic fatigue

Almost a quarter of participants (24%) admit that they feel exhausted every single working day. This is a clear indicator of chronic burnout – a condition that the World Health Organization now recognizes as a phenomenon related to the professional environment, affecting mental and physical health.

2. “Normalized” fatigue

The most votes (30%) go to the answer “Relatively common phenomenon”, which means that nearly 1/3 of participants perceive fatigue as something regular. Although not extreme, this condition speaks to a disrupted balance between load and recovery.

3. Work exhausts, even when it is not overtime

A significant portion (26%) feel exhausted only on days with more work – at first glance, a more optimistic response. But even here, a lack of resilience is evident – with every increased pace, there follows a drop in energy, which shows insufficient capacity to cope with peak loads.

4. Only a minority find energy in their work

Only 19% of participants share that work energizes them, and does not exhaust them. These are people who likely have a balance between personal values, work environment, and pace, but the data highlights that this is an exception, not the rule.

Conclusions and recommendations:

🧠 Employers must take fatigue seriously

When over 80% of employees experience regular or at least relatively frequent fatigue, this speaks not only of overwork but also of lack of organizational resilience. Investing in mental health, reasonable timelines, and flexibility in the work process is no longer a bonus – it is a necessity.

🔄 Need for a cultural change in the attitude towards work

Modern professional behavior often rewards “working to exhaustion”. But when exhaustion becomes systemic, creativity, productivity, and loyalty of employees decrease.

🌿 Personal responsibility is also key

Every professional must learn to recognize their own limits and defend their time for rest and recovery. If work does not bring satisfaction or chronically exhausts – this is a signal for reconsideration, not heroism.

What conclusion can we draw:

The survey shows that fatigue is not an exception, but a daily reality for most people. It is time for both employers and employees to reflect – is productivity at any cost really worth the price?