Burnout and hyperconnection in the age of teleworking

To begin with, could you tell us about your background and what led you to take an interest in burnout issues?

I have been providing corporate training since 1998, covering all aspects of soft skills: communication, management, time management, change management, assertiveness, presentation techniques, performance evaluation, etc. I have always been passionate about human relations and everything that helps people work better together.

This curiosity about human relationships naturally led me to train as a coach in 2007. I did coaching assignments and continued to give training courses in companies. Often imposed by management and without much commitment from the participants, these training courses began to exhaust me and weigh on me. 

 Then one day in 2012, I came across an article about burnout. It was a real wake-up call. The article had a profound effect on me, and I wanted to contribute in a different way: by taking action where it was needed, among women and men affected by stress, exhaustion and burnout. In 2014, I trained in burnout management, notably with the specialist interviewed in the article that started it all. 

 Since then, I have been fortunate enough to work with both corporate teams and individuals who come to me privately: 

• To engage in prevention, with those who feel that stress is impacting their lives and work; ;
• To provide practical support for returning to work after a period of sick leave due to burnout, to prevent a relapse.

I work with individuals and groups, in private practice and in companies.
My guiding principle? Prevention and sustainable reintegration after burnout, with concrete approaches rooted in real-world experience.

Since teleworking has become widespread, have you observed any changes in the forms of burnout linked to hyperconnectivity and the difficulty of disconnecting?

Absolutely. But hyperconnectivity did not begin with remote working: before smartphones and laptops, we simply left our work at the office. Today, we carry it with us everywhere: in our pockets, our bags, sometimes even on our bedside tables or in our beds.  Everything is accessible at all times: emails, work tools, messages... Teleworking has simply blurred the boundaries between professional and private life. Result: we don't really hang up anymore.

 The real problem is not working intensely or even experiencing moments of tension and stress: it is no longer allowing yourself real moments of recovery.The first piece of advice I often give is very simple: turn off sound and visual notifications. Every “beep” and every vibration sends a mini alert signal to the brain. It interprets everything as a life-threatening emergency and remains on constant alert. The result: it's impossible to truly relax or recharge your batteries. But that's only the beginning... Managing notifications alone is not enough: there are often other behaviours that need to be adjusted in order to regain a true sense of balance.

In your opinion, what are the main mechanisms linking intensive digital use and burnout?

Intensive use, whatever it may be, always ends up being exhausting. With digital technology, it is even more insidious: there is never a break, never an end. Even “recreational” digital technology, such as social media, gaming platforms and notifications, keeps the brain in a constant state of alert. Before the advent of this uninterrupted flow, things had an end: the working day, television programmes, conversations. Today, everything is continuous, permanent, with no real breaks. I'm not saying that things were better before... I just want to emphasise this: to cope with it, you need more discipline and self-awareness. Knowing when to stop, taking real breaks. I firmly believe that burnout is not inevitable. You can be passionate about your work and enjoy being connected... while still setting clear boundaries. But it requires vigilance and appropriate habits. That's what my work is all about: identifying energy losses, adjusting habits, preserving energy. Burnout leaves its mark, so the best way to protect yourself is to take action before you sink into it.

The boundary between professional and personal life seems to be becoming increasingly blurred: how can employees and managers regain a healthy balance?

First, you have to accept that a boundary exists and that it deserves to be respected. This is a universal issue, but everyone has to find their own way of dealing with it. Some people strictly separate their tools by having a work phone and a personal phone, for example. Others find their balance in other ways, depending on their habits and pace of life.
With my clients, we always start by identifying their personal needs, then we build concrete strategies to meet them: turning off the phone in the evening and/or at the weekend, avoiding emails while on holiday. Or, conversely, setting aside a specific time if that brings relief. The idea is to create a clear framework for preserving energy while remaining effective.

For managers, the situation is particularly delicate. They must ensure both the production and daily functioning of their team and meet the objectives set by the company, while remaining efficient and available themselves. This role requires juggling sometimes conflicting priorities: being a role model for the team, protecting their employees from overwork, while protecting themselves from burnout. It is a constant balancing act: a manager who does not set boundaries risks passing on their own overload to their teams or encouraging them to ignore their own limits.  On the other hand, a manager who is too distant may leave their employees to cope with pressure on their own. Finding the right balance requires self-awareness, vigilance and the courage to say no when necessary. Supporting managers means helping them to identify these tensions, prioritise their responsibilities and establish a framework that protects both their employees' health and their own. It is not just a matter of managing emergencies or daily tasks, but of creating a sustainable dynamic where performance and well-being coexist.
Authentic communication is essential: managers must listen to their employees' limitations, and everyone must dare to express them. Responsibility is therefore shared: the manager opens the dialogue, everyone looks after their health, and the company provides information and raises awareness about stress and burnout.

What advice would you give to managers and executives to prevent digital burnout, both for themselves and their teams?

The first step is to inform. We must dare to talk about burnout, dispel myths and share responsibilities. Even short conferences or awareness-raising workshops are often enough to break down many taboos and preconceptions. Next, we need to equip managers and teams with concrete tools to implement a management style that supports well-being rather than exhaustion. Ideally, every company should have a stress map, built using psychosocial risk surveys, to identify areas to monitor and take action where necessary. There are many tools available to help people learn how to manage their stress... but they need to know that these tools exist and, above all, use them on a daily basis.
Above all, it is essential not to reduce burnout to a mental illness. The majority of people affected by stress and burnout do not suffer from mental disorders; they experience profound exhaustion as a result of accumulated fatigue, stress and lack of recovery. Understanding burnout as a state of overall exhaustion, rather than an individual pathology, allows us to take early action and provide appropriate solutions, both for the individual and their work environment. Too often, burnout is treated as an individual problem... when in fact it is above all a collective and organisational issue that involves and impacts the entire company... and its employees.