Workers are increasingly burnt out - and AI nagging and notification pings aren't helping

• UK workers are 11% more overwhelmed by notifications than the global average, Atlassian study finds
• Workers want flexibility to choose their hours, including focus time
• ‘Asynchronous’ work could be the answer – more below

UK workers are more stressed and burnt out than their global peers, new Atlassian research has found, with 70% saying they experience work-related stress and nearly half (49%) feel regularly burnt out.

Atlassian found one in five workers spend more than four hours per day responding to instant messages, and one in 10 spend more than seven hours per week in meetings.

This has led to three in four (73%) feeling overwhelmed by continual notifications and real-time communications, which is 11% above the global average.

UK workers are sick of notifications

It’s not just during work hours that employees are facing struggles – as many as one in three say they don’t even have control over when they work, noting a lack of flexibility in a post-pandemic, hybrid world. Around three-fifths (58%) still follow fixed daily schedules, with 34% failing to reach even two hours of focused work per day.

Looking ahead, it’s not just businesses that are wishing they had more output from workers – workers themselves want more time to think and create.

Atlassian praised asynchronous work for its ability to provide respite to workers – a type of work where colleagues collaborate and complete tasks independently during their own schedules, for example by leaving comments in documents.

Two-thirds (65%) of those who use this more indirect working method say it’s already improved their mental health, with 32% noting less pressure to respond to messages immediately.

This report on the state of workers serves as an important reminder for companies to consider implementing more flexible schedules, to reduce reliance on real-time communication via asynchronous work practices, and to promote focus times.

Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.