Nicosia, Cyprus. Cyprus has recorded the highest levels of employee burnout in Europe, with new survey data showing elevated physical and emotional exhaustion among workers compared with other countries.
Survey findings on physical exhaustion
Findings from the European Working Conditions Survey 2024 released on Wednesday and conducted by Eurofound indicate that nearly 44 per cent of workers in Cyprus report feeling physically exhausted at the end of the working day, the highest rate among the 35 countries surveyed.
This compares with significantly lower levels elsewhere, including 18 per cent in the Netherlands.
Across the European Union, 8 per cent of workers say they “always” feel physically exhausted, while 20 per cent report feeling this way “most of the time”.
Gender differences
The data also reports gender differences, with 30 per cent of women reporting frequent physical exhaustion compared with 26 per cent of men.
Work intensity index and workload structure
Cyprus records low performance in the work intensity index, scoring 56 points compared with higher scores of 71 in countries such as Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Poland.
The index measures factors including time pressure and strict deadlines, suggesting differences in how workloads are structured across countries.
Working schedules and extended work weeks
Data shows that 21 per cent of workers in Cyprus report working six or seven days per week, placing the country among those with the highest rates of extended working schedules alongside Greece at 38 per cent and Italy at 34 per cent.
At the European level, the dominant working pattern remains five days per week at 35 to 40 hours, reported by 51 per cent of employees.
Other indicators of workforce stress
Separate findings from Gallup recently placed Cyprus among the most stressed workforces in Europe.
How do your working hours compare with the five-day, 35-to-40-hour workweek reported by most employees in Europe?
