Healthy Work Life Barometer 2026: Growing workload poses a challenge to the workplace; the solution lies in a sense of community

Although the overall assessment of workplace health has improved, the workload remains heavy. As many as 80% of respondents agree with the barometer’s statement that “work life is more stressful than ever.” Especially in small and medium-sized companies, the combination described by the barometer—a better overall picture but high stress—quickly becomes evident in everyday life. When a key employee becomes overburdened, the impact is not limited to an isolated incident but affects the entire company’s operations, performance, and employees’ ability to cope.

– Most of us who have been in the workforce for a while recognize a phenomenon known as intensification: the pace of work has accelerated and demands have increased. We’re doing more, faster, and often all at the same time, without any increase in time or resources. This increases the sense of burden and challenges both organizations and individuals to find new ways to ensure that we remain functional, says Annamari Heikkilä, Terveystalo’s leading organizational psychologist.

Alongside the accelerating pace of work life, psychological safety has emerged as a prominent theme in workplace discussions and research. This concept emphasizes not the individual’s internal qualities but the community’s ability to create a safe social foundation. According to Heikkilä, it is hardly a coincidence that these phenomena go hand in hand.

– This isn’t just a minor factor contributing to a pleasant work environment; it’s a factor that has been shown to predict better learning, reflective ability, innovation, and collective performance. There are always tensions and contradictions in the workplace that can be true at the same time: the pace of work is accelerating, yet Finnish workplaces also have many positive and healthy aspects. Psychological safety offers a key lens through which to examine these tensions.

In a close-knit work community, the strength of everyday life lies in the proximity of decision-making, and therefore one’s own workplace is perceived as healthier

One of the barometer’s most important findings regarding smaller work communities is that while only 48% consider working life in general to be healthy, 68% perceive their own organization as healthy. This difference between the general perception and personal experience indicates that workplaces can influence their own daily lives, and the closer-knit the work community, the faster the impact is visible.

– In smaller work communities, it’s easier to have everyday conversations and keep the hierarchy flatter. Factors that promote health include, for example, the fact that decision-making doesn’t stray far from day-to-day operations, work flow issues can be resolved quickly, and the rules of the game are easier to agree on together, Heikkilä explains.

The workload stems from an accumulation of tasks

In the open-ended responses to the Barometer, the unhealthy nature of working life is often attributed to the fact that work is concentrated on a smaller number of people, and the most conscientious employees end up overburdened. 
“Finland is a peculiar place; here, effective performance is rewarded with an increasing workload,” noted one respondent in the open-ended responses.

The closer-knit the work community, the more easily work piles up and the faster the impact is felt. On the other hand, protective factors can also be found in the Barometer’s responses: 74% believe that Finland is a good place for employees when compared internationally. If we build a functional daily routine, we have a good chance of retaining our skilled workers.

– This is actually a universal phenomenon all over the world, as there are always those who shoulder more responsibility and are more flexible. To ensure that the workload is meaningful for everyone, it is important to continuously manage performance in day-to-day operations. We will never reach a situation where there is no variation in people’s skills, abilities, and life circumstances such that workloads could be exactly the same for everyone. The most important thing is to manage fairly, not rigidly, and to have open discussions about workloads with the teams, Heikkilä advises.

It is precisely in these situations that a preventive approach is also emphasized in occupational health care collaboration.

– When workloads, work structures, and everyday practices are reviewed together early enough, it is possible to identify the accumulation of stress and the associated risks before they manifest as a decline in work ability. It’s worth actively developing work together, as this saves a lot of money and ensures the future functioning of both people and organizations, Heikkilä notes.

The Barometer also points the way on how to manage workload

The Barometer also identified which themes offer the most opportunities for the future. The three clear frontrunners were supporting continuous learning, technological development, and work atmosphere and community spirit. For organizational leadership, this is a good reminder: workload is not solved by strengthening the individual, but by building structures into everyday life that support learning, community spirit, and smooth operations.

– One of the most important structures for preventing burnout is well-defined job roles: when people know what is expected of them and what they are rewarded for, they maintain a sense of control, which protects them from burnout. In today’s working life, roles are constantly changing, and it is not enough to define them once; instead, it is important to have regular dialogue between supervisors and employees, Heikkilä explains.

According to Heikkilä, another important protective factor is effective teamwork and meaningful interaction.

– High-quality dialogue ensures that people thrive and learn. There is an effective remedy for the hectic pace of working life: unhurried time spent together; valuing this is a concrete leadership action that is definitely worth the effort.