Preventing employee burnout: causes, recognition, solutions, and best practices in European SMEs

Abstract

This thesis examines employee burnout prevention in European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating hybrid and fully remote work models. Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources, Conservation of Resources, and Social Exchange Theory frameworks, it adopts an exploratory qualitative case study design grounded in six semi-structured interviews with employees who experienced burnout and managers who supported affected team members across five European countries. Inductive thematic analysis identified four primary burnout drivers: role overload, boundary blurring, toxic organisational culture, and strategic overcommitment, alongside a systematic recognition gap at both individual and organisational levels. The findings highlight a set of low- and zero-cost preventive strategies, including human-centric digital monitoring, protective leadership, psychological safety culture, and capacity honesty, that are practically viable within SME resource constraints. Seven recommendations are offered for SMEs seeking to prevent burnout without large-scale investment, with organisational toxicity identified as the foundational prerequisite that all other interventions depend upon.