It’s obvious: our relationship with work has been profoundly transformed.
Something has cracked.
On the socio-economic side, the explanations overlap: the lingering effects of Covid, intergenerational fatigue, and a context saturated with bad news (geopolitical, environmental, social violence) pushing many of us to ask: “What’s the point of what I’m doing, and at what cost?”
Open TikTok, Instagram or Facebook, scroll in the evening and close the app: a sense of emptiness or overload sets in.
From an HR perspective, the observation is similar: teams are physically back, but not mentally. They are back at work, but out of breath.
As a result, some mentally disconnect, others leave the labour market entirely.
And what if this wasn’t an individual fragility, but a work experience?
For Hans De Witte, emeritus professor of work psychology at KU Leuven, burnout is essentially caused by work itself and is mainly about the work experience.
The key reason burnout appears lies in the work performed and its characteristics.
Let’s take a closer look at these company cultures that hurt.
The real issue: emotional load
What we observe in the field is that harmful work climates rarely come from a single factor: it’s a combination of meaning, inclusion and psychological safety.
These phenomena are interconnected and generate suffering — a true blind spot in our current vision of work.
Engagement at work is still assessed through a transactional lens: salary, extra benefits, schedule flexibility, remote work, training, and growth opportunities. All of this matters, but it is no longer enough to ensure solid retention.
Today, many people seek meaning. As a result, working for an organisation that contradicts our values activates what is known as ethical distress — an intense moral fatigue that subtly leads to disengagement. Another phenomenon also fuels exhaustion: bullshit jobs, roles with low social value, disconnected from reality.
And this is not an isolated feeling: 15% of Belgians say they often/always feel “emotionally drained by their work”.
When the organisation exhausts people, talent protects itself
In a Brussels scale-up I support, turnover reached 43% in 2025: nearly one out of two people left the organisation within 12 months. In the internal survey, two elements stood out as particularly fragile: inclusion and psychological safety.
The first answers the question: “Am I respected, legitimate, and treated fairly here? Can I contribute without having to transform or hide myself?”
The second answers the thorny question: “Can I speak up, ask a question, report a problem or say that I’m not doing well… without being punished, ridiculed or excluded?”
People suffering from ethical distress, stuck in a bullshit job, or working in an organisation with low inclusion and low psychological safety do not leave overnight. They first put protection mechanisms in place: they withdraw, go silent, become cynical, and do the bare minimum to cope.
Then the signals appear: drop in quality, mistakes, irritability, emotions that are harder to contain, and increasingly frequent absences.
And when nothing changes, protection becomes exit: absences grow longer… or they simply leave.
At Equal&UP, we measure and address it as a system: meaning, safety and fairness to retain talent
We’ve understood that adjusting salaries, adding table football to the office, or organising more afterworks does not compensate for a damaging climate.
What wears people out is the emotional load generated by a blurry, unjust or unsafe work environment.
What can change the situation?
First key reflex for any leader: get support from an internal or external HR service. If the problem is broader — spanning several departments or persisting year after year — experts in inclusion & workplace wellbeing can help.
Here are some levers we particularly value at Equal&UP, tested and approved by our clients.
1. Restore meaning
It often starts here — though it’s not the easiest!
Clarify the “why” behind each job, reconnect work to its impact by setting objectives (max 3 per quarter) and monitoring them regularly, stop contradictory demands (e.g. “top quality for yesterday”).
2. Create safety
Encourage open speech, normalise questions and disagreement, address microaggressions before they become a culture.
An anonymous question box, quarterly meetings giving the floor to teams through anonymous forms — simple rituals with big impact.
3. Restore fairness
Make the rules of the game visible (decisions, opportunities): explain the criteria, reduce the invisible inequalities of daily work.
Deep down, inclusion is not a “value” displayed on a wall: it’s a lived experience that protects mental health and fuels engagement.
When the climate is fair and safe, energy flows back into contribution. When it isn’t, energy shifts to protection… then to departure.
The question is simple: Does your organisation give energy to your people, or does it take it from them?
Ferdaous LAHRICHI, Founder of Equal&UP – Inclusion & Diversity
Read the article "The war for talent and new non-financial retention strategies".
