This paper aims to argue that many organizations are naming employee exhaustion too narrowly. Workload and flexibility still matter, but many employees are also struggling with a boundary problem: work is too easy to reenter and too hard to leave behind.
This study develops a practitioner-focused viewpoint using research on psychological detachment, boundary management, electronic communication and work intensification, alongside observations from hybrid, on-site and technology-enabled work.
Flexible work has solved real problems, but flexibility alone does not create recovery. Employees can remain tethered to work through unclear response norms, always-available channels, role spillover and AI-enabled acceleration. These pressures can make employees appear off the clock while still carrying work demands into nonwork time.
Human Resources (HR) leaders should treat psychological detachment as a work design issue, not a private self-care assignment. This study offers practical actions related to communication norms, manager behavior, recovery cues, artificial intelligence (AI) implementation and employee listening.
The study reframes work–life balance as a strategic HR question about whether organizations create conditions that allow employees to step out of the work role long enough to recover.
