Feature
Do your employees take on extra work, even when they’re already swamped? Do you message them outside of their typical workday? Do people rarely use their paid time off? Do you praise those who go above and beyond, even if it affects their personal life?
If you answered yes to these questions, your organization may be guilty of toxic productivity.
Toxic productivity is the compulsion to continue to work at the expense of personal and mental health and well-being, explained Jennifer Moss, a workplace expert and author of "Why Are We Here?" It may involve categorizing people who stay late and answer emails on weekends "heroes" — and when leaders model this behavior, it sends a message to employees that the behavior is expected.
Toxic productivity doesn't only cause problems for employees — it affects companies, too. But by recognizing the signs, it is possible to avoid. Here’s how.
What Is Toxic Productivity?
"It’s the need to be productive at all times, that work comes before everything else — before your personal life, before your health," said Patricia Grabarek, co-host of the Thriving at Work podcast and co-author of "Leading for Wellness."
"Ultimately, if an organization is guilty of a culture of toxic productivity, then they're really expecting this from folks or even celebrating it," she said.
Toxic productivity stems from the prevalence of hustle culture and how success is often defined by status and wealth, she continued, which leads people to think they need to work extra hard to get there.
A 2025 survey of 1,160 U.S. workers by LiveCareer found that 77% of employees take on extra tasks beyond their job descriptions every week, and 93% are burned out as a result.
Workers feel pressure to take on extra work and always be available to get ahead or to just keep their jobs, said Jasmine Escalera, a career expert at LiveCareer.
The Signs of Toxic Productivity
A tell-tale sign of toxic productivity is when leaders encourage or reward workers to go above and beyond, she said. Other signs include an emphasis on being a “fast-paced organization” where people wear many hats, and the expectation for workers to be available outside designated working hours.
Another factor is a constant focus on profitability and growth, which encourages “aggressive productivity,” Grabarek said.
Return-to-office mandates may be a “symptom of a toxic productivity problem,” she added. Companies often think productivity declines when employees work from home, when study after study have shown this is wrong.
Artificial intelligence may also contribute to the trend. As more companies embrace the technology to automate tasks and boost output, employees may feel pressure to work harder to justify their role, Moss said. With AI, companies need to rethink how they measure productivity and resist the temptation to automatically fill hours freed up by the technology with new tasks.
How It Affects Companies and Employees
Employee burnout is a major consequence of toxic productivity, Escalera said. The result can actually be reduced productivity, more mistakes and missed deadlines, as well as a lack of motivation and disengagement. And this comes at a time when worker engagement hit a 10-year low, with just 31% of employees saying they’re engaged with their jobs in 2024, according to Gallup.
“Performance declines with low engagement,” Grabarek said. “Then, there’s the physical and mental health tolls. We see people burning out, high levels of exhaustion.”
All of this can lead to increased turnover, she added.
Toxic productivity disproportionately affects women, Moss added. In many instances, women take on more unpaid labor, both at work and at home.
How to Avoid Toxic Productivity
Companies should start by examining the associated behaviors related to toxic productivity, Escalera said. If your organization encourages it, there are ways to change.
Define and Model Boundaries
The average workday for a full-time employee is 8.5 hours. Yet many workers exceed that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Research by Stanford University and IZA in 2014 found people's stop being productive when they work over 50 hours a week.
Start by designating start and finish times for employees and stick to it, Moss said. Workers who log off at the end of their workday had 20% higher productivity scores than those who worked after hours, according to Slack research.
Company leaders should model this behavior by not messaging employees outside this time frame — or making it clear they don’t expect a response until the next workday, Escalera said. They should also encourage employees to disconnect during non-working hours and to take time off, Moss said.
Leaders must “walk the talk and create boundaries,” Moss said. “Employees can’t be what they can’t see.”
Conference
Oct
20
Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo Orlando 2025
Register
Conference
Oct
27
Gartner HR Symposium/Xpo Orlando 2025
Register
Help Employees Prioritize Tasks
Make it clear that employees aren’t expected to overload themselves with extra work, Grabarek said. However, if they feel overwhelmed or a more pressing task comes up, help employees identify the most important task and then push other tasks aside or delegate them.
“Once these leaders start to show this correct behavior, that's when they start encouraging employees to follow that approach,” she said.
Employees should also be encouraged to discuss boundaries and new ways of working to help them be productive without harming their mental health, Grabarek added.
Cut Back on Meetings
If your organization tends to host a lot of meetings, consider scaling back, Moss said. The jump in the number of meetings since the pandemic has led to "meeting fatigue.”
It also takes a toll on productivity. Nearly 80% of workers say the number of meetings they're in makes it difficult to complete work, which leads many to work overtime to compensate, according to an Atlassian survey. They also report feeling drained on days with several meetings
Company leaders should focus on giving employees time to function at their best and minimize meeting-related interruptions, Escalera said.
Rethink Your Definition of Productivity — and How It’s Rewarded
Productivity should be measured in goals, Moss said. This means if an employee meets a goal early, don’t pile on more work.
Leaders should also give managers the authority to provide flexibility to employees to work remotely or autonomously, she added.
Rather than praising people for going above and beyond and potentially overworking, Escalera suggested leaders should recognize healthy and sustainable working habits, and offer resources to recognize and address burnout.
"It would be interesting if companies started to say, ‘We want to reward you for setting boundaries. We want to reward you for coming to us when you need support in terms of your workload,'" she said.
Ultimately, Escalera said many organizations need to rethink their culture and the behaviors they consciously or unconsciously encourage. “Fostering a healthy work culture where balance, where enjoyment, where growth is really at the forefront is the right thing to do,” she said.
Editor's Note: Read more about the productivity paradox below:
- Can Cracking Down on Meetings Increase Productivity? — Shopify's decision to drastically cut back on meetings is intended to encourage productivity. But does it work?
- Perplexed About Productivity? You're Not Alone — Leaders cite low productivity as their biggest challenge, but do they even know what to measure?
- Can We Finally Escape the Productivity Paradox? — Productivity is the wrong measure of human performance in the 21st century.
