“Work, work, work, like Rihanna,” wrote rapper LEX — and it turned out to be more than just a lyric. It was the expression of a harsh reality. For many young workers in Greece, especially those belonging to the “Gen Z” and “Millennials” generations, professional burnout is not a theory — it’s an everyday experience. You wake up already feeling exhausted. You give more than you have because you simply can’t stop.
Many grew up believing that if you love your job, it won’t feel like a burden. In reality, however, work has become a machine of exhaustion: low wages, endless hours, and constant pressure to perform — whether in a hospital, a classroom, or an office decorated with bean bags and slogans on the walls. Burnout makes no distinctions. It hits enthusiastic and qualified people, making them feel perpetually inadequate. Fatigue turns into guilt, and exhaustion becomes a character flaw. And always the same refrain: “That’s how the market is.” But this is a market with soaring rents, soaring prices everywhere, and wages that don’t add up.
Young people today work harder than ever before but, unlike previous post-war generations, they don’t know if they will ever own a home, support a family, or manage to save a single euro. The sense of frustration intensifies, and weariness becomes the norm.
The Hardest Working
According to official Eurostat data (May 2025), workers in Greece log the highest actual weekly working hours in the EU. While the European average officially stands at 36 hours, in Greece it reaches 39.8. The gap is even more pronounced in sectors such as agriculture, mining, and construction, where weekly hours exceed 41.
A study by the research institute INE GSEE (Oct.-Nov. 2023) highlights a widespread phenomenon: 52% of workers report working beyond their contractual obligations, while 66% of men and 63% of women receive no pay or only partial pay for overtime. In sectors like education, healthcare, hospitality, and IT, these percentages exceed 75%. Weekend work, night shifts, sudden schedule changes, and work during “free time” reveal a systematic deregulation. Indeed, 25% say they work during their personal time to meet demands.
Work in Greece is increasingly associated with intensification and unequal treatment. People aged 30–40 work the longest hours, often unpaid and without personal time. An ETUI study shows that workers aged 25–34 are the most vulnerable to burnout risk. The typically poor quality of the work environment and lack of protection lead to daily exhaustion. As Andreas Stoimenidis, Vice President of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work and Secretary of Occupational Health and Safety at GSEE, notes: “The need for institutional protection and recognition of psychosocial risks at work is not just urgent—it’s a matter of survival.” He adds, “National and European statistics confirm what we live through: burnout dominates the Greek work environment, making our country a negative leader in yet another labor-related field.”
The Invisible “Epidemic”
Professional burnout is not, of course, limited to Greece. According to ETUI, approximately 10,000 people in Europe die annually due to work-related stress: 6,190 from cardiovascular diseases and 4,843 from suicides directly or indirectly linked to work. Women are particularly affected due to job insecurity and harassment. Stoimenidis emphasizes that “burnout is legislated by the government,” referring to the Hatzidakis and Georgiadis laws that allow 13-hour workdays, unpaid overtime, six-day workweeks, and zero-hour contracts, while restricting collective bargaining. These conditions suppress wages and force thousands of workers to take second or even third jobs. There are even reports of uniformed personnel forced to work as delivery drivers.
Despite shortages in key sectors—80,000 in tourism, 50,000 in construction, and many more in agriculture—the “market” continues to operate with fewer workers who are expected to cover two or three positions simultaneously, often underpaid and exhausted. As a result, burnout threatens not only health but social cohesion and birth rates, while unquestionably intensifying migration and the so-called “brain drain,” especially among those aged 30–40.
It should be noted that the ETUC has called on the European Commission for immediate directives addressing psychosocial risks at work, recognizing the need to equate mental and physical health. The European Commission has already formed a legislative preparation group (March 2025), while EU OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) dedicates its 2026–28 campaign to mental health in the workplace.
