The risk of burnout now affects 36% of employees in Luxembourg, according to the Chamber of Employees’ Quality of Work Index 2025, representing a significant increase in just one year.
The Luxembourg government has adopted a National Mental Health Plan for the period 2024-2028, but its practical implementation within companies remains insufficiently systematic.
HR departments have a central role to play in transforming prevention into a sustainable corporate culture, benefiting both employees and the competitiveness of organisations.
The Quality of Work Index, an annual survey conducted by the Luxembourg Chamber of Employees (CSL) in collaboration with the University of Luxembourg, is currently the most comprehensive benchmark for measuring the well-being of employees in the Grand Duchy, including both residents and cross-border workers. Its latest edition, published in 2025 based on more than 3,100 interviews, is unequivocal: the burnout indicator stands at 40.9 points, up from 33.7 in 2024, now affecting 36% of respondents.
The high risk of depression has increased 2.6-fold over the past ten years, affecting 15% of employees, whilst suicidal thoughts affect 6.6% of those surveyed – three times more than a decade ago. More broadly, 51% of employees report an increased or high level of psychological distress, a proportion that is more pronounced among women than men.
“We are seeing a downward trend that has been confirmed over several years, and which is even more pronounced than during the health crisis. This should be a wake-up call for us all. Employees are falling ill. Working conditions are making them ill, and we need to understand why,” warns Nora Back, President of the Chamber of Employees.
These trends are amplified by structural changes in the Luxembourg market. With nearly 47% of its 525,000 employees being cross-border workers, according to STATEC, the Grand Duchy presents a unique situation where the pressure associated with highly demanding professions, such as finance, IT and law, is combined with hybrid working arrangements that blur the line between work and private life.
“We are seeing an erosion of the resources that protect and motivate employees. Job security is declining, whilst participation in decision-making has stagnated since 2020, as have opportunities for continuing professional development,” highlights David Büchel, executive advisor at the CSL and occupational psychologist. This decline in positive resources, combined with increasing pressures, constitutes what occupational psychology researchers refer to as an imbalance between demands and resources – a recognised high-risk factor for burnout and depression.
"We are seeing an erosion of the resources that protect and motivate employees."
In light of this situation, Luxembourg has launched an institutional response. The Luxembourg government has drawn up a National Mental Health Plan (PNSM) for the period 2024–2028, approved by the Government Council on 14 July 2023, with the primary aim of improving the mental health and well-being of people in Luxembourg, preventing mental health disorders and ensuring access to high-quality treatment.
In terms of labour law, the Labour and Mines Inspectorate (ITM) points out that employers are required to take concrete measures to prevent psychosocial risks, and that burnout may be recognised as an occupational illness under certain conditions via the Accident Insurance Association (AAA).
However, there is currently no legal framework in Luxembourg for the mandatory assessment of risks related to mental workload. The prevailing approaches in companies remain largely reactive, individual and curative – such as stress management training or counselling services – rather than preventive and structural. This gap between institutional ambition and actual practice is one of the main challenges to be addressed, particularly as neighbouring countries such as Germany have already incorporated the assessment of risks associated with mental workload into their legislation on health and safety at work.
There are, however, concrete initiatives in place. The ASTF (Association for Occupational Health in the Tertiary and Financial Sectors) has developed the Lighthouse program, a multi-disciplinary scheme lasting several months that combines health assessments, psychological support, sophrology and support groups, aimed at employees suffering from burnout.
The Chamber of Employees, for its part, offers the Stressberodungsstell, a free counselling service developed in collaboration with the Luxembourg League for Mental Health, accessible to all employees in the Grand Duchy. These schemes reflect a growing awareness, even if their scope remains limited given the scale of the needs identified each year by field surveys.
The question now facing leaders and HR managers is no longer whether mental health deserves to be taken into account, but how to embed it sustainably at the heart of corporate strategy. Assessing the risks associated with mental workload is not a bureaucratic hurdle, but a tool for the future for healthy, learning and responsible organisations. It removes mental workload from the realm of taboo and places responsibility where it belongs: within the organisation itself. This shift in perspective, from the individual to the organisation, is fundamental to producing systemic and lasting effects rather than one-off responses.
Several levers can be deployed in a complementary manner. Upstream, prevention involves addressing the organisational factors that generate risks: excessive workload, lack of clarity regarding roles, lack of recognition, and limited involvement in decision-making.
Training line managers in the early detection of distress signals is another crucial investment. The ASTF’s Healthy Leadership programme aims to foster empathetic and caring work environments where everyone can thrive, based on the observation that leaders who are aware of the impact of their actions on their teams contribute significantly to collective mental health.
In a Luxembourg labour market facing shortages across many skilled roles, the ability to demonstrate a culture of care and a genuine commitment to well-being has become a key differentiator in attracting and retaining talent. Employees, and in particular younger generations, are increasingly attentive to employers’ actual practices in these areas, looking well beyond official statements. Investing in the mental health of one’s staff also means securing one’s employer brand in the long term.
The data compiled by the Quality of Work Index clearly shows that working conditions in the Grand Duchy have a lasting impact on a significant proportion of the working population. The National Mental Health Plan 2024–2028 provides an encouraging institutional framework, but it is at the organisational level that real change will take place.
Companies that integrate the prevention of psychosocial risks into their day-to-day management practices, train their managers and create genuine spaces for dialogue on workload will not only be acting in a socially responsible manner: they will be laying the foundations for sustainable performance, rooted in the trust and well-being of their teams.
