EU Parliament Wants Rules Against Burnout: Employers Mainly Fear the Paperwork Stress

On Tuesday the European Parliament adopted, by 413 votes to 210 with 29 abstentions, a report calling for binding EU rules on psychosocial risks at work. It asks for regular risk assessments, especially of excessive workloads, a right to disconnect, and a risk check before major reorganisations such as new remote-work rules or digital worker monitoring. According to the EU's workplace safety agency, 29 per cent of workers experienced stress, depression or anxiety caused or worsened by their job in 2025. Among 25 to 39-year-olds it was 32 per cent.

The vote is not binding. Parliament is asking the Commission to propose a law, and the Commission has three months to respond. Employers' organisations oppose new EU rules and warn of red tape, particularly for small firms.

Almost a third of workers are under psychological strain from their jobs. Employers are mostly worried about the strain of filling in forms.

For Germany this is not new. Since 2013 the Occupational Safety and Health Act has explicitly required employers to assess psychological strain. The problem is practice: many companies have never done it, and inspections are rare. Instead there are fruit baskets and resilience seminars in which staff learn to cope better with too much work. Whether the amount of work might be the problem is then referred to a separate workshop.