Happiness at Work: Between Business Strategy and the Legal Duty to Prevent Burnout

 Happiness at Work: Between Business Strategy and the Legal Duty to Prevent Burnout

By Joana Capaz Coelho

For many workers, summer represents a period of pause, physical and emotional recovery, and reconnection with their personal lives. Holidays make it possible to interrupt, albeit temporarily, the intense pace of everyday professional life, reduce stress levels, and restore energy. However, now that September marks the full resumption of professional activity, it is important to ask whether organisations are genuinely prepared to preserve this balance or whether, on the contrary, they reproduce work models that quickly lead to overload, exhaustion, and burnout.

It is precisely in this context of returning to work that the reflection on happiness at work acquires particular relevance. More than a concept associated with individual well-being, happiness at work has now become a strategic factor for organisations and a dimension that is gaining increasing relevance from a legal perspective, through the duties to protect workers’ physical and mental health.

Happiness at work is no longer an abstract concept or a concern limited to human resources departments; it has assumed a strategic role in organisational management. This is one of the main conclusions of the “Happiness Works 2026” study, published by Forbes Portugal, which highlights a paradigm shift in the way companies approach the well-being of their employees.

Conducted among 8,174 Portuguese professionals across 11 sectors of activity, the study assigns organisational happiness an overall score of 4.0 out of 5. The findings show that organisations that foster environments characterised by trust, purpose, and work–life balance are better positioned to attract, retain, and develop talent.

Nevertheless, the study also reveals a reality that deserves careful consideration. Despite high levels of commitment and motivation, clear signs of imbalance coexist with these positive indicators, and organisations cannot afford to ignore them. As Georg Dutschke, co-founder of Happiness Works, points out, this discrepancy between the effort invested and the reward perceived by workers is associated with tangible risks, including physical and emotional exhaustion, deteriorating well-being, and an increased intention to leave. At the same time, work is no longer assessed solely in terms of the results it produces, but is also increasingly valued according to the quality of the experience it provides to those who perform it.

The study also identifies purpose as one of the most determining factors of happiness at work. Organisations that are able to align their mission with their employees’ personal goals foster more committed teams, healthier working environments, and better organisational outcomes. More than occasional benefits or financial incentives, trust, recognition, leadership quality, and a sense of belonging are emerging as genuine drivers of happiness.

Another particularly relevant aspect highlighted by the study concerns time management. Workers increasingly value the possibility of reconciling their professional and personal lives, attributing to time an importance that, in many cases, exceeds its monetary dimension. In response to this reality, many organisations have been rethinking their working models, adopting hybrid arrangements, more flexible working hours, and reductions in meetings and redundant tasks, while, in some cases, experimentally introducing a four-day working week. As Forbes Portugal concludes, work–life balance has ceased to be merely a benefit and has assumed a decisive role in talent retention and organisational performance.

The “Happiness Works 2026” study also highlights a particularly significant paradigm shift: the most effective organisations have moved away from viewing happiness as merely an emotional outcome experienced by workers and have instead come to regard it as a genuine indicator of the quality of the organisational system. From this perspective, well-being is no longer an ancillary benefit provided by the company, but rather a consequence of sound management practices. The data also show that happier employees have lower levels of absenteeism, a lower intention to leave the organisation, and higher levels of productivity. In a context of ongoing transformation in the labour market, companies that are able to create environments characterised by trust, purpose, and balance are better positioned to attract, retain, and develop talent.

This evolution is also reflected in the legal sphere. Although Portuguese law does not expressly recognise a “right to happiness at work”, the protection of workers’ health and safety constitutes a fundamental dimension of Labour Law.

First and foremost, Article 59(1)(c) of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic enshrines the right of all workers to working conditions that ensure hygiene, safety, and health. In implementation of this constitutional principle, Article 127 of the Labour Code imposes on employers a duty to provide good working conditions, both from a physical and moral perspective, as well as to adopt measures aimed at preventing occupational risks.

In turn, Law No. 102/2009 of 10 September, which establishes the legal framework for the promotion of safety and health at work, requires employers to ensure safety and health conditions in all aspects related to work, through the identification, assessment, and prevention of occupational risks. This obligation follows expressly from Article 15 of that statute, which requires the reduction of psychosocial risks and the adaptation of work to the worker.

This preventive duty assumes particular relevance in light of the risks associated with current forms of work organisation, including psychosocial risks, whose importance has become increasingly prominent in the context of protecting workers’ mental health.

It is precisely in this context that burnout assumes particular significance. Recognised by the World Health Organization as an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, burnout is characterised by a state of physical and emotional exhaustion, accompanied by feelings of detachment from one’s work and reduced professional efficacy.

Although burnout does not yet have an autonomous definition under Portuguese Labour Law, this does not mean that it is legally irrelevant. Whenever work organisation, excessive workloads, inadequate rest periods, constant pressure, lack of recognition, or inappropriate leadership models contribute to the development of this phenomenon, the employer may be in breach of its legal obligations concerning occupational safety and health.

In this context, Law No. 83/2021 of 6 September is also of particular importance, as it strengthened the protection of work–life balance, notably by establishing the employer’s duty to refrain from contacting workers during their rest periods, except in cases of force majeure provided for by law (Article 199-A of the Labour Code, as introduced by Law No. 83/2021). This legislative framework highlights the importance attached to rest, disconnection from work, and the balanced organisation of working time as instruments for protecting workers’ health.

Preventing burnout therefore requires an integrated approach, involving the assessment of psychosocial risks, balanced work organisation, the promotion of healthy leadership practices, recognition of workers, the promotion of purpose, and respect for rest periods and work–life balance.

The message conveyed by the “Happiness Works 2026” study is clear: happiness at work is no longer merely an ancillary benefit, but has emerged as a genuine factor of organisational competitiveness and sustainability. From a legal perspective, this development translates into the growing importance attached to employers’ duties to protect workers’ physical and mental health, requiring organisations to adopt increasingly preventive approaches.

As summer draws to a close and organisations fully resume their activities, this may be an opportune moment to reconsider how work is organised. From a legal perspective, this evolution reflects the growing importance of employers’ duties of active prevention, signalling that mental health is no longer merely an ethical choice, but a legal obligation. In this sense, organisational happiness and burnout prevention may be understood as two sides of the same coin. Organisations that persist in work models conducive to exhaustion risk not only legal sanctions and intervention by labour inspection authorities, but also a loss of competitiveness in a market that increasingly values human capital. Promoting well-being is no longer a matter of courtesy on the part of Human Resources; today, it is essential to achieving sustainable organisational effectiveness and ensuring full compliance with Labour Law.

Happiness at work cannot be built through occasional initiatives, well-being sessions, or benefits designed to make the workplace more appealing. Nor can it be presented as an exclusively individual responsibility, as though workers were solely responsible for managing stress, setting boundaries, or preventing burnout. Happiness — or, at the very least, the possibility of working in a healthy environment — depends to a considerable extent on the conditions under which work is organised.

This is where the legal dimension becomes particularly relevant. If employers have a duty to protect workers’ health and safety and to prevent occupational risks, then burnout prevention cannot be treated as a merely optional measure or as a secondary management concern. The issue is not to guarantee that every worker is happy. It is to ensure that no one becomes ill because the way work is organised has made exhaustion inevitable.

We all know someone who has been through this. Someone who started taking work home, who could no longer switch off their phone, who began living in a state of constant exhaustion, who lost their motivation or who, quite simply, reached a point at which they could no longer carry on. Too often, we only recognise the seriousness of the situation when the body or the mind forces us to stop.

Perhaps that is precisely why prevention must begin before the breaking point.

Now that September marks the return to the usual pace of work and the redefining of goals, deadlines, and priorities, it is also important to ask: what kind of organisations do we want to build and, above all, at what cost do we want to be productive?

Because a truly sustainable organisation is not one that manages to extract more from its workers, but one that is able to achieve good results without compromising the health of those who make them possible.

Happiness at work may continue to be a business strategy. But preventing suffering, exhaustion, and burnout is not a matter of happiness: it is a matter of responsibility. And, increasingly, it is also a matter of legal responsibility.