Research

Boundaries at Work Statistics You Need to Know in 2026

By Selfism.Community Research Last updated: 1 September 2026

Boundaries are the most discussed and least measured part of modern working life. This page collects 83 statistics on the subject — what share of people cannot say no, how far the workday now bleeds into the evening, how much paid leave goes unused, and what all of it costs in health, retention and money. Every figure names its source and its year in plain text, and every source was read directly rather than copied from another statistics roundup. Journalists and researchers are welcome to quote any of it with attribution to Selfism.Community.

Key Boundary Statistics

The numbers most worth quoting, pulled from primary surveys and workplace telemetry rather than from other statistics roundups.

  1. 74% of workers say they struggle to take time off or disconnect from work. (Source: Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023)
  2. 52% of Americans say they at least somewhat often feel they cannot say “no” when someone asks them for something. (Source: YouGov, 2024)
  3. Employees are interrupted every 2 minutes during core work hours — roughly 275 times a day — by a meeting, email or chat. (Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025)
  4. 46% of workers who are offered paid time off take less of it than they are allowed. (Source: Pew Research Center, 2023)
  5. 745,000 people died in a single year from stroke and heart disease attributable to working 55 or more hours a week. (Source: WHO and ILO, 2021)
  6. 91% of UK adults experienced high or extreme levels of pressure or stress in the past year. (Source: Mental Health UK, The Burnout Report, 2026)
  7. 46% of workers name work-life balance as the main reason they stay in a role, against 23% who name pay. (Source: Randstad Workmonitor, 2026)
  8. Global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025, costing the world economy about $10 trillion in lost productivity. (Source: Gallup State of the Global Workplace, 2026)

Saying No, People-Pleasing and the Boundary Gap

Before boundaries fail at work, they usually fail as a personal habit. This is the best available public data on how widespread that habit is.

48% of self-described people-pleasers say it has made their life harder. Only 17% say it has made life easier. — YouGov, 2024
  1. 48% of Americans would definitely or probably describe themselves as people-pleasers; 47% would not. (Source: YouGov, 2024)
  2. Women (52%) are more likely than men (44%) to describe themselves as a people-pleaser. (Source: YouGov, 2024)
  3. 93% of Americans say they do at least one of nine polled people-pleasing behaviours somewhat or very often, and 7% say they often do all nine. (Source: YouGov, 2024)
  4. 17% of Americans very often feel they cannot say “no” when asked for something, and a further 35% feel this somewhat often. (Source: YouGov, 2024)
  5. 29% very often go to great lengths to avoid conflict; another 42% do so somewhat often. (Source: YouGov, 2024)
  6. 24% very often put other people’s needs first at the expense of their own; another 45% do so somewhat often. (Source: YouGov, 2024)
  7. Women are more likely than men to say they very often struggle to establish boundaries with others (15% vs 9%). (Source: YouGov, 2024)
  8. Among self-identified people-pleasers, 32% believe they were socialised into it and 52% think it comes naturally. (Source: YouGov, 2024)
  9. Americans are more than twice as likely to call people-pleasing always or usually a bad thing (36%) as a good thing (16%). (Source: YouGov, 2024)

Would Americans describe themselves as people-pleasers?

Source: YouGov, 2024. Sample of 1,122 US adult citizens; margin of error approximately 4%.

The Always-On Workday

Survey data tells you how people feel about boundaries. Workplace telemetry shows what actually happens to their day. These figures come from aggregated Microsoft 365 usage data plus a global survey.

Meetings after 8 p.m. are up 16% year over year, and by 10 p.m. nearly a third of active workers are back in their inboxes. — Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025
  1. Employees using Microsoft 365 are interrupted every 2 minutes during core hours — about 275 times a day — by a meeting, email or chat. (Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025)
  2. 40% of people who are online at 6 a.m. are already reviewing email for the day’s priorities. (Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025)
  3. Meetings held after 8 p.m. are up 16% year over year. (Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025)
  4. The average employee now sends or receives more than 50 messages outside of core business hours. (Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025)
  5. By 10 p.m., 29% of active workers have returned to their inboxes. (Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025)
  6. Nearly 20% of employees who work on the weekend are checking email before noon on both Saturday and Sunday. (Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025)
  7. Over 5% of employees are back in email on Sunday evenings at 6 p.m. or later. (Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025)
  8. 1 in 3 employees say the pace of work over the past five years has made it impossible to keep up. (Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025)
  9. 48% of employees — and 52% of leaders — say their work feels chaotic and fragmented. (Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025)
  10. 57% of meetings are ad hoc calls with no calendar invite, and 1 in 10 scheduled meetings is booked at the last minute. (Source: Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025)

The Time Off Nobody Takes

Paid leave is the most concrete boundary an employer can offer. Most workers decline to use all of it, and the stated reasons are almost entirely social rather than practical.

Among workers whose employer offers paid time off, 46% say they take less than they are allowed. — Pew Research Center, 2023
  1. 46% of workers offered paid time off take less than they are allowed; 48% take all of it. (Source: Pew Research Center, 2023)
  2. Among those who take less, 52% say they do not feel they need more time off. (Source: Pew Research Center, 2023)
  3. 49% worry they might fall behind at work if they took more time off. (Source: Pew Research Center, 2023)
  4. 43% say they feel badly about co-workers having to take on additional work. (Source: Pew Research Center, 2023)
  5. 19% worry that taking more time off might hurt their chances of advancement. (Source: Pew Research Center, 2023)
  6. 16% worry they might risk losing their job. (Source: Pew Research Center, 2023)
  7. 12% say their manager or supervisor discourages them from taking time off. (Source: Pew Research Center, 2023)
  8. Only 52% of employees say they always or often use all of their vacation time each year. (Source: Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023)
  9. Only 42% always or often have enough time for friends and family. (Source: Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023)

Why workers leave paid time off unused

Share of US workers who take less time off than allowed citing each reason. Source: Pew Research Center, 2023.

What Poor Boundaries Cost the Body

The first global analysis of the health burden of long working hours, jointly produced by the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization.

Working 55 or more hours a week is associated with a 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from ischaemic heart disease, compared with a 35 to 40 hour week. — WHO and ILO, 2021
  1. In 2016, 398,000 people died from stroke and 347,000 from heart disease as a result of having worked at least 55 hours a week — 745,000 deaths in total. (Source: WHO and ILO, 2021)
  2. Working 55 or more hours a week carries an estimated 35% higher risk of stroke versus a 35 to 40 hour week. (Source: WHO and ILO, 2021)
  3. The same pattern carries a 17% higher risk of dying from ischaemic heart disease. (Source: WHO and ILO, 2021)
  4. Between 2000 and 2016, deaths from heart disease attributable to long working hours rose 42%, and deaths from stroke rose 19%. (Source: WHO and ILO, 2021)
  5. 9% of the total global population now works 55 hours or more per week. (Source: WHO and ILO, 2021)
  6. 72% of these deaths occurred among men, and most were among people aged 60 to 79 who had worked long hours between the ages of 45 and 74. (Source: WHO and ILO, 2021)

Burnout: Scale, Causes and Consequences

Burnout is the clinical end-state of a sustained boundary failure. Gallup’s causal study remains the most-cited breakdown of why it happens; the UK figures are the most recent national measurement available.

Roughly two-thirds of full-time employees experience burnout on the job at least sometimes. — Gallup, 2018
  1. 23% of full-time employees report feeling burned out at work very often or always, and a further 44% sometimes. (Source: Gallup, 2018)
  2. The five biggest drivers of burnout are unfair treatment at work, unmanageable workload, lack of role clarity, lack of manager communication and support, and unreasonable time pressure. (Source: Gallup, 2018)
  3. Employees who strongly agree they have enough time to do their work are 70% less likely to experience high burnout. (Source: Gallup, 2018)
  4. Burned-out employees are 63% more likely to take a sick day. (Source: Gallup, 2018)
  5. Burned-out employees are 2.6 times as likely to be actively seeking a different job. (Source: Gallup, 2018)
  6. Burned-out employees are 23% more likely to visit an emergency room. (Source: Gallup, 2018)
  7. 91% of UK adults experienced high or extreme levels of pressure or stress in the past year, unchanged across three consecutive years. (Source: Mental Health UK, The Burnout Report, 2026)
  8. 1 in 5 UK workers (20%) took time off sick due to poor mental health caused by stress. (Source: Mental Health UK, The Burnout Report, 2026)
  9. Around half of workers always or often feel exhausted (52%) or stressed (49%). (Source: Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023)
  10. 40% of employees say their job negatively affects their mental well-being; 33% say it harms their physical well-being. (Source: Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023)

Workload, Unpaid Overtime and What Drives Stress

When workers are asked to name the cause rather than describe the symptom, the answers are consistently structural: too much work, and hours that run past the ones being paid for.

Regularly working unpaid overtime beyond contracted hours is now the second biggest driver of workplace stress in the UK. — Mental Health UK, 2026
  1. A high or increased workload is the top driver of workplace stress, cited by 42% of UK workers. (Source: Mental Health UK, The Burnout Report, 2026)
  2. Regularly working unpaid overtime beyond contracted hours is the second driver, cited by 33%. (Source: Mental Health UK, The Burnout Report, 2026)
  3. Fears about redundancy and job security come third, cited by 32%. (Source: Mental Health UK, The Burnout Report, 2026)
  4. Among workers aged 18 to 24 the figures are sharply higher: workload 57%, unpaid overtime 47%, feeling isolated at work 45% and job security 43%. (Source: Mental Health UK, The Burnout Report, 2026)
  5. Outside of work, the leading stress drivers for UK adults are poor sleep (59%), money worries (48%) and poor physical health (38%). (Source: Mental Health UK, The Burnout Report, 2026)
  6. 28% of UK adults cite problems in personal relationships as contributing to burnout. (Source: Mental Health UK, The Burnout Report, 2026)
  7. 29% of workers say their job is stressful all or most of the time, and 19% say it is overwhelming. (Source: Pew Research Center, 2023)
  8. Women are more likely than men to describe their job as stressful (31% vs 26%) and overwhelming (24% vs 15%). (Source: Pew Research Center, 2023)

Remote Work and the Erosion of the Edge

Remote and hybrid work removed the commute, which for most people was the only enforced boundary in the day. The data shows what replaced it.

93% of remote workers say setting work-life boundaries is important to them — 71% call it very important. — Buffer, 2023
  1. 93% of remote workers say work-life boundaries are important to them: 71% very important, 22% somewhat important. (Source: Buffer State of Remote Work, 2023)
  2. 44% of remote workers report working more this year than they did last year. (Source: Buffer State of Remote Work, 2023)
  3. 1 in 5 remote workers reports feeling more burnt out than a year ago. (Source: Buffer State of Remote Work, 2023)
  4. 62% of remote workers collaborate directly with teammates across multiple time zones. (Source: Buffer State of Remote Work, 2023)
  5. 60% of remote workers block time on their calendars for focused work. (Source: Buffer State of Remote Work, 2023)
  6. 36% plan to increase their working hours in response to rising living costs, and 40% have taken a second role. (Source: Randstad Workmonitor, 2026)

The Manager Factor

Individual boundary-setting has a ceiling set by the person who assigns the work. The gap between what managers are expected to do and what they report doing is the single most quotable finding in this dataset.

94% of employees say their manager should hold at least some responsibility for their well-being — and 96% of managers agree. Only 48% of managers say they actually ensure workloads are reasonable. — Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023
  1. 94% of employees feel their manager should have at least some responsibility for their well-being, and 96% of managers agree. (Source: Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023)
  2. Only 48% of managers say they ensure that people’s workloads are reasonable. (Source: Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023)
  3. Only 47% say they make sure employees take breaks during the day. (Source: Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023)
  4. Only 37% say they make sure employees actually use their paid time off. (Source: Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023)
  5. 32% of employees do not feel their manager cares about their well-being. (Source: Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023)
  6. 70% of managers cite organisational barriers — rigid scheduling, heavy workload, unsupportive culture — as what stops them. (Source: Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023)
  7. 35% of UK workers do not feel comfortable discussing high or extreme stress with a manager, up 3 points year on year; among 18 to 24 year olds it is 39%. (Source: Mental Health UK, The Burnout Report, 2026)
  8. 27% of UK workers who took stress-related time off received no support on their return, and only 17% had a formal return-to-work plan. (Source: Mental Health UK, The Burnout Report, 2026)
  9. Just 27% of UK workers say mental health is genuinely prioritised and supported through action and resources, while 18% say it is a tick-box exercise. (Source: Mental Health UK, The Burnout Report, 2026)
What managers say they do for employee well-beingShare of managers
Check in with employees about how they are doing54%
Ensure that people’s workloads are reasonable48%
Make sure employees take breaks during the day47%
Encourage employees to use company well-being benefits38%
Make sure employees use their paid time off37%
Are open about their own well-being with staff35%
Model healthy behaviours themselves30%
Lead team well-being activities or challenges26%

Source: Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023. Survey of 3,150 C-suite executives, managers and employees across the US, UK, Canada and Australia.

What It Costs Employers

The business case, for the pitch deck or the article that needs a number in the opening paragraph.

Low engagement costs the global economy approximately $10 trillion in lost productivity — about 9% of global GDP. — Gallup State of the Global Workplace, 2026
  1. Global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025, down from a peak of 23%. (Source: Gallup State of the Global Workplace, 2026)
  2. Low engagement costs the global economy roughly $10 trillion in lost productivity, equal to about 9% of global GDP. (Source: Gallup State of the Global Workplace, 2026)
  3. Manager engagement fell to 22% in 2025, down 5 points year over year and 9 points since 2022. (Source: Gallup State of the Global Workplace, 2026)
  4. Leaders report higher daily negative emotions than individual contributors: stress is 7 points higher, anger 12 points, sadness 11 points and loneliness 10 points. (Source: Gallup State of the Global Workplace, 2026)
  5. 60% of employees, 64% of managers and 75% of the C-suite are seriously considering quitting for a job that better supports their well-being. (Source: Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023)
  6. 84% of workers say improving their well-being is a top priority, and 74% say it matters more than advancing their career. (Source: Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023)
  7. 46% of workers name work-life balance as the key factor keeping them in a role, against 23% who name pay. (Source: Randstad Workmonitor, 2026)
  8. 52% of workers say their employer cares about their well-being a great deal or a fair amount, while 1 in 5 say their employer does not care much or at all. (Source: Pew Research Center, 2023)

Frequently Asked Questions

What percentage of people struggle to say no?

About half. In a 2024 YouGov survey of US adults, 17% said they very often feel they cannot say “no” when someone asks them for something, and a further 35% said they feel that way somewhat often — 52% combined. Women are more likely than men to say they very often struggle to establish boundaries with others, by 15% to 9%.

How many workers do not take all their paid time off?

46%. Pew Research Center found in 2023 that among US workers whose employer offers paid time off, 46% take less than they are allowed while 48% take all of it. The most common reasons are not practical but social: 49% worry about falling behind and 43% feel badly about co-workers absorbing the extra work.

Is working long hours actually dangerous?

Yes, and it is measurable. The WHO and ILO estimated in 2021 that 745,000 people died in a single year from stroke and heart disease attributable to working 55 or more hours a week. Compared with a 35 to 40 hour week, working 55 or more hours carries an estimated 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from ischaemic heart disease.

What causes burnout at work?

Gallup’s study of nearly 7,500 full-time employees identified five main causes: unfair treatment at work, unmanageable workload, lack of role clarity, lack of manager communication and support, and unreasonable time pressure. Notably, employees who strongly agree they have enough time to do their work are 70% less likely to experience high burnout.

Do managers actually help employees set boundaries?

Rarely, by their own account. Deloitte found that while 96% of managers agree they should hold some responsibility for employee well-being, only 48% say they ensure workloads are reasonable, only 47% make sure employees take breaks, and only 37% make sure employees use their paid time off.

Has remote work made boundaries better or worse?

Worse on the measures that have been tracked. Buffer found 93% of remote workers say work-life boundaries matter to them, yet 44% reported working more than the previous year and 1 in 5 reported feeling more burnt out. Microsoft’s telemetry shows meetings after 8 p.m. up 16% year over year and 29% of active workers back in their inboxes by 10 p.m.

Sources

Every statistic on this page was taken from one of the following primary sources, each retrieved and read directly on 24 August 2026. Source names are given in plain text throughout.

  1. YouGov, 2024
  2. Microsoft Work Trend Index, 2025
  3. Pew Research Center, 2023
  4. Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence, 2023
  5. WHO and ILO, 2021
  6. Gallup, 2018
  7. Gallup State of the Global Workplace, 2026
  8. Mental Health UK, The Burnout Report, 2026
  9. Buffer State of Remote Work, 2023
  10. Randstad Workmonitor, 2026