Everything competes to be urgent.
New demands arrive without clarifying what can or cannot be done.
SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTIVITY
Do good work today.
Sustain it tomorrow.
Burnout, workload and the way work is organised.
Identify what needs attention and what to do about it.
Turn an understanding of working conditions into priorities,
practical measures and a follow-up plan.
Loading and recovery
Work organisation
Measures and monitoring
THE STARTING POINT.
The work gets done.
What does it cost the team?
The final result doesn't account for everything that was involved in achieving it. There may be changing priorities, accumulating tasks, or little room for recovery between demands.
Sustainable Productivity helps to make this experience visible, understand its conditions, and guide changes in how work is organised.
The effort continues without pause.
The activity becomes continuous and it is difficult to find time to rest.
Support does not reach the root of the problem.
A general measure may leave the workload, resources, or coordination unaddressed.
FATIGUE AND WORKING CONDITIONS
Listen to people’s experience.
Look at how the work gets done.
The experiences and organisational structure of the work provide complementary perspectives. Connecting these allows for a more useful conversation about what needs attention.
ACCUMULATED EXPERIENCE
Understanding how to sustain effort.
We listen to the difficulties, the recovery process, and the relationship with work within the agreed-upon scope. Professional reading distinguishes signals, context, and support needs.
What it costs to maintain and what is better understood.
WORK ORGANISATION
Identifying what can be reviewed.
We analyse demands, priorities, resources, autonomy, and coordination. We seek decisions about work that the organisation can concretely implement and review with the involved individuals.
What conditions can be changed and who can do so.
Professional interpretation connects both perspectives.
A difficulty does not, on its own, explain its cause. We compare information before attributing a problem to a person, a team, or a specific condition.
What we understand by burnout
The WHO defines it as being in the workplace and relates it to chronic work-related stress that has not been adequately managed. It describes it as exhaustion, mental detachment from work, and reduced professional effectiveness.
This definition sets out what we mean by burnout. It serves neither as a diagnosis nor as an Esferical assessment scale. Read the WHO reference
WHERE TO FOCUS ATTENTION
Start with everyday work.
That’s where the conversation begins.
We explore the relevant conditions for your organisation. These areas help to determine what information to gather and what decisions are worth reviewing.
- Load and priorities.
- What needs to be done, what is feasible within the available time, and what happens when everything competes for attention.
- Pace and recovery
- How deadlines and requests are handled, and what space exists for breaks and disconnecting from work.
- Autonomy and clarity
- What room exists for organisation, and how conflicting instructions or priorities are resolved.
- Resources and coordination
- What resources are available, and which dependencies, interruptions, or repetitive tasks hinder progress.
- Support and communication
- How to request help, express difficulties, and agree on solutions with those responsible.
- Changes and continuity
- How to prepare for changes and what allows agreements to be maintained when pressure increases.
These are areas of analysis, not a burnout scale or a closed set of tools. The tools, sources, and conditions for participation are agreed upon for each project.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
A clear view of the situation.
A plan for action.
The project connects what happens at work with specific decisions. It explores the three deliverables through a single illustrative scenario.
ESFERICALSUSTAINABLE PRODUCTIVITY
FICTIONAL EXAMPLE · COMPETING REQUESTS
Urgent matters take precedence.
A situation to be understood.
In this fictional team, requests arrive through various channels and compete with previously agreed-upon tasks.
What to compare
How decisions are made about which tasks are prioritised, who can re-prioritise, and what remaining time is available to complete them.
Support for maintaining
The team's willingness to help each other when a clear priority exists.
Understand before attributing causesThe situation raises questions; it does not identify burnout or explain its origin on its own.
Understanding the cost of maintaining.
A professional summary relates the experience of wear and tear with the available information about work organisation. It explains what is observed, what support exists, and what needs to be verified.
- Review of the conditions included in the project.
- Situations that warrant attention and resources that are worth preserving.
- Sources used and limitations of the conclusions.
A shared reference point for discussing the problem with greater precision.
Let's talk about your projectFictional example to explain the service. The content, target audience, level of detail, and feedback are all specified in the proposal.
HOW WE WORK.
Understand the effort involved.
Build the right support.
Moving forward
starts with a stable foundation.
Clarity, resources, coordination, and space for recovery. The plan connects people's needs with decisions that the organisation can take.
Defining the need.
We agree on the situation you want to understand, the scope, and the purpose. We define participants, responsibilities, necessary information, and deliverables.
Listen and gather information.
We select the appropriate evaluation and comparison methods, based on the scope: work experience, tasks, demands, resources, and organisational practices. Participation and the use of information are explained before starting.
Interpret within context.
We relate signs of wear and tear to the described conditions. We differentiate observations, possible explanations, and issues that require professional evaluation.
Prioritise and agree on measures.
We present a clear and concise overview and focus on priorities. We define specific actions, assign responsibilities, identify dependencies, and outline support mechanisms to ensure their implementation.
Determine how to review progress.
We agree on what to observe and when to revisit the measures. The plan allows for evaluating their application and making adjustments; the follow-up support is included as proposed.
FROM UNDERSTANDING TO AGREEMENT – AN ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE
When everything arrives at once,
agree what comes first.
In a fictional team, requests from various areas continuously disrupt the planned work. The conversation focuses on how to decide priorities and what happens when an emergency arises.
Make visible
Review where requests are coming from, how they are prioritised, and which tasks are being shifted.
Agree on a criterion
Define who makes the decision, what is considered urgent, and what is postponed when priorities change.
Review your application
Check with the team to see if the agreement is being used, what exceptions arise, and what needs to be adjusted.
Fictional example, without client data or results. Illustrates a possible organisational measure, not a universal solution to wear and tear.
WHAT DOES IT OFFER YOUR ORGANISATION
Better-informed decisions.
A clear direction for improvement.
Prioritise changes in the workplace.
When emergencies, workload, or lack of clarity arise and you need to decide where to focus your efforts.
A shared understanding to choose the next step.
Provide better support.
When general well-being initiatives need to be connected to the real difficulties faced by individuals.
Measures related to the context and the organisation's responsibilities.
To maintain the agreements.
When improvements have been proposed, but it is not clear who is responsible for implementing them and how they will be reviewed.
Actions, responsible parties, and tracking criteria.
A SHARED PURPOSE
Speak openly.
Act responsibly.
To understand the work, it is necessary to explain the purpose of the inquiry, who will receive the information, and how it will be used. These conditions should be defined before the project begins.
The focus is on guiding improvements and providing support. The conversation involves those who are familiar with the work and those who can change its conditions.
Address any questions or concerns that arise during the process.Explanation of participation
Clear objectives, activities, and conditions for the participants, with a channel for resolving their questions.
Information targeted at specific audiences
We agree who can access the results and how feedback will be shared, taking care with details that might identify individuals or small groups.
Measures with responsible parties
Proposals reviewed with context, without placing all the responsibility for the change on the person experiencing the difficulty.
WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF WELL-BEING
Different needs.
The right starting point.
Each service offers its own perspective. We help you choose the scope that makes sense for the situation you want to address.
BEFORE WE BEGIN
Questions
you may have.
Scope, participation, deliverables, and tracking.
What is Sustainable Productivity?
This is a service to understand professional burnout and review the conditions that make it possible to sustain work. It relates a person's experience to the demands, organisation, and support, and translates this understanding into priorities and improvement proposals. The scope of the assessment and support is defined for each project.
What does "burnout" mean on this page?
Here, burnout refers to chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. The WHO describes exhaustion, mental distance from work and reduced professional efficacy. This definition explains the term. Neither the examples nor this page provides a diagnostic tool. WHO reference.
Is it a measure of efficiency or individual performance?
No. The service focuses on wear and tear, workload, and the conditions necessary to maintain work. It does not involve counting keystrokes, monitoring screens, classifying individuals by productivity, or making automated employment decisions. If you need to work on goals and performance reviews, that need has a different service and scope.
How does it differ from Sustainable Attendance?
Sustainable Attendance connects individual signals, role requirements, and the current context into a professional report to guide support. Sustainable Productivity focuses on work-related exhaustion, workload, and work organisation, to prioritise changes in conditions and support. We agree on the most appropriate starting point; it is not necessary to hire both services.
What tools are used and how long does the process last?
Tools, sources, participation, and timelines are selected based on need and are detailed in the proposal. There is no single set of tools or duration for all projects. Before the evaluation begins, it is explained what is being requested of individuals and how the information will be used.
What do we receive upon completion?
A summary of the area analysed, priorities for action, and a plan of measures with responsible parties and review criteria. The recipients, level of detail, format, and feedback session are explicitly agreed upon. The examples on this page illustrate how the reading can be organised; they are not client reports.
How is personal information protected?
Before gathering information, we agree why it is needed, who will take part, who can see the results and how we will share feedback. We tailor reporting so that details or small groups do not identify individuals. The proposal specifies what we collect and share. We only promise anonymity when we have checked that we can protect it.
Does it replace healthcare or psychosocial risk assessments?
No. It is not offered as a clinical diagnosis or treatment, and it does not replace healthcare or a formal psychosocial risk assessment. Its purpose is to understand the work environment and to guide improvement and support measures. Needs that exceed this scope are addressed by the relevant professionals.
Does it include training, coaching, or the implementation of measures?
We first agree what needs to change and which support would help. If you choose to add training, coaching or support with implementation, we agree the scope of each activity and who will lead it.
How is it determined whether a measure is helping?
We agree how to check whether a measure is being put into practice, where people encounter difficulties and what changes in their working experience. We review these findings in context before deciding whether to keep, adjust or replace it.
LET'S TALK ABOUT SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTIVITY
What is becoming difficult to sustain
in your organisation?
Tell us what you would like to understand.
We’ll agree where to start with you.
Work contextPriorities for actionMeasures and monitoring
Request a proposal We will define the scope, participants, tools, deliverables, support, timeline, and investment.