Digital transformation burnout: How to reduce technostress

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Digital transformation burnout: How to reduce technostress

Cannon Lafferty

Published on November 11, 2025

8 min read

Cannon Lafferty

Published on November 11, 2025

8 min read

Your guide to reducing technostress

What causes technostress?

The 'human' impact of technostress

The wider damage that technostress causes

Ready to tackle technostress head-on?

Special report: The 'human' cost of digital transformation

This special research report from Adaptavist uncovers how tooling, processes, and language can both exacerbate and solve the issue of 'quiet cracking', the silent risk impeding team engagement and digital transformation success.

Download the report

In this blog, we explore how culture, change management, and practical support can flip the script from technostress to technojoy, where technology enables focus, autonomy, and satisfaction.

In our previous blog, we explored the phenomenon of 'quiet cracking' – that persistent feeling of workplace unhappiness – and how technology-related stress is one of the factors that contribute to it. Here's a quick recap:

Technostress is a feeling of being overwhelmed by constant connectivity, the pressure to keep up with new tools and platforms, cognitive overload from notifications and information, and the strain employees feel from the constant demands of adapting to new workplace technologies.

Technojoy is a positive experience employees have when technology is effectively implemented, adopted, and supported.

Knowing what technostress is is the first step to recognising it, preventing it, and eliminating it from your organisation. But what exactly causes technostress – and what are the lasting impacts on your people and your organisation?

What causes technostress?

Technology is supposed to empower workplaces, but for many staff globally, it has become a source of stress, anxiety, and cognitive overload, resulting in 'technostress'. This emerging workplace phenomenon is a direct result of poor technology implementation, a lack of training on new workplace technologies, and weak workplace cultures, and it is rife.

With our latest study, The 'human' cost of digital transformation, we surveyed 4,000 knowledge workers from the UK, US, Canada, and Germany in August 2025. We wanted to understand the scale of technostress as a first step in examining it before exploring the role technology and processes play in workplace happiness and identifying what organisations can do to support effective digital transformations and cultivate happier teams.

But first things first, what causes technostress in the first place? These are some of the factors that can lead to technostress within any organisation:

Techno-errosion: This is when the boundaries between your professional and personal life are blurred, eroding downtime. For example, when you're expected to read and respond to messages while out of the office for personal reasons, such as vacations.
Techno-overwhelm: Is the pressure to work faster and longer because of constant communication and simultaneous streams of information, such as endless emails, Slack messages, and notifications at all hours, which risk diluting the 'human' aspect of work and communication in a bid to stay on top of them and risking burnout.
Techno-instability: This refers to the instability that comes from changing or upgrading hardware or software without clear expectations. Effective change management is key here, for example, when your organisation shifts from one digital platform to another each year.
Techno-uncertainty: This refers to the fear of being replaced by technology, specifically AI, or being unable to grasp new technology quickly. For example, when automation replaces routine tasks, you feel like your role or skills are becoming redundant.
Techno-doubt: The inherent nature of evolving workplace technology means new systems require constant learning, which can lead to feelings of incompetence if unable to keep up. For example, when software is rolled out without adequate training or advance warning.

Person appearing stressed looking at a laptop

Our research has revealed that a significant portion of knowledge workers are experiencing stress and anxiety as a result of these communication factors:

18% said colleagues' communications have made them feel incompetent, excluded or disliked.
28% have worried that their own tone or their colleagues' tone may be misread or misinterpreted when communicating digitally.

There are also other factors to consider here. Information overload is one—do your team members have too much digital information and output to process? Are constant measurements driving down morale and productivity?

It's also worth thinking about your organisational culture, technology aside. Do you expect your team members to be available 24/7 regardless of the tools they're using? Do the tools they are using make this the rule, not the exception? Is there a 'hustle' atmosphere where senior leaders don't take time off and message at all hours of the night? These can all contribute to the development of technostress in your teams.

The 'human' impact of technostress

Technostress has very real repercussions. It can lead to burnout, absences, and ultimately resignation, all cited by respondents in our research. Respondents reported:

Over the last 12 months, 43% pointed to the volume of notifications or the burden of using multiple platforms as key contributors to their stress. The very technology designed to streamline communication is actually adding to the burden of using multiple technology platforms.

Insufficient training exacerbates technostress. More than one in five employees (21%) report that the lack of training on new tools directly drives stress and anxiety, forcing them to learn in isolation or through trial and error, which also impacts productivity.

Culture also contributes to the levels of technostress faced by knowledge workers. Have organisations truly adjusted to the realities of supporting a global digital workforce? Almost a fifth of workers (19%) feel pressure to remain connected outside of their contracted hours, while 17% admit they feel constant pressure to 'prove' their productivity through digital metrics. These expectations blur the boundaries between work and personal life, fuelling exhaustion and resentment. Working effectively across time zones asynchronously can be achieved, and technology can support this, but only if the culture is right first.

A quarter of employees (27%) said they regularly experience digital overwhelm

Survey results from 'The human cost of digital transformation'

The wider damage that technostress causes

But it's not just your teams that are impacted. Prioritising technology and efficiency over your team members' well-being can be detrimental to your organisation, too. With team members feeling disengaged, productivity will reduce, making it harder to meet your organisational goals. You'll be faced with absenteeism when people take sick leave due to mental and physical health reasons. You'll also face a recruitment crisis, characterised by higher staff turnover and poor employer reviews.

While you might have invested in tools in the hope of boosting experimentation, stressful ICT use will mean individuals are focused on compliance rather than innovative new ideas. Worse still, they won't use it at all. If they're less tech-savvy to begin with and are too stressed to learn, you'll create knowledge and skills gaps, exacerbating the problem. Additionally, if they're burned out and overloaded, fatigue will set in. This results in an increase in errors and potential security risks.

Thinking beyond the immediate impacts, your strategic efforts will be strained too. If your teams resist change and fear technology, digital transformation will stall. If you experience higher turnover and reduced productivity, costs will increase, and valuable knowledge will be lost. Ultimately, if workplace stress becomes visible or impacts the products or services you provide, your customers will notice.

Ready to tackle technostress head-on?

Our full research report reveals that the impact of technostress on your team members and your business is real and is happening right now. But the challenge is not insurmountable. By identifying the root causes, you can focus on the remedy, preventing technostress from taking hold in your teams. Read the report today to diagnose the causes of technostress, strengthen culture, and create a healthier digital work environment for your teams.

Download the full complimentary report

Technostress FAQ

What causes technostress at work?

Technostress refers to the strain employees experience from the constant demands of adapting to new digital tools and systems, often without adequate training and a supportive work culture.

How does technostress affect employees?

The feeling of technostress at work reduces job satisfaction and performance, fuels burnout, fatigue and anxiety, and additionally erodes work-life balance.

What is the difference between technostress and technojoy?

Technostress refers to the harmful pressure employees experience from excessive tech use; technojoy, on the other hand, is the positive mental state employees feel when workplace technology is well-implemented, supported, and aligned with healthy norms and real work.