Businesses spend billions on AI for productivity, but burnout now costs 9.6 trillion dollars globally. Tess Brouwer explains what leaders are getting dangerously wrong.
What’s happening: Burnout, stress and workplace disengagement are costing the global economy more than 9.6 trillion dollars, according to Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workplace report.
Why this matters: Presenteeism, where workers show up but aren’t truly present, now costs businesses up to ten times more than absenteeism, with distracted employees estimated to cost 1.5 trillion dollars yearly compared to 150 billion dollars for absenteeism. The solution isn’t more technology. It’s learning how to use it better.
Artificial intelligence is a brilliant productivity tool. It can write, sort, analyse and automate at speeds no human can match. But according to Tess Brouwer, Chief Energy Officer of Awake Academy and Australia’s leading mental and emotional fitness trainer, that speed comes with an unexpected cost.
“AI is a language model, not a leadership model,” Brouwer explains. “Instead of freeing time, many of us are simply filling it with more work.”
Microsoft’s latest Work Trend Index shows the average worker receives 117 emails per day, checks email or chat every two minutes, and attends more meetings than ever before. Attention, Brouwer argues, has become the world’s scarcest resource.
“Humans are not wired for constant interruption. We need rhythm: deep focus followed by rest, reflection and connection. When that rhythm disappears, the nervous system moves into survival mode. Performance drops. Creativity dries up. Empathy fades.”
The pattern mirrors broader challenges businesses face balancing productivity with employee wellbeing, where organisations struggle to maintain output without burning out their workforce.
Empathy under threat
High performing teams thrive on trust and psychological safety. Yet as communication becomes increasingly automated, leaders risk outsourcing the very thing that makes leadership human: connection.
“Dashboards can measure engagement, but they cannot sense tone, presence or truth,” Brouwer says.
Research from Harvard shows connection is the number one predictor of happiness and longevity. When leaders prioritise relationships over rushing, performance follows. But many organisations, eager to adopt AI tools, are moving faster than their governance structures can handle.
“Positive psychology research shows people flourish when they feel seen, valued and connected. Connection is not a soft metric,” she explains.
The infinite workday
Microsoft research found that 40 percent of employees check email before 6am, whilst after-hours meetings have increased 16 percent year on year. The line between work and life is dissolving.
“Burnout is not a lack of resilience. It is a design flaw,” Brouwer says. “We have built systems that reward busyness over balance and mistake motion for meaning.”
The cost is staggering. Global burnout, stress and disengagement now exceed 9.6 trillion dollars. Yet businesses continue pouring resources into AI without addressing the fundamental question: is this progress making us better, or just busier?
“Humans will always lead better than AI because leadership is not a logic problem. It is an emotional one. Machines can process data, but only people can inspire action.”
What we can do
AI cannot read tension in a room. It cannot sit with someone’s pain, rebuild trust after failure, or model courage and integrity. These are inherently human skills, and they form the foundation of great teams.
“In positive psychology, we call them protective factors: hope, gratitude, compassion and connection. These qualities buffer us from stress, sustain motivation and turn knowledge into action,” Brouwer says.
The solution isn’t rejecting AI. It’s using it differently.
“AI is not the enemy of humanity. It is an amplifier. When used well, it can give us back the one thing we keep losing: time.”
Brouwer suggests using AI to create space for what matters. Taking a proper lunch break. Leaving work early for a child’s school event without guilt. Clearing mental clutter to show up calm, present and connected.
Presenteeism now costs businesses up to ten times more than absenteeism, with distracted or depleted employees estimated to cost 1.5 trillion dollars each year compared to 150 billion dollars for absenteeism. The answer, Brouwer argues, is redefining productivity.
“Most workplaces do not have a talent problem. They have an energy problem. We are in a generation of time poverty. When we use AI to gain more time, we become richer for it. Time affluence is the modern day rich.”
That means building rhythm into work. Encouraging genuine rest. Rewarding recovery, not just output. Training leaders to lead with awareness, not autopilot.
“It is time to make wellbeing a performance strategy, not a wellness initiative.”
A positive future
The path forward requires rebalancing technology with humanity. AI can handle data. Humans must create meaning and purpose. AI can automate. Humans must integrate and build cultures that are creative, connected and alive.
“AI can process. When humans connect, we create trust, belonging and performance that lasts,” Brouwer says.
Connection remains the number one predictor of happiness and longevity. When businesses protect that, they protect more than productivity. They protect what makes us human.
“If we use technology to free time for rest, reflection and real conversation, we create the conditions where people, productivity and performance thrive.”
The 9.6 trillion dollar question isn’t whether AI will transform work. It’s whether we’ll let it transform us in the process.
About the expert: Tess Brouwer is Australia’s leading mental and emotional fitness trainer and Chief Energy Officer of Awake Academy, which she co-founded with seven-time world surfing champion Layne Beachley AO. A former senior executive with over 20 years in corporate partnerships at Virgin Australia, Tess now works with organisations including KPMG and Coles. She is the author of Know Yourself to Grow Yourself and host of Channel 7’s Mood Booster segment.
Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
