At Brand Champions we lead with a culture that believes work should be designed for people and not the other way around, but we see the opposite time and time again.
While remote and hybrid working was once a beacon of hope for carers, parents, neurodivergent and people with disabilities, we are now seeing a darker side to the pressures of productivity and commitment. From burnout, shareholder value placed above employee wellbeing and digital presenteeism.
At its core digital presenteeism is the always on approach. Efficiency governed by a little green dot indicating your availability, but, when did this become the standard benchmark of productivity?
While remote and hybrid working models promised autonomy, for many it created an unspoken expectation to always be online, reply instantly and demonstrate commitment through presence rather than impact. The true meaning of flexibility has vanished and what’s left is presenteeism repackaged for the digital age.
Digital presenteeism is the pressure to appear online regardless of whether it’s necessary or productive. It means keeping your status green, logging on to slack early, late night emails, not because your work demands it but it is seen as a way to prove value.
Managers can easily mistake presence for performance in hybrid environments. The digital age has allowed everyone to be available at any time, whether through text, WhatsApp, Slack, Teams, a quick zoom, or a phone call, tech has allowed for the working world to cultivate a culture of availability without any boundaries.
While many companies jumped into remote and hybrid models, little took the time to garner what success really looked like. Without clear expectations and outcomes, visibility became the default productivity indicator.
Add to that instant messaging, back-to-back video calls, monitoring tools and blurred lines between home and work, and it’s no surprise people feel they need to be “on” all the time. The issue isn’t remote working itself, it’s leadership and systems that haven’t caught up with modern ways of working.
In the UK, frameworks such as the Equality Act 2010 remind us that fairness and inclusion should underpin how performance is assessed. If visibility becomes the benchmark, we risk disadvantaging those whose lives don’t allow them to perform constant availability.
When people feel unable to switch off stress begins to build. Creativity suffers. Strategic thinking narrows. What looks like high activity in the short term often leads to burnout in the long term.
Personally, I’ve seen the opposite too. When people are trusted, given clarity, and allowed real autonomy, performance improves. Teams work smarter, not longer. Energy is directed towards outputs not outcomes. Sustainable success doesn’t come from being always on, it comes from being focused, rested and engaged.
Digital presenteeism doesn’t affect everyone equally. Parents, carers, women, neurodivergent employees and more junior staff often feel the greatest pressure to prove themselves through visibility.
After returning from maternity leave myself, I experienced first-hand how inflexible systems can push people to overcompensate just to feel secure. For many, digital presenteeism isn’t a choice, it’s a coping mechanism.
This underscores a crucial point that inclusive design matters. When flexibility is embedded into culture, rather than granted as a favour, everyone has the opportunity to thrive. UK initiatives like the Disability Confident Scheme highlight the importance of creating systems that work for people with different needs, responsibilities and ways of working, not just those who can be constantly available, but shouldn’t necessarily be.
When it comes to reducing digital presenteeism many think this will lead to a decline in productivity but in fact we see the opposite.
By focusing on measurable outcomes rather than time online we begin to see an increase in trust from both sides. You need a clear actionable objective to be the benchmark and not instant replies. Set tangible goals and realistic expectations around response time and working hours. Normalise offline time. Question whether meetings are necessary, because let’s be honest many aren’t. Do they need a full hour or would 45 minutes and time for a quick break after make them more effective? Build flexibility into policies and systems, not as a personal accommodation but as a default way of working.
At Brand Champions we see that by prioritising trust and autonomy, productivity increases. People want to do good work, they just need the space to do it.
Leaders will always set the tone, when they send emails at midnight, people will assume they need to respond. If you praise visibility over impact, behaviour will follow.
Be a role model for healthier behaviours, take regular breaks, respecting boundaries and being open about working patterns. As a parent, I share how I work, not to overshare, but to signal permission. Permission to log off. Permission to work differently. Permission to trust that value isn’t measured by a green dot.
If we want healthier, more inclusive and higher-performing teams, we have to move away from digital presenteeism and back towards what really matters: trust, clarity and meaningful work with proven outcomes.
Culture doesn’t change through policy alone. It changes through our behaviour.
