Almost one in five employees in the Netherlands has to deal with burnout complaints. According to the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey by TNO and Statistics Netherlands (in Dutch), that is around 1.6 million people. Young people between 25 and 34 are especially at risk: more than a quarter of them experience mental fatigue caused by work. And the cost? A burnout can easily cost an employer more than €100,000, including continued wage payment, replacement and lost production.
At the same time, those same figures show that almost half of employees with stressful work feel the measures taken are insufficient. So there is a gap between what organisations do and what is really needed. That gap calls for a targeted, expert approach, not a one-off stress management session or a leaflet about relaxation.
That is exactly where an occupational and organisational expert (in Dutch, A&O-deskundige) can make the difference. In this article you will read what an occupational and organisational expert does, how they work with the occupational physician, and which steps you as an employer or HR professional can take now to stay structurally ahead of burnout at work.
Why preventing burnout is more urgent than ever
According to figures from Statistics Netherlands for 2024 (in Dutch), almost one in three employees say they often or always experience work pressure. That percentage is even higher in sectors such as hospitality, education and care. Work pressure is therefore the number one occupational disease in the Netherlands, and the consequences are measurable: employees with stressful work are absent more often and for longer than their colleagues. Overstrain or burnout now accounts for almost a quarter of all long-term absence.
The financial damage is considerable. An employee off sick at home costs an employer on average €315 a day. Burnout leads on average to 240 to 300 days of absence, so the total cost per employee quickly heads towards €100,000, including replacement, guidance and lost production. These are not abstract sums; they bear directly on the continuity of your organisation.
What exactly does an occupational and organisational expert do?
An occupational and organisational expert is a legally recognised core expert. The Working Conditions Act (Arbowet) requires (in Dutch) every employer to have access to four core experts: an occupational physician, a senior safety expert, an occupational hygienist and an occupational and organisational expert. Where the occupational physician looks primarily at the health of the individual employee, the occupational and organisational expert focuses on the team, the department and the organisation as a whole.
The occupational and organisational expert investigates the influence of organisational culture, leadership style, division of tasks, working relationships and working conditions. They specialise in psychosocial workload: the umbrella term for work pressure, work stress, unwanted behaviour and emotionally demanding work. Think of a team that has been overloaded for months, a department where absence is rising, or an organisation struggling after a reorganisation with unclear roles and growing tension.
The common mistake: tackling individually what is organisational
A common misconception is that burnout is an individual problem that must be solved individually. Send the employee to a coach, give a time management training and that is that. In practice that rarely works structurally. Burnout almost always arises from a combination of personal factors and environmental factors at work: task demands that are too high, too little autonomy, unclear expectations or insufficient support from managers.
Treating only the employee without tackling the working environment does not solve the cause. The chance of relapse, or of colleagues dropping out in turn, then remains high. The occupational and organisational expert looks precisely at that context: which factors in the organisation contribute to overload, and how can they be adjusted?
In concrete terms: what can an occupational and organisational expert do for your organisation?
Bringing in an occupational and organisational expert is always tailored work, but there are a few recurring areas of attention:
- Analysis of work pressure and psychosocial workload risks, also as part of the risk inventory and evaluation
- Employee research (a periodic occupational health examination or an employee satisfaction survey) to map experiences and risk signals early
- Advice on division of tasks, role design and team dynamics
- Guiding managers in recognising stress signals and making them discussable
- Support in setting up or sharpening a psychosocial workload policy
- Absence analysis at team level to spot patterns before they escalate
The great advantage of a periodic occupational health examination is that it makes employees' experiences visible before anyone drops out. Knowing where the risks lie lets you act in a targeted way and get an active prevention policy off the ground.
The strength of a preventive team: occupational and organisational expert and occupational physician
An occupational and organisational expert works most effectively as part of a broader preventive team. The multidisciplinary guideline on overstrain and burnout from the NVAB (in Dutch), the Dutch association of occupational physicians, stresses that the best care arises when first-line professionals, such as occupational physicians and other experts, align their knowledge. The occupational physician watches over the health of the individual employee, assesses capacity and guides the recovery process. The occupational and organisational expert analyses the organisational context and advises on structural improvements.
At Dokter Beter we work with Arbo Concern, a certified occupational health service, so that employers always have access to the right combination of expertise. Dokter Beter's occupational physicians are available per half-day or per day, at fixed, recurring times. That gives continuity in preventive guidance and a familiar face on the floor, even when no one has dropped out yet.
What can you do now?
Waiting until someone drops out is the most expensive strategy. Getting started preventively pays off on every front: for the health of your employees, for the atmosphere at work and for the finances of your organisation. A few concrete steps to start with:
- Make sure psychosocial workload risks are included in your risk inventory and evaluation and the accompanying action plan
- Train managers to recognise early signs of overload
- Make work pressure discussable, not as a taboo but as a concrete work topic
- Have an occupational and organisational expert carry out a periodic occupational health examination or work pressure survey
- Provide fixed, low-threshold access to the occupational physician, also outside situations of illness
The Working Conditions Act requires employers to actively inventory psychosocial workload risks and to take measures to prevent or limit psychosocial workload. That is not only a legal duty, it is also an investment that pays for itself.
Burnout is never only an individual problem; the working environment always plays a part.
Preventing burnout at work takes more than good intentions. It takes structural attention to the working environment, a clear division of roles and an expert preventive team that actively supports employers, HR and employees.
Key takeaways
- Almost one in five employees has burnout complaints; young people between 25 and 34 are most at risk.
- A burnout easily costs an employer more than €100,000 in continued wage payment, replacement and lost production.
- The occupational and organisational expert focuses on the organisation as a whole: culture, work pressure, division of tasks and psychosocial workload risks.
- Burnout is almost always an organisational problem too; tackling only the employee does not solve the cause.
- The strongest prevention arises when the occupational physician and the occupational and organisational expert work together as a team.
- Psychosocial workload risks must be included in the risk inventory and evaluation; do not treat this as a formality but use it as a starting point for policy.
- Dokter Beter gets in touch within one working day and works with Arbo Concern for a complete preventive offering.
Want to know how an occupational and organisational expert and an occupational physician from Dokter Beter can support your organisation in concrete terms? Get in touch and discover what suitable, preventive guidance can mean for your team.