The Erosion of Work–Life Boundaries and Burnout: A Narrative Review of Mechanisms, Vulnerable Populations and Public Health Implications

Abstract

The digital transformation of work has increasingly blurred the temporal, spatial, and psychological boundaries between professional and personal life. As a result, structural conditions have emerged that are associated with an elevated risk of burnout. This narrative review draws on literature identified through searches of Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed covering publications from 2004 to early 2026, which yielded 36 included studies, supplemented by further sources identified outside that search. It integrates key theoretical perspectives, including boundary theory, the Areas of Worklife model, the Job Demands-Resources framework and Conservation of Resources theory. Across diverse occupational contexts, three pathways recur: rising work-family conflict, reduced ability to psychologically detach from work during non-work time and the gradual depletion of personal resources. Structural drivers, comprising organisational availability norms, leadership behaviour, technology and platform design, workload, and economic precarity, are treated as the conditions under which exposure arises, and the review argues that responses pitched at individual coping are correspondingly limited. The public health implications extend beyond mental health, encompassing cardiovascular risk associated with long working hours, strain on healthcare systems, productivity losses and widening health inequities along gendered and socioeconomic lines. Addressing these challenges requires multilevel interventions, including organisational job redesign, leadership development, enforceable right-to-disconnect policies and greater recognition of recovery as a public health priority. At the same time, there remains a need for more longitudinal and intervention-based research, particularly in non-Western contexts.