The Heartbeat Problem
How do remote teams capture a real “emotional heartbeat” without surveys?
Hey Product Hunt! I'm Christian, a founder working in the wellbeing/remote work space.
Something I keep seeing in remote and hybrid teams:
We have tons of operational data… but almost zero emotional data.
Annual surveys are too slow.
Monthly forms are too long.
And when burnout shows up, it's usually weeks after the early signs.
My current thesis:
Remote teams need an extremely short, frequent, anonymous “heartbeat signal” to detect stress patterns early — something that fits into the flow of work without feeling like a task.
I’m really curious how others here think about this:
What’s the biggest barrier you’ve seen in measuring stress or burnout proactively instead of reactively?
Is it culture?
Trust? Tools?
Time?
Something else?
I’m exploring this deeply, so I’d love to hear different perspectives.
If this topic resonates, feel free to DM — I’m happy to exchange ideas.
Replies
IXORD
In fact, I agree that this topic is much deeper, and integrating it into companies can benefit everyone. I try to live in a way that prevents stress and burnout, because I am constantly learning new things and trying something different, and that gives me energy and can change the situation. Every person has their own stress model. I have read articles about how to prevent stress and burnout, and I have started applying some of those principles
@ixord That's a fantastic point, and thank you for validating the core idea! You're right, it is much deeper than just data.
I totally agree that every person operates on their own stress model and has unique principles for prevention. This is where the challenge lies for remote teams.
If every person has their own unique model for preventing burnout, how can we, as a team or a manager, support that unique model without manually interviewing 50 people?
That’s where I see the gap: Translating individual wisdom into organizational action.
Is the biggest challenge in scaling those principles A) Getting people to define their model, or B) Getting the manager to consistently act on those individual needs?
I’d love to hear more about the specific principles you've started applying—maybe there’s a pattern there that can be generalized!
IXORD
@christian_van_gils I know there are many principles that can help with burnout. For example, taking a 5-10 minute break when dealing with a challenging task helps reset focus and prevent overload. Often, when I step away for that short time and come back, I approach the problem from a different perspective. The lifestyle a person leads also has a strong impact on burnout, such as what kind of sports they engage in, what books they read, or the hobbies they pursue. During work hours, breaks and communication between colleagues also play a significant role.
@ixord Yes. So if i would monitor daily your "mood". Just a daily checkin if you are "Happy", "Neutral", "Stressed" or "Burnout", will i see a pattern that gives me a insight of your wellbeing? What you mention is that it will help me to prevent it or to go down again? What are your thoughts about that?
IXORD
@christian_van_gils I believe that it’s impossible to obtain completely accurate statistics here, because a large portion of stress can come from outside of work. If you monitor an employee’s mood every day, then in some cases unrelated to their personal life you can notice certain patterns. But if a person is experiencing stress due to personal matters, we can still adapt this information to understand whether it is appropriate to assign them additional tasks or whether it would be better to delegate the work to someone else. I think this would be a reasonable solution