[256] - Where Is My Shift Work Education and Support?

Text me what you thought of the show 😊

Feeling Burnt Out from Shift Work? You’re Not Alone — And It’s Not Your Fault.

Most organisations expect 24/7 workers to navigate tough schedules without any guidance on how to protect their health.

After 40+ years as a police officer, experiencing every type of shift pattern imaginable, I’ve seen firsthand how this lack of knowledge wrecks lives.

That’s why I created practical, hands-on health and wellbeing seminars specifically for shift workers and their workplaces — designed not as theory, but real-world solutions that fit YOUR actual roster.

When I display your team’s schedule and walk through tailored eating windows, sleep strategies, exercise timing, and fatigue management techniques, something clicks. Attendees often say:
 “Why didn’t someone teach me this when I started?”

These simple, actionable strategies aren’t complicated — but they completely transform how shift workers feel and perform.

With nearly 20% of the global workforce doing shift work, the need for this kind of training has never been more urgent. The challenge? Many workplace wellbeing teams don’t know these specialised resources even exist — that’s where you come in.

By sharing this podcast with your health and wellbeing leaders, you could spark a game-changing conversation that improves the health and resilience of your entire team.

Ready to move from just surviving shift work to truly thriving?

Visit ahealthyshift.com to download seminar info and share it with your workplace.

Let’s break the myth that shift work has to come at the cost of your health. With the right tools and strategies, you can maintain your energy, health, and happiness — even on the toughest schedules.

Support the show

----------------------------

ANNOUNCING

"The Shift Workers Collective"

https://join.ahealthyshift.com/the-shift-workers-collective

Click the link to learn all about it
-----------------------------

YOU CAN FIND ME AT

Website

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

YouTube

COACHING

• One2One Coaching

_____________________

Disclaimer: Roger Sutherland is not a doctor or a medical professional. Always consult a physician before implementing any strategies mentioned in this podcast. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk. Roger Sutherland will not assume any liability for direct or indirect losses or damages that may result from the use of the information contained in this podcast including but not limited to economic loss, injury, illness, or death.

_______________________

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Shift work can be brutal, but it doesn't have to
be.
Welcome to a healthy shift.
My name is Roger Sutherland,certified nutritionist, veteran
law enforcement officer and 24-7shift worker for almost four
decades.
Through this podcast, I aim toeducate shift workers, using
evidence-based methods, to notonly survive the rigours of

(00:29):
shift work but thrive.
My goal is to empower shiftworkers to improve their health
and wellbeing so they have moreenergy to do the things they
love.
Enjoy today's show and helloeverybody.
It's Roger here, rogerSutherland, and thanks for
tuning in to another episode ofa Healthy Shift podcast.

(00:52):
Today I want to talk aboutsomething that's really
important to me and somethingthat needs to be really
important to you, and that is myshift work health and wellbeing
seminars.
It's going to sound like onegreat, big, long ad, but it
needs to be, and there's areason being, and I'll tell you
exactly why.
These seminars came aboutbecause of a big problem, and

(01:16):
this is something that I'veidentified over many, many years
of doing frontline policing and24-7 shift work.
How much education did youactually get when you first went
through your academy or whenyou were trained around how to
go about doing shift work?

(01:37):
Who told you how to go aboutdoing it optimally?
Who told you how to eat andwhen to eat?
Who told you how to exerciseand when to exercise?
And I know a lot of peopledon't find time for it, but we
need to and we need to work withthis.
I know that a lot of workplacesthrow a few resources around.
They might give you a pamphlet,or you might get a half an hour

(02:00):
lecture from someone, maybe awebinar, but there's not any
ongoing support.
And what happens is this leadsto stress, it leads to burnout,
it leads to chronic fatigue.
And what does that all lead to?
A lot of unplanned leave.
People end up burnt out andthey end up off work, putting
more pressure on the people whoare there.

(02:22):
Now.
I've seen it firsthand duringmy 40-plus years in shift work,
and people are doing their best,but they're not getting the
information or support you needto stay healthy and thrive in
your shift working environment.
This is having an impact onyour health, and if you aren't

(02:43):
educated on the best way to goabout it and supported by
management in this way, then youare going to have massive
problems as time unfolds.
Have a look around you at thepeople that have been doing
shift work for a long time.
Yep, there's the odd Jenny whois fantastic, is in really good

(03:04):
shape, exercises all the time,looks fantastic and everybody
else despises her.
But what is she doing and howis she going about it and where
did she get her information,discipline, motivation from?
And this is the question thatwe've got to ask ourselves.
There are those people, butthere's a lot, a lot that are
not, and we need to get thiseducation out there and we need

(03:27):
to get it out now, and thereason being it's nearly one in
five people are designated shiftworkers now worldwide.
One in five, it's 20%.
When you look at thepopulations of places like the
USA, you look at Asia, you lookat Europe, you look at Australia

(03:48):
and places like that, if one infive of those people are now
shift workers, we have a very,very demanding 24-7 society.
Today, when you order thatAmazon parcel, you expect it to
turn up the next day.
That doesn't happen by accident.
Flying on planes.
We've talked about all of this.

(04:09):
There are many, many shiftworkers out there.
We think police, fire,ambulance, frontline health
nurses, doctors, etc.
But we forget about all of theothers and we need to stop that
Now.
Why do these seminars actuallyexist.
Stop that Now.
Why do these seminars actuallyexist?

(04:30):
Well, here's the truth.
My seminars didn't just happen.
What actually happened was theystarted because someone like
you heard me talking about ShiftWork.
Health follows me on socialmedia, has seen me on LinkedIn,
has heard this podcast, and whatthey did was they reached out
and told their health andwellbeing teams that I exist.
And suddenly, there I was,delivering a seminar and we have

(04:51):
rolled on and got better andbetter and better at it since
that very day.
Think about it.
You know I exist.
You're all the young peoplethat are in the workforce that
are actually following me onsocial media and learning
strategies around it.
Do you honestly think managementor health and wellbeing are
aware?

(05:11):
No, they're actually not.
And when they are, generally,when they're made aware, they
absolutely jump at theopportunity to bring me in to
speak to staff or to makesomething happen that way.
To bring me in to speak tostaff or to make something
happen that way.
Now I will travel anywhere todeliver these live, and the
reason why I do that is becauseI believe in the power of a live

(05:34):
and interactive session.
I think it offers so much more.
It makes me not just some voiceonline.
You get to feel the energy.
You get to see the energy.
You get to ask questions.
You get to really feel it.
I'm actually right there andI'm showing you how to make
shift work in your environmentwork for you.

(05:57):
Now, the feedback from theseseminars has been quite humbling
and incredible.
To be perfectly honest with you, I've been all over this
country delivering health andwellbeing seminars and I've just
heard time and time again whereon earth were you when I first
started shift work?
This is just so simple but somotivating.

(06:19):
There are simple strategies wejust don't realise that we can
put into place.
Simple strategies we just don'trealise that we can put into
place.
This is telling me that I am onthe right track, and this is
why you need to put it up theline.
But here is my biggest hurdle,and that is getting the staff to
tell management that I exist,and that comes down to you.

(06:43):
Health and wellbeing teams arebusy, but they are always
looking for new programs to helptheir people.
They just don't know about meunless someone speaks up.
They've got money.
They've got budget.
We're at the end of thefinancial year right now and
workplaces are allocatingbudgets to programs like this,
and this is the perfect time toget the seminar on the books or

(07:06):
to raise awareness ready for thenext financial year.
If they don't know we exist,they can't do anything about it.
And what they're looking for,if you think about it, they
don't want the responsibility.
Health and wellbeing arecoordinators.
If they can tick a box and say,yep, we've got someone to come
in and lecture us on shift work,then they're ticking a box and

(07:28):
everything goes really well forthem, but you as the, the
employee, benefit from it.
Now, one thing that makes ahuge difference that people
actually lean forward in theirchairs is when I get a copy of
your workplace's roster and Iput it up on the board and I
actually sit down and break itdown and I show you how to work

(07:54):
that roster in a way that worksfor you.
It's practical and it's realworld stuff, and the feedback
that I get after this on peoplewho have actually gone about it
and done it differently it haschanged their lives.
Now, managers and health andwellbeing teams can't keep up
with every new piece of researchor strategy around shift work,

(08:17):
can they?
I mean, it's not a priority forthem, but I do.
I stay on top of it, so youdon't have to.
All you got to do is ask,because I will have the answers
to what is going on, becausethis is my obsession.
I absolutely love it and I knowthat from experience that I can

(08:39):
actually help and I get thisbecause I've been in middle
management in policing.
I know what it's like from boththe employer side and also from
the employee side.
This isn't just theory for me.
I've lived it, I know it, Iunderstand it, I've worked it
and I know those feelings andhow to go about it.

(09:01):
Now I'm not a researcher orjust some well-meaning speaker
throwing information at youwithout understanding what it's
like.
This is real, it is practicaland it works.
I also support workplaces withfatigue management.
So if you've got a new EBAcoming up at work and your
roster is a massive problem, whynot get someone in to actually

(09:25):
have a look at it, to talk tostaff, to talk to management,
understand the requirements fromboth sides and actually help
staff to build a roster thatwill work for everybody?
It's possible and there'sfatigue management software that
can be used to actually put allof this together instead of

(09:46):
just packing people into a24-hour environment.
And we have to stop doing this.
All right, that's it.
That's all I'm going to sayabout it.
I'm putting it back on you.
You, the listener, are the onethat needs to make your health
and well-being aware.
You need to be posting intoyour Facebook forums, your

(10:07):
WhatsApp chat groups, makingpeople aware that I exist.
All I want to do is get shiftworkers healthy out there.
That's all I want to see.
I just want to see peoplestarting to thrive, because the
hardest thing for me to do is tolook at research today and see

(10:27):
in the past, with lack ofeducation, how detrimental the
research is towards shift work.
But I honestly believe that wecan thrive in our shift working
environment.
All we've got to do is learnstrategies about how to go about
it, and without spreading theword we can't do that.
So I need you to spread theword.

(10:48):
Can you do me a favor?
Please make people aware of mein Facebooks, in your WhatsApp
group chats, in your forums,through your newsletters.
I think this is somethingthat's really, really important
to do to bring more awareness,because the more your colleagues
are aware of how to go aboutdoing shift work, the best

(11:10):
environment it will be for youto actually work in.
If you think about it, you mightthink, oh, why bother?
But you know what If you're a,why bother?
Why bother yourself?
Because the bottom line is youare part of the problem.
If that's the case, dosomething about it.
At least try.
All right.
So if you're listening right nowand you know that your

(11:32):
workplace could benefit from oneof my shift work health and
well-being seminars, pleasedon't wait.
Go to my website.
The link is in the show notes,or you can go to a healthy
shiftcom.
Up the top is a menu item thatliterally says seminar.
Click on that and it will takeyou to the page you can read all

(11:54):
about it and on that page youcan download my free resource,
which tells you all about theseminars, which makes a
fantastic attachment to actuallyput on any internal memo or
application to put it up to yourhealth and wellbeing department
.
This is a really, really simplestep that you can take that can

(12:16):
really open a door to aconversation that could get me
to your workplace to help you.
So here's my question for youAre you just accepting how
things are today?
Are you going to try andactually do something about it?
It's up to you.
Thanks for listening and I'llcatch you on the next one.
Thank you for listening.

(12:46):
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe so you get
notified whenever a new episodeis released.
It would also be ever sohelpful if you could leave a
rating and review on the appyou're currently listening on.
If you want to know more aboutme or work with me, you can go
to ahealthyshiftcom.
I'll catch you on the next one.