[325] - Fatigue and Burnout Will Not Wait For The Next Budget Allocation

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We make a direct call to leaders of 24/7 teams to stop relying on recruitment and start building real support that reduces fatigue and burnout. Practical education, risk-aware supervision, and retention-first strategy create safer, more stable workplaces.

• Why recruitment cannot fix fatigue and burnout
• The compounding loop from errors to understaffing
• Evidence-based education on sleep, circadian rhythm, nutrition, recovery
• What genuine support looks like beyond posters and EAP emails
• Retention as a core safety strategy
• Leadership duties, difficult conversations, and early intervention
• The gap between advertising and the lived job
• How to assess whether staff feel supported
• Immediate steps to stabilise a 24/7 workforce

Let’s have a conversation. Follow the link in the show notes to the Seminar Experience, download the e‑brochure, and book a call.

Subscribe for new episodes and leave a rating and review on your podcast app. Visit ahealthyshift.com to learn more or work with me

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ANNOUNCING

"The Shift Workers Collective"

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

Click the link to learn all about it
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• Shift Work Health and Wellbeing Seminars
• 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_01 (03:17):
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, and24-7 shift worker for almost
four decades.
Through this podcast, I aim toeducate shift workers using
evidence-based methods to notonly survive the rigors of shift

(03:40):
work, but thrive.
My goal is to empower shiftworkers to improve their health
and well-being so they have moreenergy to do the things they
love.
Enjoy today's show.
And welcome back to anotherepisode of a healthy shift
podcast.
If you're a leader or a manager,strap in because I'm coming

(04:03):
after you with this podcast toreally highlight a massive issue
in your workplace.
And that is fatigue and burnoutwill not wait for your next
budget allocation.
If you run a 24-7 workplace,this actually matters.
Because fatigue and burnoutabsolutely do not care about

(04:23):
your budget cycle.
They don't wait for the nextfinancial year.
And they will not pause whileyou try and recruit your way out
of trouble here.
They're not going to.
Right now, frontline health andemergency services are losing
staff at an alarming rate.
They are hemorrhaging.
And people aren't just leavingjobs, they're actually leaving

(04:47):
careers.
And the hard truth is this youcannot recruit your way out of
fatigue and burnout becauseyou're putting people back into
the same environment everysingle time.
You've got to start valuing thepeople that you have.
The real problem, I've workedshift work for over 40 years,
and I now coach shift workersevery single day.

(05:09):
And I've coached hundreds overthe last six years.
And what I'm seeing is not alack of resilience, it's
actually the lack of supportthat actually works, is the
problem.
Majority of shift workers that Italk to in frontline health and
emergency services, when I askthem, what do you think the

(05:30):
biggest problem is?
The response is lack of support.
Now let that sink in.
If you're a manager or a leader,let that sink in.
Your employees are actuallysaying that you're not
supporting them.
And I know you're going to sitthere and say, oh yeah, we are,
because we put a flyer up on theOchealth and Safety wall.

(05:53):
You are kidding yourself, aren'tyou?
Have a look at what you'redoing.
Have a look at the social mediaposts on what how you're
portraying to advertise tostaff.
The people that you're gettingare not the people that are
career.
They're not going to last.
What you're doing is ticking abox.
What we need to do is we need tostart looking after the people

(06:16):
that we actually have already.
Long hours, broken sleep,chronic fatigue, emotional
exhaustion.
And the more that leave, themore pressure you're actually
putting on the people that areleft.
And it's getting to breakingpoint.
Your staff are running on empty.
I'm here to tell you.
I know you think you know this,but they're not telling you

(06:39):
everything.
But I'm hearing it.
And then look at you, acting allsurprised when they take
unplanned leave or when theymake a mistake and then you go
after them.
Or they just walk away.
Replacing them costs you timeand money.
And I know as a supervisor or amanager in a workplace, you can

(07:02):
wait for recruiting to fix thatproblem for you, but they can't.
Because they just bring anotherproblem to you.
It's someone else to train, it'ssomebody else that you've got to
bring up to speed.
And it's another person thatyou're going to lose.
Looking after the staff that youalready have, retention is no
longer a nice idea.
It's actually a safety issue inyour workplace.

(07:25):
If you want your people to stay,they need to feel supported in
real ways.
Not with their slogans, not withyour once-a-year well-being
week, not with flyers up on thewall.
Education matters.
Because when staff understandsleep and fatigue and they learn

(07:46):
about the circadian rhythm, andthey learn about nutrition and
recovery and their mentalhealth, things start to change.

SPEAKER_00 (07:57):
They actually start to feel more in control.

SPEAKER_01 (08:00):
Their energy improves, their mindset shifts.
That's how you protect mind andspirit.
Not by asking people to justcope better.
You can't tell people today, oh,this is how it's always been,
because this is not how it'salways been.
You can't say to people, this iswhat you signed up for, because

(08:21):
this is not what they signed upfor.

SPEAKER_00 (08:24):
That's not what you portrayed or what you
advertised.
It's totally different.
So, what does support reallylook like?
Let me be blunt.

SPEAKER_01 (08:36):
Putting a flyer on the health and well-being board
is not support.
It's just literally ticking yourhealth and well-being box.
An email from your EAP.
That's not a fatigue strategy.
A poster about resilience is notgoing to fix your chronic sleep
debt.
Support means ongoing education.

(08:57):
It means practical tools thatpeople can actually use both on
and off shift.
It means that leadership isunderstanding the fatigue risk
and they're not just talkingabout it after an incident.
And yes, be aware there is alegislative requirement in 24-7

(09:20):
workplaces to actually addresshealth and safety and
well-being.
In fact, in all workplaces, butyours has one too.
And fatigue is actually part ofthat.
And mental health is actuallypart of that.
So the real question I'm goingto ask you was you sit there
listening to this or walking ordriving, what are you actually
doing?

(09:40):
What are you doing?
And why can't this wait?
Because fatigue is leading toerrors.
Errors lead to incidents andaccidents.
Incidents lead to complaints andinjuries and investigations.
And so it compounds the problemeven further.
Burnout, it leads to sick leave.

(10:01):
And sick leave leads tounderstaffing.
And understaffing, it justincreases fatigue further.
And it's a loop, and it'sgetting tighter and tighter.
It's going to strangle you.
And if you don't interveneearly, the cost will actually
grow.

SPEAKER_00 (10:19):
Financially, operationally, and humanly.
If this is not addressed, you'regoing to have massive problems.

SPEAKER_01 (10:30):
And you've got to know where to go to get it
addressed.
You've got to do something.
You can't just say, oh, it'llsort itself out.
Because if you're a leader or amanager, you have to sort it
out.
That's your job.
That's what you're getting paidto do.
So who's getting on the frontfoot and actually going to do
something about it?
You already know it isn'tsustainable.

(10:51):
You know that.
You've identified that.
You're the one that's trying toput all the fingers in the dike
everywhere to stop the leaks.
How many more fingers have yougot?
How much more can you actuallydo?
Because the problem is real now.
It's getting catastrophic withthe amount of people that are
actually leaving.
Seeing figures of police forcesaround Australia is devastating.

(11:17):
Seeing how bad it's actuallygot.
And the people that I'mcommunicating that are left are
under such enormous pressure,they've almost had enough.
And what are you doing about it?
Oh, this is how it's alwaysbeen.
No, it's not.
This is what you signed up for.
No, it isn't.
That is not.
And advertising with TikTok typesocial media advertising for

(11:38):
people is not portraying whatthe job is actually like.

SPEAKER_00 (11:43):
And the longevity?

SPEAKER_01 (11:45):
When I signed up for the police, we were going to be
20, 30 year members, 20, 30 yearofficers.
Now they sign up, they're gonein two to three years because
it's just not what they thoughtit was going to be, and they
don't feel supported.
And I would ask you the questiondo a 360 on your staff and ask

(12:06):
them if they feel supported.
And brace yourself for theanswer.
Because you will find majorityof your staff don't feel
supported.
Yes, there's some great managersout there, there's some good
people, but recently I've had anumber of applications that have
gone in, a number of proposalsthat have gone into 24-7

(12:27):
workplaces, and the responsescome back is there's no money.
No money?
So you're not valuing your staffin the fatigue and burnout
because what are you actuallydoing to support them?
And that's something that youneed to come to terms with and
you need to think about itbecause I'm going to be very
clear.

(12:48):
Fatigue and burnout are notgoing to wait for the next
budget allocation.
Because when you get there,there isn't any more money.
And then you get to the stagewhere there's no more staff.
Or the staff that are left arebroken.
And they're on unplanned leaveand they're on extended leave.
Or they've simply just walkedaway.
So if you don't intervene and dosomething now, you're gonna have

(13:11):
a massive problem.
You've already got a problem,you know that.
Be real with yourself, but weneed to do something.
You don't need another report totell you that it's not
sustainable.
You can't put another report upthe line and say, when's our
staff coming?
Because they're not.
And you can't have a staffmember make a mistake because

(13:36):
they're chronically fatigued andthey're emotionally fragile and
then just put them on paper andget rid of them that way, or
make them feel even worse forwhat they've done.
You've got to start lookingafter them.
You've got to have thosedifficult conversations.
If you're a leader or you're amanager, have the difficult
conversations, but not put themon paper.
I think we reach for our pens orour typewriters far too quick.

(13:58):
Typewriters, keyboard.
Let's go with keyboard, Rog.
You're a bit old.
All right.
That's all I've got to say onthis one today.
It's a really short one, butit's a really important episode.
And it's something that you'vegot to do.
And I can help you with this.
Let's have a conversation.
If you're a manager and you areabsolutely at breaking point, or

(14:22):
if you are running anorganization, or if you're a
health and well-being manager,what have you got to lose by
having a conversation with meand saying, what can we do?
Because I have lived experience.
I have 40 years of shift work.
I'm a certified nutritionist.
I've coached hundreds andhundreds of people over the last
seven, six, six and a halfyears, nearly seven years now.

(14:45):
And I've got a handle on it.
I can speak the language.
They will be, it's relatable.
I have the feedback from it.
And if you want to know more, inthe show notes, go to the bottom
and you'll see there's a linkthere to the seminar experience.
And you can click there, it'lltake you to the webpage, and I
will and you can see everythingthat I offer.
And you can download my seminarexperience e-brochure.

(15:09):
And in that brochure, it showsyou what I do and how I go about
it.
And I've actually got a reallyexciting new platform launching
in the coming weeks, which isgoing to take 2026 into the next
level for education for shiftworking environments, which is
really exciting.
And I'm really keen to share itwith people.

(15:30):
If you want to learn more aboutit, follow the links in the show
notes to the seminar experienceand book a call and let's have a
conversation or let's sit downat the table and bash it out
because it's got to be bashedout.
Something's got to be done.

SPEAKER_00 (15:44):
You can't keep going the way that you're going.
So if you're responsible for a24-7 workforce, let's talk.

SPEAKER_01 (15:54):
Not a sales pitch, a real conversation.
And I will show you how Isupport shift workers to get
healthier in their body, mind,and spirit and how that support
flows back into a safer and amuch more stable workplace.
Reach out because fatigue andburnout will not wait for the

(16:15):
next budget allocation.
Thank you for listening.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe so you get
notified whenever a new episodeis released.
It would also be ever so helpfulif you could leave a rating and

(16:37):
review on the app you'recurrently listening on.
If you want to know more aboutme or work with me, you can go
to ahealthyshift.com.
I'll catch you on the next one.