For those of us carrying additional responsibilities outside of work, whether that's childcare, caring for elderly parents, managing a health condition or living with neurodivergence, it's hardly surprising that people are burning out.

According to Mental Health UK's Burnout Report, based on research conducted by YouGov with over 4,500 adults, 91% of UK adults experienced high or extreme levels of pressure or stress during the last year. That's remained consistently high over the last three years.

Yet despite this, we're not getting better at having conversations about wellbeing. If anything, we seem to be moving further away from compassion.

Is this a consequence of the economic pressures we've all faced over recent years? Have the challenges of sustaining businesses, securing funding and managing uncertainty left us with less time, energy and emotional capacity to support one another? Has the increasing pressure on industries such as games, where access to finance remains challenging, created a culture where we're constantly pushing forward but rarely pausing?

Learning to switch off isn't simply about looking after ourselves, it's about protecting our creativity, improving our decision making and maintaining the high standards we expect of ourselves and our teams. Quite simply, we perform better when we're rested.

As our workforce becomes increasingly diverse, supporting people's well-being is becoming both a moral and commercial imperative. At the same time, employers face growing expectations to create equitable workplaces, with employment tribunal claims continuing to rise and organisations being asked to think differently about how work is designed and managed. This is about workforce management in a way many businesses are still struggling to consider. While we continue to rely on traditional workplace models - fixed working hours, expectations around office attendance, limited job-sharing opportunities, inflexible working patterns and cultures where people feel unable to disconnect, we will continue to see these pressures grow.

But before we can adapt, we first need to understand. Cortisol and adrenaline are often misunderstood - they're frequently portrayed as the "bad" hormones we should avoid at all costs but in reality, they're essential. Think of them as your body's morning alarm clock - they help you wake up, focus your attention and prepare for the day ahead. Short bursts of adrenaline and cortisol are not only normal, they're helpful. They enable us to respond to challenges, solve problems and perform under pressure. The issue isn't the hormones themselves - the issue is when we're never given the opportunity to come back down again.

• When was the last time you spent an evening without checking your emails?
• When did you last go a whole weekend without looking at work messages?
• When were you last completely present with your family or friends without work quietly sitting in the background?

Our brains and bodies are designed to move between periods of effort and recovery.  Sustainable performance doesn't come from eliminating stress, it comes from avoiding prolonged activation without recovery.  In practice, this means creating workplaces that support healthy boundaries between work and home life. Encouraging people to leave work behind, genuinely enjoy their time away from it and ensuring workloads are properly resourced so people aren't operating under prolonged pressure.

You might argue that's difficult when budgets are tight.  But what's the cost of doing nothing?

The hidden cost of never switching off

When we remain in a heightened state for prolonged periods, recovery becomes increasingly difficult. The signs begin to appear across an organisation.

• Sickness absence increases.
• Performance declines.
• Grievances become more frequent.
• People leave.

The small frustrations that might once have been resolved through a conversation become larger, more complex issues requiring significant time and resource. Meanwhile, creativity slows. Innovation becomes harder. Recruitment becomes more expensive. Managers spend increasing amounts of time firefighting rather than leading.

Research by Professor Sabine Sonnentag shows that psychologically detaching from work during non-working hours is associated with better wellbeing, higher engagement and improved job performance.

The costs quickly mount.

Replacing an employee and supporting them to reach optimum performance can cost tens of thousands of pounds. Managing sickness absence, grievances and tribunal claims requires significant financial and leadership resource before a case even reaches a hearing. According to government estimates, sickness absence costs UK businesses billions of pounds each year. Ironically, the harder we push ourselves, the less effective we often become. Our brains need recovery to process information, regulate emotions, solve problems and generate new ideas.

The structures we create at work should recognise that different groups of people experience pressure differently. Parents and carers, junior employees who may feel less confident speaking up, and senior leaders carrying significant responsibility can all experience sustained pressure, but often for very different reasons.

At Fresh Seed, we believe great workplaces don't happen by accident. They come from thoughtful leadership, realistic expectations and people practices that recognise we're all human. Whether that's reviewing ways of working, supporting managers, developing policies or helping organisations build healthier workplace cultures, we work alongside businesses to create environments where people can thrive as well as perform.

If this blog has prompted you to think differently about your own workplace, we'd be delighted to chat. Get in touch using the button below!