In Occupational Health and Wellbeing, your team is expected to show up. To be calm, clear and clinical. To support others through absence, trauma, stress, conflict and crisis.

But who is looking after them?

We work with teams across the UK who are delivering high-stakes services while running on empty. Senior leads stretched between delivery, governance and recruitment. OH advisors fielding casework without backup. Mental health leads who haven’t had a chance to breathe, never mind reflect.

And it’s starting to show.

The Pressure Beneath the Surface

Post-pandemic expectations haven’t eased. If anything, they’ve increased. Employees now expect faster access to support, more flexible working and more psychological safety. Employers expect their OH and wellbeing teams to deliver it all with limited resources and no room for failure.

Behind the scenes, many professionals are struggling with:

• Decision fatigue from endless triage and case prioritisation
  
• Emotional spillover from others’ trauma or distress
  
• Lack of recovery time between complex cases
  
• Pressure to hold the line during restructuring, sickness spikes or senior vacancies
  

The risk isn’t just burnout. It’s attrition. And once your best people go, rebuilding gets a whole lot harder.

It’s Not About Resilience. It’s About Recovery.

You’ve likely hired resilient people. That’s not the issue. The problem is they’re not getting space to recover. No time to reflect between cases. No structured debrief. No meaningful supervision. Just back-to-back delivery and then a ‘thanks for your work’ before the next crisis hits.

It’s not sustainable. And it’s not what quality OH or wellbeing delivery looks like.

If you want a team that stays, performs and protects your organisation’s reputation, you need to give them more than a lunch-and-learn on mindfulness.

What Effective Support Looks Like

Here’s what we’ve seen work inside high-performing teams:

• Clinical or peer supervision that actually happens, with space to discuss difficult cases and emotional load
  
• Clear boundaries around delivery and recovery, especially after incidents or escalations
  
• Proper staffing plans, so one resignation doesn’t wipe out your ability to function
  
• A culture that makes it safe to ask for help, even at senior level
  
• Investment in roles that prevent burnout, not just respond to it
  

None of this is radical. But it needs to be intentional. Left to chance, most people will keep pushing through. Until they can’t.

Recruitment Is Part of the Solution

When we’re briefed on a leadership or specialist hire, we ask a simple question: who is this person supporting, and who is supporting them?

If your answer is “They’ll just get on with it”, you’re not hiring for sustainability. You’re hiring for turnover.

Smart recruitment isn’t just about skills. It’s about fit, structure and support. You need people who are capable, yes. But also roles that are clear, realistic and well backed.

Because good people won’t stay in bad systems. And when the people responsible for workplace health and safety burn out, the risks multiply fast.

About Recruiting Heads

Recruiting Heads delivers strategic recruitment for Occupational Health, Wellbeing, H&S and Clinical Governance. We help you hire people who stay, perform and protect your organisation’s future. Built for people who need results, not just CVs.