At a glance:
- Caregiving roles carry a hidden cost: Supporting others is a core part of many jobs, but the emotional demands of caring for people day after day can contribute to stress, fatigue, and burnout, making access to the right support essential.
- The psychosocial impact is real: Sustained exposure to emotionally demanding situations and poor support create measurable risk. The associated costs are also rising, with the average cost of a psychosocial injury claim in NSW having risen from $144,000 to more than $250,000 in just six years.
- Most employees won’t ask for help: Shame, burnout, and social stigma are all barriers that need to be overcome when building support that works.
- Proactive support changes outcomes: Organisations like Bethesda Health Care have shown that accessible, 24/7 wellbeing support engaged one-third of the workforce within six months (including employees who wouldn’t have reached out under a traditional EAP).
While supporting others can be rewarding, it can also take an emotional toll.
For empathetic employees in healthcare, education, community services, leadership, and other people-focused roles, caring for others is often a core part of the job. But there is an invisible cost. Some people may appear to be functioning on the surface, but are carrying significant stress and exhaustion. Over an extended period, these emotional demands can contribute to stress, fatigue, and burnout,
These situations are often laden with psychosocial hazards making it essential that organisations provide employees with the right support.
Let’s explore how.
Which roles carry the highest emotional load?
Some jobs require caring for others as part of the role itself. While rewarding, there are unique challenges, including:
- Support workers: Providing emotional support, assisting with physical care, and helping people navigate complex systems.
- Teachers: Managing behavioural challenges, parental expectations, and increasingly under-resourced classrooms.
- Palliative care workers: Facing grief exposure, moral distress, and the emotional weight of end-of-life care.
- Veterinarians: Navigating euthanasia decisions, client aggression, compassion fatigue, and one of the highest suicide-risk professions.
- Managers: Balancing team needs, motivating direct reports, and managing pressure from both above and below.
The common thread? Sustained emotional exposure with little structured decompression built in.
Read the case study: How Bethesda Health Care cares for the people who care for others.
“The empathy that draws them to the role makes them the most vulnerable to its effect. This strain doesn’t simply switch off at the end of a shift.”
What psychosocial hazards come with caregiving roles?
Whether built into the job description or occurring outside work hours, caregiving responsibilities take a toll. More importantly, they often come with multiple psychosocial hazards, including:
- Vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue from prolonged exposure to others’ suffering
- High job demands and low control, which can rapidly accelerate burnout
- Lack of role clarity in emotionally complex situations
- Harmful behaviour that may result from chronic stress
- Poor support structures that compound all of the hazards above
According to Sonder’s report into psychosocial hazards in Australian workplaces, workers who experience workplace bullying or harassment report wellbeing scores 50% lower than the general workforce cohort, illustrating how quickly psychosocial risks can compound.
For senior leaders and HR managers, recognising the very real risks that exist is the first step towards building effective prevention and support strategies. Inaction can have significant legal and financial consequences for organisations that fail to prevent, mitigate, and respond.
Psychological injury claims in NSW have doubled in six years, and the average claim cost has risen from $146,000 to over $288,000 in that same period.
Insurance Council of Australia submission to NSW Parliament, 2025
Why don’t employees in high-pressure roles ask for help?
It can be frustrating when you’re ready to help, but your people aren’t proactively reaching out. There are myriad reasons why employees may stay silent, including:
- An “it’s not that serious, just get on with it” culture, particularly common in veterinary, emergency, and palliative care settings.
- Shame or stigma around asking for help, alongside workplace cultures that don’t clearly communicate how support can be accessed confidentially.
- Burnout where employees are simply too depleted to initiate another task or difficult conversation.
- Sector-wide underfunding, meaning wellbeing initiatives are consistently deprioritised.
- Support systems that weren’t designed for the realities of emotionally demanding work.
- Concerns around anonymity, particularly in small, close-knit teams where everyone knows everyone.
The scale of this silence is significant. Sonder’s State of Employee Health and Wellbeing Report 2026 found that 77% of employees experience poor mental health, yet 78% don’t seek help, a pattern the report describes as a “Wellbeing Paradox.” In roles defined by caring for others, this gap is likely even wider.
For senior leaders and HR managers, understanding these barriers and actively seeking employee feedback can reveal where a wellbeing strategy needs to evolve.
Read the case study: How Schools UK cut avoidable absence by 60% and earned a gold star for staff wellbeing.
What does meaningful support look like for emotionally demanding roles?
People who spend their days caring for others often become experts at appearing okay — until they reach a breaking point. This can make it difficult for leaders to identify issues before they escalate.
The good news is that organisations can move from reactive support to proactive prevention with the right systems in place.
Rather than relying solely on managers or leaders to identify and respond to every wellbeing concern, many organisations are introducing external support programs that make help more accessible for everyone.
You can’t regulate somebody else’s nervous system unless you are regulated yourself.
Psychologist and Clinical Director at My Mirror
Traditional Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) can play an important role, but they also have limitations. Restricted appointment availability, limited operating hours, and short-term intervention models don’t always align with the realities of emotionally demanding work.
That’s why organisations such as Bethesda Health Care have expanded their approach. As a palliative care provider in Perth, Bethesda recognised that staff, volunteers, and even family members were carrying significant emotional loads. To provide more accessible support, the organisation introduced Sonder, giving employees and their families access to 24/7 wellbeing and safety assistance. Within six months, around one-third of the workforce had actively engaged with the service, with more than 520 people receiving support.
The real impact, however, can be seen in everyday moments: a nurse who called on a Sunday afternoon and had support arranged before her next shift, or palliative care staff finding a confidential space to decompress after an especially difficult week.
We wanted them to have something that helped them to reflect, but then be able to move on with their day and not ruminate and worry and bring that into the next shift.
Executive Manager WHS, Bethesda Health Care
For workplaces supporting people in emotionally demanding roles, several features stand out:
- 24/7 access to qualified support through chat and phone.
- Check on Me for ongoing wellbeing monitoring.
- Share My Journey, allowing trusted contacts to stay informed during difficult situations.
- Immediate support pathways that don’t rely on employees waiting weeks for an appointment.
Read the case study: How Story House is reimagining care for early educators by supporting the whole person.
How can organisations better support people in high-pressure roles?
Supporting employee wellbeing in high-pressure, emotionally demanding roles is critical. But it’s equally important to remember that this responsibility shouldn’t rest solely on managers and senior leaders.
Leaders are not counselors. They shouldn’t be expected to absorb every challenge their teams face. What they can do is create a culture where support is visible and encouraged.
By combining strong leadership, psychologically safe workplaces, and accessible wellbeing services, organisations can better protect the people who spend their days caring for others.
