1. BURNOUT & STRESS REMAIN A CENTRAL RISK Research consistently shows that stress-related absence and burnout are still rising, especially among younger workers. While employers increasingly treat wellbeing as a productivity and retention issue rather than a benefits topic, the pressures on staff come from outside as well as inside the workplace. Studies suggest younger workers report significantly higher mental-health-related issues compared with older generations, driving renewed employer focus on prevention. For example, Mental Health UK’s latest Burnout
Report reveals that high stress levels and mental health-related sick leave persist in the UK workforce, with chronic pressures going unaddressed and too few employers supporting recovery from burnout. The report found younger workers were more likely
to experience stress due to issues such as money worries, isolation, and fears around redundancy and job security. The January 2026 report describes a gap between what companies say and do on mental health, with nearly one in three (29%) saying employer raises awareness of mental health but managers do not have time, training or resources to meaningfully support staff. The CIPD has welcomed the findings of the Keep
Britain Working review, which highlights an urgent need to address rising sickness absence and ill health across the nation’s working population. It argues that employers play a vital role in supporting people’s health and enabling them to remain in productive and fulfilling work and champions positive, fair and supportive working environments that directly benefit employee wellbeing, performance and productivity. Speaking at the CIPD conference, Professor Kevin
Fong OBE, Science Broadcaster and Emergency Medical Doctor, emphasised the importance of human capital in organisations. In his keynote speech Leading under pressure: What HR can learn from extreme environments, he argued that leadership in modern organisations must be redefined for a world characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). Drawing on his experience as an emergency physician and air ambulance doctor, he explained that effective performance in high-risk environments depends not on individual expertise alone but on mature leadership, collective intelligence, and the optimal use of human capability. “Your human resource is your principal resource and
your most adaptable one,” he said. “If you do not protect wellbeing, that resource is exhaustible. In an age focused on AI and digital technology, most of what we achieve is still only possible because teams of human beings mould themselves around the challenge and make the system fit for purpose.”
23
“ Your human resource is your principal resource and your most adaptable one. If you do not protect wellbeing, that resource is exhaustible.”
PROFESSOR KEVIN FONG OBE, SCIENCE BROADCASTER & EMERGENCY MEDICAL DOCTOR
GLOBAL LEADERSHIP WELLBEING
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
