How HR can address pressure and build sustainable leadership

Leadership has always demanded resilience, but the last few years have turned up the heat to boiling point.

Economic volatility, relentless change, and shifting workplace expectations and priorities have left many leaders operating in an always-on mode.

For many senior leaders, the next crisis seems only round the corner. The pressure is now in-built, not occasional.

This takes its toll: A 2025 CIPD report on Health and Wellbeing at Work shows UK workforce absence at a 15-year high.

Two-thirds of CEOs report regular burnout, and nearly a quarter experience it daily.

According to a recent article in the Financial Times, many chief executives now last just three years in post.

When stress rises at the top, the impact cascades through the organization — affecting morale, culture, decision quality and results.

Why stress at the top matters

Putting all the pressure on a handful of individuals undermines effectiveness in three key ways:

• It clouds judgment - decision-making becomes reactive, not strategic.
• It erodes engagement - leaders set the tone; when they struggle, motivation falters.
• It drives up cost - turnover, sickness absence and healthcare claims all rise under strain.

Gallup estimates burnout costs U.S. employers $1.5 trillion each year.

Yet stigma remains strong: many executives still view admitting stress is weakness and something to keep quiet about.

The CIPD finds this barrier isolates senior leaders and accelerates burnout.

From wellness to systemic change

Many companies believe they are taking care of stress via wellness apps or resilience courses.

These have their place, but often they just touch the surface: they can’t fix overly heavy workloads or 24/7 expectations.

True prevention means redesigning systems, not just bolstering individuals.

To get to the root of endemic pressure, HR and L&D functions need to shift from reactive care to preventive design.

That means building sustainability into roles, decision processes and development pathways.

Key steps include:

• Auditing workloads to focus leaders on priorities that truly matter.
• Embedding a culture of psychological safety, with visible modelling of healthy boundaries.
• Reworking leader development, combining new skills, coaching, peer reflection and AI-enabled efficiency.
• Offering ongoing confidential support through coaching, networks, and wellbeing check-ins.
• Actions might not necessarily explicitly involve “stress” but affect performance. For example, it has recently been suggested that companies appoint a high level ‘chief risk officer’ to help spot potential risks ahead in this uncertain environment and take the heat off the CEO and the Board. This recognizes that leaders will miss important things if their responsibilities are too wide for them to cope.

Diagnosing pressure: HSE’s stress standards

The UK Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) management standards provide a practical framework for diagnosing where pressure builds up.

This offers an evidence-based approach. It highlights six primary workplace stressors:

• Demands – workload, work patterns, and the environment.
• Control – the level of influence employees have over their work.
• Support – encouragement and resources from managers and colleagues.
• Relationships – managing conflict and promoting positive interaction.
• Role – role clarity and avoidance of conflicting responsibilities.
• Change – how organizational change is managed and communicated.

These provide a valuable checklist for HR and leadership teams to pinpoint hotspots, open up dialogue, and prioritize targeted interventions.

HR teams can use these as discussion tools to pinpoint hotspots and tailor initiatives.

What works in practice

As day-to-day examples, several UK organizations show that customized, effective and systemic approaches can have impact:

• Doncaster Council used HSE standards to identify stress hotspots and act on them.
• An NHS Trust created informal “coffee table” sessions to open honest dialogue.
• PwC’s ‘Work Well’ initiative uses data to detect stressors early and intervene before burnout takes hold.
• Bourne Leisure fosters belonging and support through recognition and social connection

Common success factors in setting up successful schemes are visible leadership commitment, data-driven insights, open dialogue and a culture that values care and flexibility.

Easing the pressure: HR’s key levers

1. Fix the System, Not the Person

Most stress stems from structure, not personal weakness. This means taking a fresh look at redesigning workloads, clarifying priorities and addressing friction points. This is no small task, but makes the fabric of the organization stronger.

1. Equip Managers to Lead Well

Train managers to spot early signs of strain, in themselves and others, hold supportive conversations, and use flexible and adaptable management practices.

1. Create Reflective Development Programs

Blend self-awareness, mindfulness and peer learning. Evaluate impact through engagement, retention and wellbeing not just attendance.

1. Demonstrate Visible Commitment

Senior leaders who model wellbeing send a clear message: mental health matters.

1. Take a Multi-Angle Approach

Address workload, culture, role clarity and financial wellbeing together — narrow interventions won’t work.

1. Build Psychological Safety

Encourage open, blame-free discussions. Leaders who model openness inspire trust and resilience.

1. Offer Flexibility and Autonomy

Hybrid work, compressed weeks and job sharing help reduce work-life conflict and restore energy.

1. Recognize and Connect

Frequent recognition and genuine connection build belonging — a strong buffer against burnout.

The way forward

The pressure on leaders is real, systemic, and costly.

The solution lies not in making individuals tougher in a simplistic manner, but in designing organizations that support sustainable leadership.

Pressure can’t and shouldn’t be eliminated, but it can be managed intelligently.Pressure can’t and shouldn’t be eliminated, but it can be managed intelligently.

For HR, that means embedding sustainable leadership into strategy, rethinking development, and creating systems and processes where leaders can thrive.

When leaders thrive, organizations are more likely to flourish.

The benefits are clear: stronger decision-making, higher engagement, healthier cultures and better business performance.

• Make leader wellbeing strategic, not an add-on.
• Measure and track pressure points across your leadership population.
• Invest in prevention, not just recovery.
• Open up conversations, stress should not be viewed as failure.

HR professionals have the influence to redesign a healthier and more effective leadership environment.