The human cost of fatigue

Work can keep getting done while the people doing it become increasingly depleted.

Meetings happen. Decisions are made. Messages get answered. From the outside, everything may appear to be working.

But what does it take to keep going—and what becomes harder to give?

Fatigue changes how we show up

Leadership asks us to listen carefully, consider different perspectives and respond thoughtfully under pressure. Insufficient sleep can compromise the attention, judgement and emotional understanding those abilities depend on.¹

The cost can show up in ordinary moments: a conversation we rush, a colleague we have less patience for, or a difficult decision we struggle to think through.

We may still be capable and committed, yet have less available for the people around us.

That’s why I want sleep and recovery to have a place in conversations about leadership. We invest in developing people’s skills, but we also need to protect their capacity to use them.

And the consequences don’t necessarily end with the working day. When work takes everything someone has, there may be little energy left for family, friendship or the parts of life that restore them.

What concerns me is how easily depletion becomes normal. People adjust to having less patience, less enthusiasm and less energy for life beyond work. Because they’re still delivering, that loss can remain largely unseen. We need to ask how people are experiencing their working lives, as well as what they’re producing.

Make recovery possible

Encouraging people to look after themselves is a beginning. The next question is whether the way we work makes that possible.

An evening message may seem harmless to the person sending it. To someone receiving it, it can suggest that they should still be available. A pattern of urgent requests can make switching off feel risky, even when nobody has explicitly asked people to stay connected.

Leaders can help by making expectations clearer:

• Say what can wait. Agree on when a response is needed and how genuine urgency will be communicated.
• Look at the workload. If getting everything done regularly requires sacrificing rest, something needs attention.
• Set a visible example. Take time away, respect other people’s time off and avoid treating exhaustion as evidence of commitment.

These are practical ways to give recovery a place in everyday working life.

Sleep education also matters. People need to understand what supports their rest, alongside working conditions that allow them to put that understanding into practice.

We can begin with one honest question:

Does the way we work give people a genuine opportunity to recover?