To say compassion fatigue in the healthcare industry is a major challenge would be an understatement. Nearly 90 percent of care professionals experience compassion fatigue at some point in their careers.

Fortunately, the tide is starting to turn. Physician burnout recently fell to its lowest level in more than six years, thanks in large part to growing awareness and targeted employer efforts to improve wellbeing.

Even so, compassion fatigue remains a burden—costing organizations more than $50,000 for every employee lost to the condition. Without meaningful support, organizations also risk poorer patient outcomes and diminished quality of service, as overwhelmed clinicians struggle to sustain the empathy and emotional presence their roles demand.

To that point, a new episode of Wellbeing at Work seeks to untangle this critical issue. In it, digital marketing intern Emily Morgan sits down with clinical counselor Kender Wu to explore why compassion fatigue remains such a prevalent issue, what organizations can do to respond, and how Workplace Options (WPO) demonstrates what it means to lead a psychosocially safe, people-first workplace.

Read an excerpt from their conversation below:

Emily: To get us started, I was wondering if you could talk a bit more about compassion fatigue—what it is, and why it’s such a critical topic in the healthcare industry?

Kender: Sure! So first of all, let me start by saying what it’s not. I think a lot of people believe compassion fatigue means that people stop caring, but that’s not actually the case. It’s more about the cost of caring; the stress that we healthcare professionals accumulate over time through our emotional interactions and psychological work with our clients. Because of our repeat exposure to trauma, crisis, suffering, grief—just all kinds of human vulnerability—we do carry a higher risk of fatigue. It’s more about caring deeply for prolonged periods of time and becoming drained, rather than not caring at all, if that makes sense.

Emily: Yes, it does. And I understand there’s also data that has shown there’s been somewhat of a gradual decline in physician burnout, thanks to an increase in awareness. Which brings me to my next question, which is, “Why is it important for leaders to take action so we can see more of a decline—and what is at stake if organizations fail to respond?”

Kender: Great question. So, as you can imagine, us healthcare professionals bring a lot of who we are into our work. We rely on our personalities, empathy, and emotional presence, which means there’s a great deal of emotional labor involved. If we don’t take care of that part of ourselves, it can eventually spill over and compromise our professionalism.

If I may add one point here, we often talk about burnout or general workplace stress, but compassion fatigue is a little different. It’s closely related to what we call secondary trauma or secondary traumatic stress. In other words, when we witness what others are experiencing, we absorb some of that emotional burden. We empathize with them, we feel what they’re feeling, and over time that can become emotionally draining, which is why it’s so important that we take care of ourselves.

Traditionally, however, we’ve tended to view compassion fatigue as an individual issue—something each professional is responsible for managing. But I’d emphasize that it’s much more than that. It’s also about how we function as a team, how the organization supports its people, and how leaders respond. Compassion fatigue doesn’t just affect the individual; it can influence how teams collaborate, how care is delivered, and ultimately the health of the organization itself.

Emily: Absolutely. Like you were saying toward the end there, people’s lives are on the line. So if organizations don’t respond, there’s a lot at stake if teams cannot communicate or cannot perform optimally.

Kender: Exactly, and to build on that, let’s take the example of working on a helpline. There are moments when we need to connect with another person’s vulnerability, which means we also have to allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough to understand what they’re going through—listening to their stories, witnessing their suffering, and hearing about their crises, which can be incredibly impactful.

On top of that, especially when call volumes are high, we often have to move quickly from one case to the next, allowing us very little opportunity to pause and process what’s happening emotionally between encounters. This matters for two reasons: one, because it impacts us as individuals—contributing to emotional exhaustion and reduced wellbeing. And secondly, because it impacts the organization.

As providers become drained, disengaged, and disillusioned, the result is increased disengagement in the workplace. If we’re no longer able to empathize with the people we’re supporting, it can ultimately affect the quality of care and service people receive. So that’s why it’s important for leaders to recognize compassion fatigue as something they have a responsibility to address.

Emily: Absolutely. Thank you, Kender. Moving on now to what organizations can do to respond: How can leaders implement an effective strategy against burnout? And what does that entail before and after burnout strikes?

Kender: Great question, Emily. If I may just put in a word here, I would definitely want to suggest a shift in thinking. Typically, the question is asked about how we can make people more ‘resilient?’ How do we solve individual problems, so to speak. But instead of that, I think it’s important that instead we inquire about how we can create the conditions that allow people to do meaningful work sustainably. Instead of taking care of individuals, we should be focused on strengthening the organization: How do we get people together to talk about stuff? How do we normalize talking about mental health, burnout and professional identity? As you can imagine, compassion fatigue can lead to reduced connection at work, so how do we provide a space where people can support each other?

In order to address compassion fatigue effectively, there needs to be that shift in thinking. Treating it not just as in individual issue, but a systemic challenge: How do we create conditions that allow people to do this work together in a sustainable manner?

Emily: Definitely, and obviously, Workplace Options has trainings and other tools organizations can use to help them address burnout at the organizational level.

Kender: For sure. Fortunately, we do have a number of tools that organizations can use—and that we use internally as well—to protect clinical staff against burnout…

Interested in hearing the rest of their conversation? Tune in now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or by visiting our podcasts page.