- Australia’s Healthcare and Social Assistance workforce has grown 136%
- Yet 82% of roles are already in shortage, with rural turnover hitting 148%
- Seven in ten frontline health workers report moderate or severe burnout
If you want to understand the pressure cooker that the Australian healthcare system has become, you just need to look at the numbers. The Future of Care Is Still Human report from Great Place To Work® Australia shows that despite the healthcare workforce growing by 136 per cent over the last two decades, and a projection that we will need 2.21 million workers in the next year, the math isn’t mathing.
In rural areas, for example, the turnover rate for nurses has hit 148 per cent, while Aboriginal health practitioners are leaving at a rate of 80 per cent. Burnout in healthcare is rife. The post-pandemic adrenaline of the crisis years has worn off, leaving behind an exhausted workforce facing complex community needs and a cost-of-living crisis.
However, hidden in those statistics, the 2025 Best Workplaces™ in Healthcare and Social Assistance are proving that by treating culture as clinical infrastructure, there is a way to buck the trend.
Healthcare needs to flex to be fixed
For decades, the healthcare sector’s prevailing logic was that care happens on a roster, and rosters are fixed. But as we move into 2026, flexibility has become the infrastructure of resilience in a sector where burnout is an occupational specialty. The organisations winning the talent war have stopped debating if flexibility is possible and started designing their operations around human rhythms.
Avenue Dental realised that high-performance dentistry is physically and mentally taxing, so they introduced split shifts and flexible rosters specifically to prevent clinicians from enduring overly long, draining days. Megan Hewitt, Practice Manager at Avenue Dental, said, “We embedded a strong focus on wellbeing and flexibility. Staff can balance demanding clinical schedules with family, study, or personal commitments, which reduces burnout and creates space for long-term career sustainability.”
Digital mental health service MindSpot takes it a step further, offering remote options and compressed hours, but pair them with intentional connection rituals, like breakout sessions, to ensure autonomy doesn’t curdle into isolation.
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Staff retention and burnout
The profound shortage of talent has shown that wages alone won’t solve the gap. The data shows a massive shift among top-tier employers from recruitment to regeneration. At Össur Australia the pressure isn’t just headcount, but the evolving nature of the market. “We see three interconnected challenges, workforce shortages, rapid technology adoption and expanding healthcare consumerism.”
“There is growing demand for allied health professionals and prosthetists, while the pipeline of new graduates is under pressure. We’re preparing by deepening partnerships with universities and training institutions, and by providing clinical placements at Össur events to inspire the next generation,” explained Kerrie Blanch, Head of People at Össur ANZ.
Rebecca Harris, GM of People and Culture at Just Better Care, identifies this as the critical pivot point for the industry. “The biggest challenge facing our sector over the next five years will be addressing workforce shortages, investing in ongoing training, and creating career pathways to ensure we can continue to deliver safe, high-quality care,” she said.
“The challenge is not only recruiting talent, but creating a sustainable, resilient culture where people want to stay, grow, and feel valued.”
Despite a decade of public outreach programs, burnout in healthcare can still be treated as a personal failure of resilience even though the data suggests it’s actually a failure of recovery systems.
The Best Workplaces are shifting from self-care, where the responsibility falls on the individual, to shared care, where rest and supervision are collective responsibilities. A critical part of this is how recognition functions, with ambient appreciation that happens daily.
Megan Hewitt from Avenue Dental said that the company’s culture of recognition has, “transformed the workplace into one where effort is consistently noticed and appreciated, and strengthened peer-to-peer relationships. Staff surveys consistently highlight recognition as one of the top reasons they feel motivated and engaged.”
Lawson Clinical Psychology takes a structural approach to preventing burnout with a hyper-focus on connection. They implemented quarterly culture days to force a pause in the clinical grind. Jessica Yegorov, Senior Clinical Psychologist, explained “We’ve implemented a quarterly team culture day where all our team members get to connect with each other, reflect on our achievements, and make meaningful plans together.”
In high-pressure roles, knowing your team sees your effort is often the difference between a bad day and a quitting day.
Technology as an enabler, not an overlord
In a sector already crowded by administrative burden, technology often just feels like more work, but the winners in this space are using tech to reduce cognitive load, not add to it.
Not-for-profit disability support agency InLife built a mobile-friendly Hub for their dispersed caregivers, designed specifically to connect them. 85 per cent of their staff now say it improves their daily work by reducing isolation and errors.
At Össur, technology is used to reinforce purpose. “Staff across marketing, clinical, operations, and sales work together on these events. Employees gain first-hand insight into how Össur technology transforms lives, which reinforces purpose and strengthens engagement,” said Kerry Branch.
Care work in 2026 may not be faster, cheaper, or more automated, but it will definitely need to be more human, with organisations that treat their people as their most valuable clinical instrument.
Frequently Asked Questions About Workplace Wellbeing in Healthcare
Why is workplace wellbeing in healthcare declining?
According to 2025 data, wellbeing scores in the Australian healthcare and aging services sector have declined, diverging from the recovery seen in other industries. This is attributed to the long tail of pandemic stress, ongoing retention pressures, and the rising complexity of community care needs. As Daniel Williams from The Man Cave notes, increasing demand, workforce shortages, and constant change continue to put pressure on people.
What are the best strategies for healthcare staff retention in 2025?
The most effective retention strategies now focus on “regeneration” rather than just recruitment. This includes implementing structured mentorship programs for graduates, offering genuine flexibility in rostering, and treating lived experience as a professional asset. As Rebecca Harris from Just Better Care states, it’s about “creating a sustainable, resilient culture where people want to stay, grow, and feel valued.”
