The Hidden Costs of Doing It All in L&D

Earlier this week I attended a conference for HR professionals, where the focus was burnout. The stories I heard were heart-breaking: people carrying impossible burdens, unable to say no until their health forced them to stop.

As someone in Learning and Development, I felt both sad and grateful. We may not face the same emotionally draining challenges as HR, but let’s not downplay the pressures unique to our role.

The Reality of L&D

L&D is (overall) a joyful profession—we get to shape, support, and inspire—but it’s also exhausting. And too often, the expectations placed on us make the work feel unmanageable:

• One-stop fixes: We’re expected to magically improve performance with a single intervention, as if development is a tap we can turn on and off.
• Instant improvements: Increasingly there’s push-back for any intervention that takes people off the job for more than half a day, so we are pressured into creating bite-size learning that dilutes the benefits.
• Delegation overload: Managers expect us to take responsibility for all aspects of staff development (just as they offload people management to HR).
• Expert in everything: From soft skills to complex systems, we’re expected to know it all, yet we rarely get time or budget for our own development.
• Fresh, yet timeless: Training needs to be bespoke and individualised, yet also standardised, on-brand, and (often) certified – adding ANOTHER layer of work.
• Agile yet approved: How many times has a learning need or programme sat with stakeholder and decision makers for MONTHS, and when it’s finally signed off, you get 3 weeks to deliver? The deadlines are totally unrealistic.
• Unrelenting pace: Delivering sessions 3–4 days a week, while simultaneously designing new materials, prepping for upcoming sessions, following up on past ones, managing admin, liaising with suppliers and (sometimes) updating records. You’re trying to do two jobs in one.
• Tech overwhelm: Expected to master every new tool without any training ourselves – being expected to figure it out (and the time that takes not being accounted for anywhere)
• Proving the impossible: Demonstrating ROI when we lack the data, expertise, or time to gather meaningful insights—when we know that the real benefits may take take months or years to materialise.
• Travel burnout: Late nights prepping in hotels, missing family occasions, not being able to join local groups and events, and waking up early to do it all again in a new location.

Admitting It’s Hard

The fact is doing a good job in L&D requires sacrifice. And while we love what we do, let’s stop pretending it’s easy—or that we can do it all, all the time, to the highest standard, alone.

We often say we’re like the swan – all calm and composed on the surface yet working like mad under the surface. That’s fine when we’re in the training room, but you can’t keep it up all day, every day. Asking for help isn’t weakness. It’s wisdom.

I can change my own tyre, but I ask for help because it’s easier.

When we refuse to acknowledge our limits, something will give—our health, our relationships, or our passion for the work we once loved. Years ago, I walked away from a job that I had previously loved, simply because it was taking too much from me. I had no backup plan, but I realised something fundamental: it was me or the job. I chose me.

Don’t Let It Break You

If you love your work in L&D but don’t love the feeling of being overwhelmed and alone, please, ask for help.

There are so many resources and communities out there. Our VIP community is just one example—it’s designed to make design and prep quicker, easier, and less stressful.

• Need suggestions for a workshop you’re running in a week or two, yet are delivering until the day before? Post a question in the morning and get tailored ideas by the end of the day.
• Want to an alternative exercise for a session you’re running tomorrow because you just realised that most of the participants have done the one you planned already? – A quick search through our resources could solve that problem.
• Want to sense-check your thinking with someone who gets L&D? Pop to one of our weekly meetings and talk it through with other practitioners.

It’s like having a virtual team in your pocket, lightening the load while you focus on delivering impactful sessions and driving performance over the longer term.

No, it won’t eliminate the work. But it will make it more manageable—and give you back a little breathing room.

You’re Worth More

Don’t sacrifice yourself for the sake of pride or saving £50 a month. You’re worth far more than that.

If this resonates, take a moment to reflect. What help do you need? And who can you ask for it?

Because you deserve to thrive—not just survive—in this role you love.

PLEASE make 2025 just a little bit easier on yourself.

(And if you want to join us, remember we aren’t a cult – you can leave if it isn’t for you. What’s the worst that could happen?)