Self-Care Week arrives at a naturally reflective moment in the HR calendar, but it also happens at one of the most high-pressure times of the year for certain industries. For retail, hospitality, transport, social care and other frontline sectors, this is only the start of the hardest stretch.
Christmas can be magical for customers, but it’s an endurance test for the people working behind the scenes. When I speak with our clients in the hospitality and leisure sectors, I hear stories of longer shifts, unpredictable footfall, back-to-back demands and stressed customers taking their toll. Often, the early signs of strain are there long before anyone speaks up, which is why using HR tech can create timely interventions into the wellbeing of your workforce.
The impact of poor wellbeing in the workplace is staggering. Poor mental health at work is costing UK employers around £51 billion every year, according to Deloitte’s 2024 Mental Health and the Workplace report. Burnout affects at least 79% of UK employees, with over a third reporting ‘high’ or ’extreme’ levels, according to Spill’s workplace burnout data.
And the pressure is only intensifying for frontline and customer-facing teams. The British Retail Consortium recently reported more than 2,000 incidents of violence and abuse against shopworkers every single day, which is a 50% increase on the year before. The Health and Safety Executive found that 776,000 UK workers experienced work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2023/24.
Frontline roles consistently appear among the most exposed. When you combine that level of strain with the personal and professional pressures of the season, it’s clear that many workplaces are primed for burnout. But there are ways to relieve that pressure. As part of our work at Silver Cloud, we see all the amazing new platforms that can give leaders visibility, build psychological safety, and provide simple, accessible resources that genuinely support self-care in the flow of work.
In recognition of Self-Care Week, here are some of the HR tools out there solving the wellbeing crisis and increasing resilience both during the seasonal surge and beyond:
Deputy offers end-of-shift check-ins that capture how people are feeling at the exact moment they clock out. This gives managers real-time visibility of shifts where morale is dipping, workloads are too heavy or teams are under strain, allowing them to respond before issues build up over days or weeks.
Sona provides real-time wellbeing prompts throughout the working week, helping managers identify teams or locations that are starting to struggle under the pressure of Christmas trading. These early indicators can highlight patterns such as fatigue, overwhelm or repeated overwork, which can often be missed during the peak-season chaos.
Blink is a mobile-first employee app, gives frontline workers an easy and discreet way to raise concerns, share feedback or complete quick pulse surveys. This makes wellbeing conversations more accessible, especially in shift-based roles where HR conversations may be trickier to have in-person.
Spill and Sonder offer immediate access to counselling and mental-health support, giving employees someone qualified to talk to at the moment they need it most. This rapid, on-demand support is particularly valuable in environments where emotional labour, customer aggression or long hours take a toll.
Leafyard, designed specifically for retail and customer-facing environments, helps workers recognise their own stress triggers, build resilience and recover after challenging days. The platform focuses on small, realistic actions that employees can fit around demanding shift patterns, making self-care feel achievable rather than overwhelming.
Self-care becomes meaningful in an organisation when people feel safe enough to show how they’re really doing, when they have the resources to look after themselves and when managers know how to respond with understanding rather than pressure. Workplace wellbeing and self-care is not a perk or a seasonal gesture; it is a business essential. Life is tough but when there are HR tech tools and resources out there to help reduce the pressure, manage workplace wellbeing and build resilience, the real question is: why wouldn’t you use them?
I founded Silver Cloud in 2009, just as HR tech was beginning to create a space of its own and, with more innovative platforms emerging each year, I’m even more convinced that these HR resources can genuinely support the very human side of HR. These tools don’t replace empathy or judgement, but they give HR teams and managers the insight and data needed to act earlier and more effectively. Investing in your tools is investing in your teams.
About the author: Helen Armstrong is the Founder and CEO of Silver Cloud, a leading HR and payroll technology consultancy. With over 15 years of experience in HR and HRIS, she is a Chartered member of the CIPD and a recognised thought leader in HR digital transformation, automation and change management.
