The gap between your people's physiological reality and your organisation's risk exposure is costing you more than you think.
Many workplace wellbeing programs address neither.
Stengel & Austin connects clinical physiology with organisational risk practice, helping organisations reduce psychosocial risk and build genuinely sustainable performance.
THE PROBLEM
The Real Chain of Depletion and Why it Matters
Physiological health, hormonal and metabolic change, nervous system dysregulation, psychosocial risk and compensation exposure are not separate problems. They are the same problem at different points in the chain. Addressing one without understanding the others is why so many wellbeing initiatives produce limited results, not because the intent was wrong, but because the chain was never seen whole.
The human cost is real and it is personal. Sustained depletion changes how people think, relate, lead, and recover. It erodes the capacity that people bring not just to their work but to everything outside it. Genuine workforce wellbeing is not a productivity strategy. It is what happens when people are actually supported to function at a human level, and the organisational outcomes follow from that, not the other way around.
The data reflects what is already visible to many leaders: burnout costs Australian businesses an estimated $14 billion annually. Psychological injury claims now take almost five times longer to resolve than other serious claims, with median compensation of $67,400 compared to $16,300 for physical injuries. Since December 2025, every Australian employer has had a legal obligation to identify, assess and control psychosocial hazards in the workplace.
The cost of addressing this properly is a fraction of the cost of leaving it unaddressed.
Why Now?
Australian organisations are facing a convergence of workforce pressures:
New psychosocial hazard obligations, in force nationally since December 2025
Rising psychological injury claims, now taking almost five times longer to resolve than other serious claims
Burnout and workforce fatigue
Retention and attraction pressures
An ageing workforce
More women navigating midlife health during peak leadership years
Increased pressure to deliver more with less
The cost of workforce depletion is no longer a wellbeing issue. It is a workforce performance, risk, and sustainability issue.
Organisations that understand this are building healthier, safer, and more productive workforces. Those that don't are paying for it through turnover, absenteeism, presenteeism, compensation claims, and declining performance.
METHODOLOGY
Our Framework
The Stengel & Austin Workforce Capacity ModelTM
Sustainable workforce performance is shaped by four interconnected drivers.
01.
Biological Capacity
Energy, recovery, hormonal health, and the physiological foundations of performance.
02.
Psychological Load
Stress exposure, cognitive demand, emotional fatigue, and burnout risk.
03.
Social Environment
Leadership quality, team dynamics, communication, and workplace culture.
04.
Organisational Design
Workload, systems, role clarity, and psychosocial hazards.
When one driver is ignored, performance suffers. When all four are aligned, sustainable performance becomes possible.
This is our own framework, developed by Kersten Stengel and Clio Austin, integrating clinical physiology with organisational risk practice.
METHODOLOGY
How We Work
Every organisation's situation is different. We begin with a structured assessment of your workforce profile, current challenges, and existing wellbeing and risk management initiatives, working directly with your leadership team rather than arriving with a fixed programme. From there we design a bespoke engagement, scoped precisely to your organisation, from a single workshop through to an ongoing partnership.
STEP 01
Discovery & Audit
We evaluate your workforce's current physiological health metrics against your existing organisational risk and compliance frameworks.
STEP 02
Physiological Mapping
We identify hidden patterns of nervous system dysregulation, hormonal shift, and metabolic change driving systemic depletion.
STEP 03
Governance Alignment
We explicitly connect the biological data to psychosocial risk obligations, board-level reporting requirements, and workers' compensation exposure.
STEP 04
Strategic Implementation
We embed targeted, science-backed interventions and leadership strategies that protect both the people and the enterprise.
Our Services
The Stengel & Austin Workforce Capacity Model
01.
Keynote
A single, compelling address connecting workforce health, psychosocial risk, and sustainable performance. Built for conferences and leadership forums.
02.
Workshop
Half-day or full-day, on-site. Leadership capability, evidence-based stress physiology, and workplace menopause education, built around your workforce.
03.
Partnership
A 3 to 12 month engagement combining workforce assessment, leadership development, and embedded implementation support. Designed for organisations seeking meaningful, measurable workforce outcomes..
WORKPLACE MENOPAUSE LITERACY
We highlight this because it represents the widest gap between organisational awareness and genuine provision in most workplaces right now. It is also where the regulatory landscape is moving fastest. Following the 2024 Australian Senate Inquiry into menopause and perimenopause, the Australian Government has supported in principle recommendations for WGEA to collect data on employer menopause support initiatives, signalling a clear direction of travel for reporting obligations.
Delivered to the whole organisation, not as a women-only session, it addresses the hormonal and metabolic reality that affects workforce performance, retention and wellbeing across every level of an organisation.
It sits alongside our work in nervous system regulation, stress physiology, metabolic health and leadership sustainability as a core component of our Workshop and Partnership offerings, not as an optional add-on, and not as the defining feature of what we do.
"Between us, we cover the full chain that most providers address only in part"
The physiology of stress and hormonal change, nervous system regulation, psychosocial risk, injury and compensation exposure, and the human cost of sustained demand at every level of an organisation.
From the clinic floor to the workers compensation file to the boardroom, we have lived and worked at every point in the chain.
WHO WE ARE
Meet Kersten and Clio
Kersten Stengel
Clinical Nutritionist and Yoga Therapist with a Bachelor of Health Science (Clinical Nutrition), BSc (Hons) and Postgraduate Diploma in Education, and formal training in stress physiology, nervous system regulation and the trauma response.
Over twenty years as a senior leader inside complex educational institutions, including at Deputy Principal level with direct HR and OHS responsibility. A published author, speaker, and practitioner with a scientific foundation built across thirty years.
Clio Austin
Accredited Exercise Physiologist (ESSA) holding a Bachelor of Exercise Science and Human Movement and a Master of Workplace Injury Management and Occupational Rehabilitation, specialising in menopause, healthy ageing and occupational rehabilitation. Host of The Healthy Menopause Podcast.
Over twenty-three years in injury management, rehabilitation and workers compensation, including as Principal Workers Compensation and Assurance at Thiess, with training in psychosocial hazard investigation (ICAM).
Stengel and Austin bring together disciplines and experience rarely found together in a single partnership.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Who We Work With
We partner with organisations and leaders who understand that physiological depletion is a structural risk. Our clients require evidence-based strategies to protect both their people and their governance obligations.
Mining & Resources
Utilities & Energy
Healthcare & Education
Financial & Professional Services
Emergency Services & Government
Senior leaders, HR and people teams, and organisations who understand that the cost of ignoring workforce depletion is higher than the cost of addressing it properly. We have particular depth in the sectors carrying the highest psychosocial risk profiles and the most significant exposure under current WHS obligations.
Executive Boards & C-Suite
Leaders accountable for overarching corporate governance, psychosocial risk compliance, and the long-term sustainability of the workforce.
People & Culture Directors
Professionals tasked with moving beyond superficial wellbeing initiatives to implement structural, biologically informed health frameworks.
Risk & Compliance Teams
Specialists managing the complex intersection of occupational health, regulatory obligations, and workers compensation exposure across the enterprise.
High-Performance Units
Specialised operational teams acting under sustained high-demand conditions, requiring precise physiological strategies to maintain cognitive and physical readiness.
Let's Start With a Structured Conversation.
Workforce sustainability is not achieved through another wellbeing initiative. It begins with understanding how humans actually function.
Book a Workforce Capacity Conversation and explore what is possible for your organisation.
20 minutes. No obligation. Practical Insight..