In November 2016 the College released the ACEM Workforce Sustainability Survey Report, which presents findings from ACEM’s first workforce survey. The report gave ‘quantified insight’ into the issues affecting the sustainability of the EM workforce in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. It considered factors such as burnout, hours of work, work–life balance, work satisfaction and work-related stressors (e.g. IT, CPD, training requirements, expectations, media) to understand to what degree the emergency medicine workforce was showing signs of stress and burnout. The responses showed that there was a strong degree of work satisfaction among our members and trainees, with many respondents also considering themselves in good health. But factors that tended to impact upon a physicians’ sense of wellbeing were typically beyond their control, including administrative indicators, system issues (access block, overcrowding) and inter-hospital working relationships (such as with inpatient teams).