Summary: Research shows 78% of HR practitioners display burnout indicators, with half citing excessive workload as their primary stressor. HR roles carry unique pressures: constant emotional labour, competing demands from leadership and employees, and expanding responsibilities without additional resources. Strategic stress management requires three coordinated responses: organisational transformation through realistic workloads and proper resourcing, professional reform including supervision frameworks, and cultural shifts that value recovery alongside performance. The causes are systemic, requiring systemic solutions.
Each year, Stress Awareness Week invites us to reflect on the causes and consequences of workplace stress. But one group rarely makes the headlines – the HR professionals who spend their days helping everyone else manage theirs.
Our 2025 HR Mental Wellbeing Survey, completed by more than 1,400 HR practitioners, revealed that for many, stress has become a constant companion. The anonymous quotes below come directly from those respondents – the people quietly absorbing organisational pressure while trying to hold everything together.
“My to-do list is never-ending. Every time I clear one thing, five more land on my desk.”
“HR is supposed to support everyone – but who supports HR?”
“We advocate for wellbeing, but when we need help, we’re told to just ‘be resilient’.”
These voices tell a story that data alone can’t: a profession at risk of burning out from the inside.
The cost of chronic stress
Burnout, defined by WHO as “a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”, is now endemic across the profession.
- A Personio study found that 52% of UK HR professionals have experienced burnout since 2020, and one in three are considering leaving within 12 months.
- Cezanne HR reported that 64% of HR practitioners experience near-constant stress, with 83% of respondents taking time off work in the previous year due to stress-related conditions.
Our own 2025 survey echoes this pattern: 78% of respondents showed indicators of burnout, with 63% “very likely” experiencing it. Half identified excessive workload as their main stressor, followed by poor management (41%) and lack of support (29%).
“We’re constantly told to ‘do more with less,’ but we’ve already cut everything we can.”
“Decisions are made at the top without consulting HR. Then we’re left to clean up the mess.”
Stress in HR: A systemic risk, not an individual weakness
It’s tempting to view HR stress through the same lens we apply to any wellbeing issue – promote work-life balance, offer mindfulness apps, remind people to breathe. But the evidence suggests that individual fixes are only one small part of the solution.
HR roles are uniquely exposed to chronic stressors:
- Emotional labour – mediating conflict, handling redundancies, supporting colleagues in crisis
- Organisational tension – caught between leadership demands and employee advocacy, often blamed by both
- Expanding scope without resources – compliance, DEI and transformation agendas keep growing faster than teams
When chronic pressure meets limited control and low recognition, burnout becomes almost inevitable. And the consequences ripple outward: rising attrition, slower decisions, and a diminished capacity to protect wider employee wellbeing.
As one respondent wrote:
“Being in HR and feeling unfairly treated, I have no one to go to or talk to, so my thoughts and feelings remain bottled up.”
Strategic stress management means systemic change
“Strategic stress management” sounds abstract, but in practice it means recognising that stress is an organisational design issue, not a personal flaw. Addressing it requires coordinated action across the system.
1. Organisational transformation
Stress prevention begins with realistic workloads, clear priorities and adequate resourcing. Good job design, automation of admin tasks, and recognition of HR’s emotional labour are essential.
Structured support and recovery after high-stakes cases should be built in, so stress is managed proactively and collectively, not carried alone.
2. Professional reform
The stress burden on HR is also a professional issue. Bodies such as the CIPD have begun acknowledging the emotional toll, but stronger action is needed.
Professional HR supervision, long established in healthcare professions, offers a practical framework: a confidential space to process complex situations and emotional strain while building capability and judgement. Embedding supervision into HR practice would shift support from ad-hoc to systemic, signalling that psychological health is a core professional standard.
3. Cultural shift toward collective care
In many organisations, stress is still seen as a personal resilience test – a badge of honour for those who “cope.” We need a culture that values recovery and reflection. When leaders model boundaries and vulnerability, permission follows for others to do the same.
“We’re asked to be calm and professional, even when dealing with trauma or redundancy – but no one asks how we are.”
Why supporting HR supports everyone
When HR professionals are well-supported, the benefits cascade through the business: stronger engagement, lower absence and healthier cultures. Conversely, when HR is depleted, wellbeing initiatives stall and trust erodes.
As Perry Timms, Chief Energy Officer at PTHR, put it in our report:
“When HR is in that position, who looks after them? It’s a hugely misunderstood area… Something needs to be done that provides a safe, pragmatic, emotionally supportive way to help HR.”
The business case is clear. But the moral case is simpler: it’s the right thing to do.
From awareness to accountability
As Stress Awareness Week reminds us, stress is a signal. And for HR professionals, that signal has been flashing red for too long.
To truly optimise employee wellbeing through strategic stress management, organisations must start by safeguarding the wellbeing of those who safeguard everyone else.
That means:
- Resourcing HR roles sustainably
- Providing formal reflective supervision or peer-support structures
- Encouraging professional bodies to embed wellbeing and supervision standards
- Cultivating cultures where recovery is valued as much as performance
Managing stress strategically means protecting the protectors. It’s time we finally made that part of the plan.
Helpful resource: HR survival guide
Explore seven research-backed strategies to help you prevent and combat HR burnout while fostering resilience and wellbeing.
