Summary: Three years and almost 3,000 responses paint a sobering picture of HR mental wellbeing. Amid persistently high burnout, anxiety and large numbers considering leaving the profession, one finding has remained remarkably consistent: support makes a difference.
HR professionals are often the people holding organisations together during their most difficult moments.
They manage restructures, redundancies, conflict and crisis. They support employees through grief, complaints, investigations and safeguarding concerns. They help leaders make decisions that affect livelihoods, while managing the inherent tensions between employee and organisational priorities.
In many ways, HR has become the emotional shock absorber of organisational life.
Yet, three years of data from our HR Mental Wellbeing Survey, published in partnership with Everywhen Employee Benefits, tell a remarkably consistent and concerning story: many HR professionals remain under sustained psychological strain.
This year’s survey gathered responses from almost 1,500 HR professionals, bringing the total number across three years to nearly 3,000. As authors of this research, we believe it offers one of the most comprehensive insights currently available into the mental wellbeing of HR professionals.
And the findings are difficult to ignore.
A profession under sustained strain
The 2026 findings show that symptoms of poor mental health remain persistently high across the profession.
Large numbers of HR professionals continue to report symptoms of depression, anxiety and burnout, with rates substantially higher than those typically seen in the general population.
While some measures have shifted modestly since previous years, the overall picture remains concerningly consistent.
More than one-third (38 per cent) of HR professionals told us they are considering leaving the profession, while almost one in four (24 per cent) reported taking time off in the last year due to stress or mental wellbeing difficulties.
For many, this is not about a lack of commitment to HR. Respondents frequently described loving their work while simultaneously questioning whether the emotional cost of the role is sustainable.
HR has become the emotional shock absorber of organisational life
The most striking finding? HR still feels unsupported
Perhaps one of the most concerning findings is not simply the level of distress, but how consistently unsupported many HR professionals continue to feel.
This year, only 13 per cent of respondents reported feeling well supported in relation to their mental health at work – a finding unchanged from 2025.
As one respondent reflected:
“You are so busy supporting everyone else that HR usually gets forgotten about.”
At the same time, relatively few people professionals are accessing workplace wellbeing provision for themselves. In 2026, only 24 per cent reported using employee benefits to support their own mental wellbeing.
The findings raise important questions about whether current wellbeing provision feels accessible or relevant to the realities of HR work. Respondents frequently described feeling expected to support others while having little space to reflect on or process the demands of their own role.
Many described a feeling that, in caring for everyone else, their own wellbeing often came last.
One finding has stood out clearly: support matters
Despite the concerning picture, our research also offers something important: hope.
Across both 2025 and 2026, the relationship between support and better outcomes has been remarkably consistent – and statistically significant.
HR professionals who felt well supported reported significantly lower rates of depression, anxiety and burnout. They were also less likely to take stress-related sickness absence or to be considering leaving the profession.
In short, support appears to be protective.
Too often, conversations about wellbeing focus primarily on individual coping. While self-care matters, our findings suggest it is unlikely to be enough in isolation.
When people work in roles involving sustained emotional labour, ethical complexity and high levels of interpersonal pressure, robust support becomes essential.
Few professions absorb as much emotional complexity as HR. Respondents described supporting mental health cases, managing conflict, navigating restructures and helping others through some of the most difficult moments in their working lives, often while carrying substantial pressures of their own.
Respondents frequently described feeling expected to support others while having little space to reflect on or process the demands of their own role
Why this matters to organisations
The wellbeing of HR professionals is not separate from organisational performance. It is deeply connected to it.
HR teams shape culture, manage conflict, support leaders and guide organisations through periods of uncertainty and change.
When HR professionals are depleted, organisations feel it too through reduced capacity, impaired decision making, compassion fatigue and loss of experienced practitioners.
The reverse is also true. When HR professionals feel psychologically supported, they are more likely to remain well, engaged and able to support others effectively.
Supporting HR is not separate from workforce wellbeing – it is foundational to it.
Five practical ways organisations can better support HR
1. Recognise the emotional labour of HR
HR professionals are humans too, not just an operational function. Supporting people through conflict, distress, redundancies and organisational change carries a real emotional toll that deserves recognition.
2. Create regular opportunities for reflection
People professionals need psychologically safe opportunities to step back, think clearly and process complexity, not just react to constant demands.
3. Review whether support is actually being used
Low uptake of wellbeing support suggests organisations should ask an important question: are existing benefits genuinely meeting the needs of HR teams?
4. Equip leaders to better support HR
Senior leaders play an important role in recognising pressure, creating realistic expectations and making it safe for HR professionals to ask for support themselves.
5. Stop rewarding silent endurance
After three years of data, one message has become impossible to ignore: too often, resilience is mistaken for silent endurance.
But sustainable HR teams are not built by expecting people to absorb ever more pressure. They are built through meaningful support, realistic capacity and the conditions people need to do their best work.
If organisations want HR teams who can support others well, they need to stop expecting silent endurance and start taking support for HR seriously.
Discover the true state of HR mental wellbeing by downloading the HR Mental Wellbeing Report: 2026 here.
Did you find this article interesting? Read: Psychological safety across the employee journey: Where HR shapes the conditions that matter
