Supporting Others While Supporting Yourself: The Emotional Toll of HR Work

HR are the backbone of organisations, with a pivotal role in managing people, resolving conflicts, and supporting employees through difficult times. And increasingly as the caretakers of employee wellbeing. The nature of HR work often involves handling emotionally charged situations like redundancy, organisational restructuring, or personal crises affecting employees. If not properly managed, the nature of these responsibilities can lead to stress, burnout, and overall poor mental health. And it’s often too easy for HR professionals to overlook or neglect their own mental health.

I’ve been researching some of the available guidance, notably from organisations like CIPD, and I think there are 5 areas for action and greater understanding:

The Emotional Toll of HR Work

HR professionals can frequently find themselves managing delicate situations where they are decision maker and the emotional buffer for others. This can include implementing organisational change, solving employee grievances, or handling sensitive personal issues such as bereavement or health problems. Often, HR professionals are expected to remain neutral, professional, and confidential, even when they are emotionally invested or affected by the situation themselves.

This form of ‘emotional labour ’ — where individuals have to suppress their own emotions to maintain a professional demeanour — can take a toll on mental health. Research shows that emotional labor is positively correlated with stress, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion. When compounded over time, it can lead to burnout, a syndrome resulting from unmanaged chronic workplace stress.

Recognising the Impact on Mental Health

Mental health isn't just an abstract concept. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines mental health as a state of well-being that allows individuals to realise their potential, manage daily stresses, work productively, and contribute to their communities. For HR professionals, being constantly involved in emotionally charged situations can challenge this balance. In fact, surveys reveal that nearly half of HR professionals report experiencing stress or poor mental health due to their work.

Stress, as defined by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) , is the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or demands. Burnout, on the other hand, goes beyond stress and manifests as a complete depletion of emotional resources, resulting in diminished professional efficacy and detachment from work. It’s clear that the demands placed on HR professionals can put them at high risk of both stress and burnout if they don’t actively engage in self-care and mental health management.

Self-Care is Key

Supporting employees is at the heart of HR work, but HR professionals must also take care of themselves if they are to effectively fulfil this role. Self-care is the deliberate practice of maintaining one’s physical, emotional, and mental health, and it is essential for preventing stress and burnout.

Some key self-care strategies that have been suggested for HR professionals are:

1. Build Breaks Into Your Day: After emotionally challenging meetings or difficult conversations, take a few minutes to decompress. Stepping away from your desk, taking a walk, or practicing mindfulness can help clear your head and reduce immediate stress.
2. Share Your Experiences: Confidentiality is important in HR, but that doesn’t mean you have to manage all your emotions alone. Speak with trusted colleagues, mentors, or friends about the general emotional toll of your work, without breaching confidentiality. Make sure that you develop a support network that allows you to offload some of the burden.
3. Seek Professional Development in Emotional Regulation: Invest in training or development activities that focus on emotional regulation and resilience. This can help develop the tools and methods to better handle emotionally charged situations and, crucially, to manage your own responses and actions.
4. Reflect on Your Wellbeing: Make sure you have regular mental check-ins to assess how you’re feeling - it may help to ask yourself what factors are positively or negatively influencing your mental health. Also, be alert to any potential early signs of burnout or stress. Addressing these issues early can prevent them from escalating.
5. Set Boundaries: Establish clear boundaries between work and personal time, particularly regarding digital communications. It’s not easy with a role as far reaching as HR, but you need to try and avoid regular checking work emails and messages outside hours, and make sure to fully disconnect when not on the clock. A healthy work-life balance is crucial to maintaining mental health.

Leveraging Support Networks and Organizational Resources

While individual self-care is important, HR professionals also need to leverage external support to maintain their mental health. The CIPD recommend the the IGLOo model , which outlines the role that wider organisational context, as well as individual feeling, plays in wellbeing and resilience.? HR professionals should consider how different layers of support can benefit them:

• Individual: What can you do personally to maintain your mental health?
• Group: How can your team or colleagues support you? Is there a trusted colleague you can confide in or debrief with?
• Leader: How can your manager help you manage your workload or stress levels?
• Organisation: What organisational policies or programmes (such as mental health resources) can you access for support?

Connecting with Other HR Professionals

Sometimes, the best support comes from those who understand the unique challenges of HR work. Building connections with other HR professionals, whether within your organisation or through professional networks, can be a source of strength. Sharing experiences, advice, and coping strategies with peers can help you feel less isolated in your role.

Identifying a mentor within the HR field - possibly from social and professional networks, or a previous colleague - who has navigated similar challenges can be useful, as they can offer valuable insights and guidance on how to manage the emotional demands of the job, and also act as a ‘sounding board’.

HR professionals often carry the weight of their organisations' emotional challenges, but they don’t need to do so at the cost of their own wellbeing. By setting boundaries, carefully managing workloads, building support networks, and practicing self-care, HR can continue to support their people while safeguarding their mental health. After all, to be effective caretakers of others, we must first care for ourselves.

I recommend also listening to my recent podcast interview with The Burnout Beater - Colin Minto - Battling Burnout: HR Strategies for Employee Well-Being - for some more guidance on identifying and addressing concerns of burnout and poor mental health at work.