HR teams are “emotionally exhausted”

The role of HR has been amplified over the last 18 months; in addition, employee experience has achieved newfound importance at work.

With employees looking to leave jobs if they do not have the right tools or work-life balance, HR is being seen as the first and last line of defense against the ‘Great Resignation‘.

While many are focused on retaining staff in other departments, it seems that HR professionals may also be suffering from the burnout other teams have reported.

People management platform Lattice conducted its annual State of People Strategy Report into the subsequent burdens presented for HR teams.

For the research, Lattice spoke to 726 HR professionals across the world working for organizations of all sizes.

Continued hybrid working

The study found that over 70% of HR teams are setting policies where most or all of their employer’s workers will continue to be remote at least some of the time for the next year.

Naturally, hybrid working and staff retention projects are difficult, and there appears to be a significant impact on HR professionals.

A new focus on employee management has come at a cost. The study notes: “HR professionals in our dataset continue to report being overworked, understaffed, and emotionally exhausted.”

HR experience

Unsurprisingly, with increased focuses on upskilling, retention, recruitment, employee experience, flexible working, and employee engagement; HR teams have been overloaded with projects.

42% of those who responded to the survey said their team faced an overwhelming number of projects and responsibilities.

This has led to 42% of respondents facing burnout and exhaustion as they tackle future workplace challenges.

Additionally, 41% of teams said that they were understaffed. Unfortunately, it would add to HR’s workload for them to fill these positions and spread their workload long-term.

Speaking about these findings, Russell Lobsenz, principal and talent management practice lead for Lattice Advisory Services, said: “The challenges brought on by the pandemic have been particularly acute for HR professionals who, for the last 18 months, have been on a roller coaster ride that seemingly never ends.

“Although the worst of the pandemic is behind us, there’s no reason to believe HR’s job will get any easier, especially with a supercharged demand for talent.”

Improving teams and management

Alongside the increased pressure on HR teams, technology companies have seen substantial growth. This has been particularly evident in employee experience, remote hiring tools, and workflow automation.

UNLEASH and Fosway found that employee experience was a major investment for companies and the likes of CultureAmp and Benefex can be implemented to gather data on how employees are feeling. While HR would likely have to make the use case for such software, it could greatly help those who feel burnout and ignored by their company.

Additionally, the time-consuming tasks that are leading to this feeling of despair can be mitigated.

Shawn Herring, VP of Marketing at PandaDoc, told UNLEASH: “Automation is becoming more important to streamline the workflow and allow for fast responses, especially in remote environments.”

Quicker responses and less time spent on manual processes would undoubtedly benefit overburdened HR teams who are navigated hybrid workplaces.

Technology will undoubtedly reduce the huge workloads that HR teams are tackling. Nonetheless, a starting point is understanding the increased pressures and creating a culture where all teams can have an understanding of the challenges the business is facing and how they can be overcome.

By doing this, the HR teams who are currently exhausted will have much-needed support on the frontline of the workplace revolution.