Let me be completely honest with you: this post is one of the hardest that I have ever written, but I think that too many are skipping over the realities of what the HR profession looks like right now.
One of the most common things I am seeing is watching colleagues leave the HR profession in their droves, and it’s heartbreaking. These are talented, passionate people who once loved what they did. But right now? Being in HR feels less like a rewarding profession and more like being stuck between a rock and a very hard place, with everyone expecting you to perform miracles whilst the ground keeps shifting beneath your feet.
And I know that many are not alone in feeling this way.
The Exodus is Real
The statistics are sobering. Over half of UK HR professionals have experienced burnout since 2020, with one in three considering leaving the profession entirely. That’s not just a bad quarter or a tough year – that’s a systemic crisis that’s been building for years and has now reached breaking point.
More recent data is even more alarming. Forty-four percent of HR professionals surveyed met the criteria for clinically significant symptoms of depression – nearly three times the rate in the general population. Read that again. Nearly three times the rate of clinical depression compared to everyone else. We’re the ones meant to be looking after everyone else’s wellbeing, yet we’re falling apart ourselves.
Caught in the Middle: The Impossible Balancing Act
Here’s what’s really happening on the ground, and why so many of us are at breaking point.
The Shifting Sands of Employee Expectations
There’s no denying it: employee expectations have fundamentally changed. Thirty-eight percent of HR professionals feel employees have become more demanding of HR, and whilst some of these expectations are entirely reasonable, we’re also seeing a worrying trend.
In my day to day role at Rebox HR, I’m seeing more and more vexatious grievances – complaints raised not to resolve genuine workplace issues, but seemingly to create difficulties or avoid accountability. Employees who refuse to engage in meaningful dialogue when issues arise, effectively shutting down any attempt at resolution. And then there’s the increasingly common pattern: someone underperforms, goes off sick, and suddenly HR is handling a minefield of potential tribunal claims whilst trying to support both the business and the individual.
Let’s talk about flexible and remote working. I’m all for flexibility – genuinely. It’s been one of the most positive shifts in modern working life. But somewhere along the line, some employees seem to have forgotten that working from home is a request, not an automatic entitlement. It requires a business case, an assessment of operational needs, and consideration of team dynamics. HR finds itself in the unenviable position of explaining this time and again, often being painted as the villain for simply upholding employment law and business requirements.
Whatever Happened to Professional Courtesy?
This is the bit that genuinely saddens me. There seems to be a growing breakdown in basic professional courtesy and communication. Employers are often not being given a fair chance to address concerns before situations escalate. Employees simply shut down, refuse to engage, or immediately reach for the nuclear option rather than attempting to work through issues collaboratively.
For HR, this creates an impossible situation. We’re expected to resolve conflicts, but how can we when one or both parties won’t communicate? We’re supposed to be the mediators, the problem-solvers, but we can’t manufacture dialogue from silence. This breakdown in basic workplace courtesy doesn’t just make our jobs harder – it makes them feel futile.
The Perfect Storm: Economic Pressures Mounting
As if the shifting employee-employer dynamic wasn’t enough, we’re simultaneously navigating external economic factors that’s making everything exponentially more difficult.
The Cost of Living Crisis That Never Really Ended
Regular pay began to outpace inflation beginning in May 2023, but living costs have remained at elevated levels, and have continued to increase faster than headline inflation into 2025. For employees, this means continued financial stress. Fifty-four percent of respondents said the cost of living had impacted their ability to do their job, and many are struggling to make ends meet despite wage increases.
For HR, this means dealing with increasing requests for pay rises that businesses simply can’t afford, managing the mental health fallout of financial stress, and trying to support employees whilst having virtually no resources to do so meaningfully.
Employers Under Siege: The Tax Burden
And then there’s what’s happening to businesses themselves. From 6 April 2025, Employer National Insurance contributions increased from 13.8% to 15%, and the per-employee threshold at which employers become liable to pay NI reduced from £9,100 per year to £5,000 per year.
Let me put that in real terms: for many employers, this amounts to an increase in annual costs to UK employers of £937.80 per employee. For SMEs operating on tight margins – which describes most of the businesses in this country – this is catastrophic. Eighty-two percent of firms surveyed say the NI rise will impact their business, and 58% of businesses expect the increase to affect recruitment.
We’re already seeing the consequences. Recruitment freezes. Redundancies. Businesses closing their doors. And guess who’s left to manage all of this? That’s right: HR.
The Employment Rights Bill: More Pressure, More Complexity
As if we needed more on our plates, the Employment Rights Bill is bringing the most significant changes to UK employment law since the 1990s. The bill removes the two-year qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims so employees are protected from unfair dismissal from the first day of employment.
Don’t get me wrong – I support worker protections. But the practical reality is that this adds another layer of complexity and risk to an already overburdened HR function. We’ll be dealing with more potential tribunal claims, more careful documentation from day one, and employers who are understandably nervous about hiring because of the increased risk.
The Bill also introduces rights to guaranteed hours for those on zero-hours contracts, removal of the three-day waiting period for statutory sick pay, and new protections against fire and rehire practices. Again, these are broadly positive changes for employees. But they all require HR to update policies, train managers, manage implementation, and navigate the inevitable complaints when things go wrong – all whilst juggling everything else.
The Silent Crisis Nobody’s Talking About
Here’s what really worries me: HR burnout has become so normalised that we barely even acknowledge it anymore. Forty-one percent of HR professionals say they spend the majority of their time on managing administrative duties, which means we’re drowning in paperwork when what we actually want to do – 95% of HR professionals said they enjoy improving their company’s culture – is help people and build great workplaces.
Many HR professionals spoke of “compassion fatigue” – the exhaustion that comes from offering support without receiving any in return. We’re expected to be everyone’s emotional support, to maintain our composure during the most difficult situations, to absorb everyone else’s stress, and to do it all with a smile. But who supports us?
The truth is, often no one. People teams have to handle personal and sometimes distressing situations, but are often unable to talk to peers or friends and family about it because of employee confidentiality. We exist in a unique kind of professional isolation where everyone can come to us, but we have nowhere to turn.
Why We’re Falling Out of Love
I’ve been in HR for 20 years, and I still remember why I fell in love with this profession. It was about helping people, solving problems, creating environments where everyone could thrive. But somewhere along the way, the job became unrecognisable.
Now, we’re compliance officers. We’re tribunal-risk managers. We’re the people who have to explain to exhausted business owners that they can’t afford to give their loyal employees a pay rise because of increased tax burdens. We’re the ones managing redundancy after redundancy, knowing that good people will lose their jobs through no fault of their own.
We’re trying to support employees who won’t communicate with us, whilst navigating employment law changes that seem to come thick and fast, whilst managing our own stress and burnout, whilst pretending we’re fine because that’s what’s expected of HR.
Is it any wonder that one in three HR professionals are considering leaving the profession entirely?
What Needs to Change
We need to have an honest conversation about what’s happening to the HR profession before we lose an entire generation of experienced practitioners. We need:
Realistic expectations: Not every employee grievance is valid. Not every flexible working request can be accommodated. HR cannot be expected to solve every problem, especially when we’re not given the tools, resources, or cooperation to do so.
Support for HR professionals: We need our own wellbeing support, supervision, and professional development. We need to be able to say “I’m struggling” without it being seen as weakness.
A return to professional courtesy: Employees and employers need to communicate openly and honestly. Issues need to be raised and addressed before they escalate. There needs to be good faith on all sides.
Recognition of the cost pressures: Both employees and employers are under immense financial pressure. HR is expected to balance these competing demands with empathy and fairness, but we can’t create money from thin air.
Time to adapt: The Employment Rights Bill brings significant changes. Businesses need time to adapt, and HR needs resources to implement these changes properly rather than being expected to simply absorb yet more work.
We’re Only Human
Here’s my plea to everyone: remember that your HR team are human beings. We care deeply about getting things right. We want to help. But we’re exhausted, we’re under-resourced, and we’re being pulled in ten different directions at once.
The next time you think about raising an issue at work, please try talking to your manager first. Give your employer a fair chance to address concerns. Engage in good faith. Remember that HR are trying to balance everyone’s needs, not just yours.
And to my fellow HR professionals who are reading this and nodding along: I see you. I know how hard this is. You’re not alone in feeling overwhelmed, and you’re not weak for struggling. This is genuinely difficult, and it’s okay to admit that.
We got into this profession because we care about people. That hasn’t changed. But we need the working environment – and the people within it – to remember that we’re people too. Because if we don’t address this crisis soon, there won’t be anyone left to do the job at all.
If you’re an HR professional struggling with burnout, please reach out for support. Whether that’s through professional supervision, speaking to your GP, or connecting with fellow HR practitioners who understand what you’re going through – you don’t have to suffer in silence.
Natalie Ellis HR 