You’ve probably been hearing or reading about HR Burnout. It is not a Myth. According to Forbes, 98% of HR Professionals are burned out. Can we afford this level of burnout in our HR teams? These are the real accounts of things that HR professionals are facing today and where we could use your support:
- Days are long and priorities shift and compete– Yes, this happens in all professions, but in HR, we are sometimes expected to know it all, to produce all the things, to share all the updates, are constantly reminded how we are a “Cost Center”, and are given very little resources, teams, and tools to perform our best work while producing results time and time again. In life, folks are told to “put on their oxygen masks before helping others”, yet HR folks often feel that opportunity is stripped from them due to the nature of our roles.
- We’re expected to be above/beyond reproach– Our roles straddle the needs of balancing and supporting managing organizational risk, supporting employees, supporting leadership, leading efforts and initiatives, tough conversations, and moving organizations into the future. Meanwhile, we are navigating balancing this all for ourselves, not to mention the stress and strain that COVID, the Great Resignation, Inflation, Politics/Regulations, and the changing landscape of the Future of Work have all placed on this. Add to this every and any intersection at which we come into the workplace of who we are and who we show up to be. We push our personal beliefs and needs to the side often to meet those of the individuals and organization and it comes at a high cost of burnout, lacking a sense of Belonging at times, as we help everyone else navigate their own burnout and needs for Self Care, Mental Health, and creating environments of high productivity and Psychological Safety.
- We become the Scapegoat– We are no strangers to being rolled under the bus, the subjects of “HR told me to”, “HR won’t let me”, “Let HR do it”, and so many other “isms” when folks are avoiding the real work, avoiding accountability and responsibility, are uncertain of what’s next, don’t want to own up to mistakes, when things go wrong in an organization, when our recommendations aren’t followed and someone is looking for a Scapegoat and someone to blame, and when folks want to retain their Badge of Honor instead of having hard conversations, looking inward, and facing the truth of situations.
- We get accused of breaking trust yet our trust is often broken– We share things with Leaders and others with a need-to-know in confidence to help them navigate situations, shape their Cultures, Leadership Brands, and with the organization in order to shape their Employer Brand, only to have these things shared at the wrong time, outside of confidence (not mostly out of malice, but it’s still damaging), and we are at the mercy of those trying to save their reputations. We’ve seen these very things play out time and time again, and we make recommendations out of our experience and protection of the people and the organization. We know that the “move” that was just made is harmful to all sides, but are stuck with what’s left to clean up when our recommendations are ignored. We are snubbed when things go the wrong way for folks who ignore the recommendations, and who choose to blame HR for things we offered proactive solutions to in order to mitigate risk, protect all parties involved, build and nurture Engagement, Retention, and Employer Brand. We could be Allies, but are often turned into enemies, either intentionally or unintentionally. And it’s exhausting. And more of us are sharing our stories.
Here’s how you can support us:
- Know what you want and be clear about it.
- Don’t roll us under the bus- Own it and let’s partner and figure it out together, even if it requires a tough conversation in between.
- Ask, don’t tell- Just like we partner with you and offer solutions and an ear, respect that we like to be asked and consulted vs taking orders.
- Give us a budget for the things you want us to do and the latitude and autonomy to do those things without micromanagement.
- Make it safe for us. Recognize that we are humans too and that we aren’t there to take sides.
- Pour into us as employees too, so that we can continue providing excellent service as an HR discipline. We need rest too!
- Let our PTO be our PTO. Not everything is a fire. On that note, be proactive vs reactive.
Have other thoughts? Are you doing great things in your organization to support HR? We’d love to hear about it and have a conversation!
Resources and CEPHR Happenings
This month we celebrate Pride, Juneteenth, Father’s Day, a successful Q2, promising Q3, and building another strong Strategic Alliance Partnership that has brought high value to our clients!
Our latest Podcast episode with eqtble is out! We discuss moving from performative to proactive, building a Leadership and Culture/Brand, and so much more!
We were excited to partner with Ascender to present on “Creating a Recruitment Strategy That Scales With You” and to have some great conversations on considerations for hiring, types of hiring, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, On-boarding, salaries, Succession Planning, and so much more!
We are excited to be in year two of being a Minority Business Enterprise!
The next two months’ Blogs bring special surprises and we can’t wait to unveil them for you!