Workplace mental health and wellbeing moved from a people concern to a business imperative during the COVID-19 pandemic. While it has fallen down the priority list for business leaders since, due to ongoing economic turbulence and the rapid emergence of AI technologies, it remains a vital topic for employees.
But HR has its concerns in this arena too – namely that the profession is seemingly struggling to address and overcome its own poor mental wellbeing.
If left unchecked, this could leave the profession unable to cope with further increases in workloads and expectations, ultimately driving talent from HR entirely.
If HR is going to become a fulcrum of business strategy and success in the future of work, getting its mental health back to positive levels will be crucial.
The bigger question is how it can go about doing so – will the usual tactics and tools deployed for the wider workforce be enough or will a strategic rethink as to how HR functions be needed from the top?
UNLEASH speaks to HR & wellbeing experts to understand the depth of the issue, how HR leaders can address root causes rather than symptoms, and how HR’s mental health differentiates from concerns among the rest of the workforce.
The depth and breadth of HR’s mental health problem cannot be ignored
When considering the extent of the issue, the experts UNLEASH spoke to were unequivocal in their judgement: Significant. Widespread. Escalating. Overlooked.
Claire Hawes, Chief People & Operations Officer at CIPHR, says that in her experience a “large proportion” of HR professionals report mental health symptoms such as “burnout, chronic stress, and emotional exhaustion.”
More worryingly, they are also “normally operating under sustained pressure, without adequate support, leading to a crisis that’s only recently gaining visibility,” she adds.
But others say the problem is more complex and goes deeper than just these symptoms.
Stephanie Lemek, Founder of The Wounded Workforce, tells UNLEASH that many HR professionals are “grappling with secondary trauma and compassion fatigue, conditions more commonly associated with first responders and frontline care work”.
What should be of high concern to HR leaders is that this is by no means occurring to a minority of HR teams or just one the frontlines.
Serena Palmer, executive coach, talent strategist, and founder of Serena Consulting, observes that the issue is present “at all levels of the HR structure.”
However, it is “particularly prevalent in the HR roles that are in constant partnership with the business” such as HR Business Partners, Recruitment and Talent Partners, and DEI Partners.
The scope of the issue was laid bare in recent research from Towergate Employee Benefits, which surveyed more than 1,400 HR professionals in the UK.
The 2025 HR Mental Wellbeing Report, one of the only dedicated reports of its kind, found burnout is ‘very likely’ in 63% of respondents, and a further 15% are ‘at risk’ of burnout – with low levels of wellbeing evident in 67% of those surveyed.
Furthermore, three in four (73%) respondents said they were affected by symptoms of low mood and depression, while 44% meet the criteria for clinically significant symptoms of depression, compared with just 16% of the general population.
“The figures paint a stark picture of a profession under immense strain, with emotional exhaustion, poor sleep, and a lack of support becoming the norm rather than the exception,” comments Debra Clark, Head of Wellbeing at Towergate.
High workloads and a lack of support make for an untenable combination
Digging into the drivers of this trend, Towergate’s research shows that an excessive workload, particularly on the administrative side, is one of the primary sources of stress for HR professionals.
Indeed, many said they are working more than 50 hours each week “just to stay afloat,” Clark adds.
“Poor management and lack of influence is also a big issue with 41% feeling excluded from key decisions, and often left to clean up the mess. This is exacerbated by a lack of support and generally feeling undervalued in the role.”
Personio’s VP of People Business Partners, Suzie Rogers, adds that the combination of excessive administrative workloads and rising internal pressure from both leadership and employees is resulting in “a function stretched thin and unable to focus on the strategic, people-centric work that drew them into the profession.”
Research from Personio at the start of 2025 found that as many as one in three UK HR professionals were looking for a way out of the profession due to overwork – a trend that could see organizations lose the guardians of company culture and employee experience.
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UNLEASH speaks to HR and wellbeing experts to uncover the extent of the mental health problem within the HR community.
