The mental load no job description fully captures
HR roles are often described in terms of capability: ER expertise, change management, leadership development, compliance. What’s harder to articulate is the weight that comes with being the point of escalation when things go wrong.
You’re the person managers call when a situation has already escalated.
You’re the one weighing up risk, fairness, precedent and impact – often under time pressure.
And you’re expected to remain calm, objective and credible, regardless of what else is happening.
Even in well‑resourced HR teams, much of this load is carried individually. Confidentiality limits who you can talk to. Seniority limits how much you can escalate. And the more experienced you become, the more complex the issues that land on your desk.
It’s not surprising that many HR leaders describe feeling “always on”, even when they’re not at work.
Why this matters now
The theme of Mental Health Awareness Week this year is Take Action – a shift away from awareness alone towards practical change. For organisations, that shouldn’t just apply to wellbeing initiatives for the wider workforce. It should also prompt a look at how HR roles are structured, supported and sustained.
Because when HR leaders are overloaded or running on empty, it shows up elsewhere. Decisions take longer. Risk appetite narrows. Strategic thinking gets crowded out by firefighting. And over time, capable, committed HR professionals start to disengage – or quietly look elsewhere.
In industrial environments, where people issues often sit alongside safety, productivity and regulatory pressure, that’s not a theoretical risk. It’s a commercial one.
What “action” can look like for HR mental health
Supporting HR wellbeing doesn’t require grand gestures. Often, it’s about a few deliberate choices:
- Normalising peer support
Creating space for HR leaders to talk to other HR leaders – internally or externally – without it being framed as a problem to fix. - Being honest about capacity
Acknowledging that strategic HR work and constant reactive demand can’t coexist indefinitely without a cost. - Reducing unnecessary load
Challenging whether HR is carrying work that sits better elsewhere, simply because “it’s always been that way”.
These actions don’t lower standards. They protect them.
Where recruitment fits into this conversation
From my perspective, recruitment is often an underestimated part of the mental load HR carries. Prolonged vacancies, repeated near‑misses, or senior hires that don’t quite land all add pressure — particularly when HR is expected to stabilise teams while those gaps remain.
When recruitment works well, it removes strain. It brings capability, leadership and momentum into the business. When it doesn’t, it quietly compounds the load HR is already managing.
That’s why recruitment decisions shouldn’t be rushed or treated as transactional fixes. Done properly, they’re a form of risk management not just for the organisation, but for the HR leaders accountable for making them stick.
