Preventing ‘doomsday thinking’ among HR leaders

It’s common to see memes and jokes around HR. I think this is one department or function on which maximum memes are created. Well, it can be fun and entertaining for general folks, but it certainly takes a toll on HR professionals and creates anxiety. Behind these seemingly harmless jokes lies a profound crisis that’s silently devastating HR departments worldwide, creating a mental health emergency that demands immediate attention.

Fresh research from skills-development firm, Corndel reveals a disturbing reality: nearly half of HR professionals report experiencing anxiety at least once a week. This isn’t merely concerning—it’s alarming.
The constant ridicule and caricaturing of their profession only exacerbates feelings of isolation and undermines their critical contributions to organisational success. What begins as light-hearted humour often calcifies into professional disrespect, gradually eroding the standing of an entire profession.

The burdens facing HR professionals are uniquely challenging. They exist at the intersection of corporate strategy and human emotion, tasked with executing business decisions whilst mitigating their human impact. This dual responsibility creates a cognitive and emotional burden that few other professionals face. They must be strategic partners one moment and compassionate counsellors the next—a balancing act that inevitably takes its psychological toll.

This precarious position breeds what psychologists call “catastrophising” or doomsday thinking. When a Sage report reveals that over 80 per cent of HR professionals and leaders feel burnt out, with 90 per cent lamenting insufficient time for their responsibilities, we’re not witnessing isolated incidents—we’re observing a systemic collapse. Human resource professionals constantly anticipate worst-case scenarios because their role demands it. They must foresee potential conflicts, predict negative employee reactions, and prepare for organisational crises before they occur. This occupational hypervigilance becomes a psychological prison over time.

Perhaps most troubling is how HR has become the convenient scapegoat for organisational failures across the board. When line managers fail to develop their teams properly, HR faces criticism for “poor talent acquisition”. When executives implement policies that damage morale, HR gets blamed for “declining employee engagement”.

Fingers point to HR professionals when companies struggle with retention due to inadequate compensation, instead of addressing the true root causes. This pattern repeats itself across organisations everywhere—HR bearing the brunt of failures they neither created nor had authority to prevent.

Adding to this burden is the expectation that HR professionals remain perpetually available. The technology that promises convenience has instead created cultures where after-hours messages from executives demand immediate responses, where weekend work is implicitly expected, and where the boundaries between professional and personal life have completely dissolved. In corporate environments where saying “no” to superiors carries significant career risk, HR professionals find themselves unable to establish healthy boundaries.

The administrative burden remains crushing as well. Despite HR’s growing strategic importance, professionals report spending disproportionate time on repetitive tasks. In rapidly growing sectors, HR departments handling thousands of employees often operate with skeletal staffing models that would be unthinkable in other functions. The expectation to do more with less isn’t just challenging—it’s fundamentally unsustainable.

What makes these challenges particularly insidious is how they manifest within corporate cultures that often discourage open discussion of mental-health concerns. Not only do HR professionals face the universal stressors of their role but they must process them within frameworks that may not readily acknowledge mental health as a legitimate concern. The cruel irony is that those tasked with caring for organisational wellbeing often have nowhere to turn for their own support.

Organisations must move beyond superficial wellness initiatives to address these realities. Token yoga sessions or occasional wellness workshops won’t solve systemic problems. What’s needed is fundamental recalibration of how HR is positioned, resourced and supported.

This means creating appropriate peer support networks where HR professionals can discuss challenges without fear of judgement. It means investing in leadership-development programmes tailored to the specific pressures of HR roles. This also means implementing technologies that genuinely reduce administrative burdens rather than creating new demands. And perhaps most importantly, it means establishing succession planning that builds resilient HR teams rather than relying on individual heroes who inevitably burn out.

The Corndel report finding that leadership training reduced anxiety for 97 per cent of HR professionals isn’t just interesting—it points toward practical solutions that can be implemented immediately. When HR professionals gain skills to navigate complex organisational dynamics, they develop resilience against the very pressures that fuel doomsday thinking.

To executives everywhere: Your HR function isn’t merely struggling—it’s in crisis. In organisations experiencing unprecedented business transformation, HR isn’t just an administrative function—it’s the backbone of your transformation strategy. When HR collapses under unrealistic expectations, your entire organisational evolution is jeopardised.

The romanticised image of the stoic HR professional who absorbs organisational stress whilst maintaining a perfect professional demeanour isn’t just outdated—it’s actively harmful. It perpetuates cycles of burnout that ultimately undermine the very human capital development our economies depend upon for continued growth.

For organisations worldwide, this is a watershed moment. Will you continue exploiting the dedication of HR professionals until they break? Or will you recognise that sustainable organisational health requires healthy HR functions? The future of work depends on how we answer this question.

The HR crisis is real, it’s urgent, and it demands immediate attention. The time for platitudes has passed—what’s needed now is genuine commitment to transforming how HR functions are structured, supported, and valued. Only then can we ensure that those tasked with caring for our organisations’ most valuable assets—their people—receive the care they themselves desperately need.