HR Burnout is Real - 3 Ways to Protect Your Energy While Managing it All, in a Small Employer

I often talk about the differences in managing HR in a small environment (1-500 employees) versus a larger one. There are stark differences - things that do not happen in one that happen in the other. Then there are common differences - things that happen in both, but happen differently due to size. 

HR burnout is one of those things. 

HR professionals in all size orgs experience burnout. Any professional for that matter experiences it. While many reasons for that burnout may be similar, there are a few reasons those managing HR in a small environment burn out that their larger counterparts may not face. 

Because doing it all, with no relief is prevalent in small orgs. And doing it all when you don’t even have the knowledge needed to do it all usually only exists in smaller orgs. 

After all, that is the very definition of burnout. It isn’t about being busy, it’s about prolonged stress with no relief and no end in sight. 

Here are a few strategies we have found helpful to ensure we don’t burn out while being everything to everyone. 

Feeling overwhelmed as an HR team of one? Learn how to prevent burnout and protect your energy while managing HR in a small business.

1. Teach Them How to Treat You

This could also be called setting boundaries but I find that when you frame it as teaching others how you expect to be treated, it emboldens people to actually do it. Here is what I mean by that:

1. Know what you want - know what behaviors feel respectful/disrespectful. Reward respect with respect, call out disrespect.

2. Set work boundaries - think such as not answering texts after 7pm or the types of topics you are willing to discuss at work. Communicate them clearly, early and often. 

3. Be consistent - consistency is the best way to reinforce your expectations and ensure they stick. 

4. Model the behavior you want - this one is self explanatory

People are going to treat you the exact way you allow them to. Going beyond what you would prefer, like taking late night work calls, is going to induce stress and lead to burnout fast. Consistently communicating expectations and boundaries and holding yourself and accountable to behaving in a way consistent with that is key to keeping you work sanity. 

We are often our own worst enemy when it comes to this. People pleasers definitely struggle with saying no. But it definitely has to be the strongest word in your vocabulary if you want to avoid a constant burnout cycle.

2. Share the Workload

We have talked before about how HR is often the scapegoat for all employee issues and therefore the one to manage all that work. Leaders in the org, especially if you are an HR Department of One, should be expected to share the load. 

We have a whole post dedicated to a few things leaders should be able to handle on their own. You can read that here. 

When you allow yourself to be the principal’s office, be the only one to have tough conversations, or manage all employee issues 100% on your own, you not only set yourself up to be a very administrative HR professional, but be so overwhelmed managing these things that you can get nothing else done. 

In small orgs where you may be managing HR alone, and especially if HR is just an add-on responsibility, you have to share the workload of managing employees.

3. Build in Recovery Time like it’s a Meeting

I refuse to have back to back meetings. I only allow it on my calendar as an exception not a rule. I want at least a 15 minute buffer and if I can have more, I will.

I also have no meetings days. No meetings before 10am. Days where I schedule a walk midday. Days where I block out focus time so I can knock out some much needed work. Days where I take PTO just because. 

I need this to protect my sanity. I am an introvert who extroverts for a living. I am not my best self if I don’t protect my time. I know what I need to recover and I hold fast to making sure I get it. 

You might be thinking it’s easy for me to do that since I’m the CEO, but current and potential clients are pretty demanding. I have just learned to be unapologetic about holding to a calendar that feels manageable to me. Does it mean I might miss a sale because I couldn’t meet as fast as they wanted, maybe. But usually not. 

My team members who work much more directly with clients sometimes struggle to put this time of boundary in place. They want to accommodate clients and will find themselves back to back with no time to get any work done. But when they do, when they hold to the boundary, they find that clients are much more understanding and accommodating than they thought they would be. 

People’s reactions are always much worse in our head than in reality. 

I won’t pretend that organizations themselves and the environment they expect people to work in create a lot of burnout. But I do know that we can often allow ourselves to get in a position that induces more stress than necessary. I often talk to my team about creating your own hell and then bitching about being in it. If you are experiencing burnout it’s important to reflect on if you have allowed yourself to be treated in ways that are contributing to your stress. And if you are, fix it fast. Because no one else is going to do that for you. 

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