HR Confessions Vol. 3: The Burnout Chronicles

Oh, you’re back for more horror stories and confessions? 

Bold choice, my friend!

Welcome to the third edition of HR confessions, where the stories never stop being deranged, the burnout never stops being real, and the sheer audacity of corporate nonsense continues to push our sanity to its absolute limits!

Today’s confessions? 

We’re serving all the flavors of workplace dysfunction: A mix of exhaustion, tech tantrums, and the kind of disengagement that makes you wonder if anyone is having a good time at work. 

This series is a love letter to the real ones—the People Leaders doing the work no one sees and the confessions your LinkedIn feed won’t show you. 

They’re real, raw, and (occasionally) hilarious reminders that this job isn’t for the faint of heart. 

But hey, at least we’re in this mess together, RIGHT?! ❤️

So mute your Slack notifications for a second and let’s talk about it! 

Confession #1: From Passion to Disengagement

📣 “I am disengaged and need to up my game.”

Let’s be honest: We’ve all been there!

The quarterly reports start blurring together. 

Your calendar is a graveyard of back-to-back Zooms. 

And suddenly, you’re doom-scrolling LinkedIn during 1:1s, wondering when your spark disappeared!

You’re not just “I-need-a-vacation” tired, but full-on “Why-am-I-even-here?” tired.

This confession hits because it’s painfully relatable. 

Disengagement isn’t about laziness, it’s about burnout masquerading as apathy. 

The truth is, when we’re responsible for keeping everyone else engaged, there’s rarely time to check in on ourselves.

Disengagement in HR often shows up in quiet ways: you stop advocating in meetings, you stop pushing back on bad ideas, you just…kinda go through the motions. 

But deep down, you know you can do better. You want to do better.

How I’d Handle It:

Start with brutal honesty (my favorite kind)! 

✍🏽Take inventory: What used to energize you that now drains you? What would make your job feel like yours again? Is there any BS you can automate (more on that later)?

Then, talk to your manager. 

And yes, I know how weird it feels to say, “Hey, I’m the culture person and I’m spiraling.” 

But being vulnerable doesn’t make you bad at your job. It makes you human. ❤️

So it might be time to audit your own experience!

Set clear goals, shake up your routine, and give yourself space to find new meaning in your tasks and want this work again, not just survive it.

Confession #2: Giving 10% to 100 Problems

📣 “I’m just TIRED! I don’t feel like I am giving anything 100% these days. And I worry that       important things aren’t being addressed like they should be…how do I fit it all in?”

You ever feel like a browser with 37 tabs open and 6 of them are playing music you can’t find? WHY IS THERE ALWAYS AN AD PLAYING!!!!!!

That’s this confession in a nutshell.

People Leaders are CONSTANTLY stretched thin! 

You’re expected to be a strategic partner and the person who remembers every tiny detail. 

You want to coach, build culture, drive DEI, and maybe, just maybe, make it to your dentist appointment too.

The guilt of giving 70% to everything (and 100% to nothing) is real. 

HR is a zero-sum game—every time you give energy to one dumpster fire, another one flares up. And suddenly, everything feels half-baked. 

But here’s the kicker: You can’t pour from an empty cup. 

And yet, we keep trying.  

The problem isn’t your effort, it’s that the scope is impossible.

How I’d Handle It:

First, prioritize like a savage. 

✅ What truly moves the needle for your team? 

✅ What can be dropped, delegated, or delayed?

✅ What do you have the resources to do well enough?

Second, build a better system, one that actually supports you. 

And spoiler alert: It doesn’t have to be done alone. 

Automate where you can by leaning on tech, protect your energy by setting boundaries (no more 10PM emails), and STOP trying to be everything to everyone. Give yourself credit for everything you did accomplish, not just demerits for what fell through the cracks.

And finally: Give yourself grace. You’re not a machine. You’re a human being doing an emotionally exhausting job. Take the damn PTO.

And if leadership won’t respect that? Well…that’s a confession for another day! 

Confession #3: People Strategy or IT Help Desk?

📣 “They’re pushing everything onto HR, treating us like the catchall for every issue. Somehow, we’ve become the go-to for things they should be administering themselves.  

Got a payroll hiccup? HR. System glitch? HR. Policy confusion? You guessed it—HR. It’s like we’re not just supporting the people, we’re cleaning up after everyone else too. Let’s be real: we’re in this to elevate people strategies, not to fix system errors or babysit admin tasks.”

Somewhere along the way, HR became the junk drawer of corporate dysfunction! 

And when HR becomes the mop for every mess, it creates resentment, burnout, and total misalignment.

Payroll problems? HR. Your coworker brought a raccoon to work? HR. System error at 3am? You guessed it.

But here’s the truth: You are not IT. You are not a help desk. And you are certainly not a human Band-Aid for broken systems!  

How I’d Handle It:

Time for some well-placed boundaries and a meeting with those other teams.

🪜Step one: Clearly define what actually falls under HR and what belongs elsewhere. 

Put it in writing. Share it. Hell, repeat it in every meeting like your new personal mantra if you have to!

🪜Step two: Advocate for better system training and support and no, “check the wiki” doesn’t count. 

If the tools people use are breaking down, it should be a shared responsibility to fix them, not dumped on the people team. Ally with those other teams to help them get the resources they need, so they aren’t tempted to cannibalize yours. Heal the disease, don’t burnout treating endless symptoms.

🪜Step three: Be vocal about the impact. 

It’s not about pointing fingers, it’s about protecting your team’s time and purpose. 

HR isn’t your company’s help desk. Stop treating it like one.

So… Why Do These Confessions Matter?

These aren’t just spicy soundbites. They’re emotional check-ins from people doing the hardest work in business: managing humans.

HR is expected to lead with empathy, strategize with clarity, and keep it together through whatever chaos comes next. 

And let me tell you: that expectation is a lot to carry without the right support.

That’s where your new ride-or-die HiBob steps in!

HiBob isn’t just some clunky system you log into once a year to pull org charts.

It’s your day-to-day, drag-you-out-of-chaos, process-loving bestie that makes your HR life actually doable.

HiBob helps you:

• Build workflows that don’t feel like you created them in a Google Doc at midnight
  
• Centralize everything, so you’re not digging through 37 folders titled “NEW FINAL FINAL-FINAL HR DOCS”
  
• Run performance cycles that work without sucking the life out of your soul
  
• Back your culture up with data, not just vibes
  

And the best part? It grows with you. 

Whether you’re a team of 5 or 500, HiBob supports real HR teams who need a break from the chaos, not more of it!

So if you’re tired of being the cleanup crew, the therapist, the admin assistant and the strategist, maybe it’s time to get a tech partner that gets it.

Because you deserve a platform that works as hard as you do.

XOXO, Hebba