Why HR Hits Burnout First: What Leaders Need to Understand Before Year-End
Every year around this time, conversations about burnout start surfacing in boardrooms, HR forums, and leadership circles. A recent piece on People Management highlighted that burnout is now considered one of the biggest business risks for 2026, with two-thirds of HR professionals admitting their own wellbeing is suffering.
Honestly…… I’m not surprised.
After more than two decades in senior HR roles within global law firms, I’ve seen first-hand how the pressure builds long before anyone else notices. HR takes the hit first, carries it the longest, and rarely gets the time or space to recover. And nowhere is this more visible than during the final stretch of the year.
The Hidden Reality of Year-End in HR
For most people across a firm, December is about wrapping up projects, closing matters, attending festive drinks, and planning time off.
But for HR, it’s the exact opposite. Year-end often feels like a multi-lane collision of priorities:
Compensation and bonus rounds that require diplomacy, judgement, and hours of data analysis
Performance reviews, which include both the proud celebrations and the difficult, career-shifting conversations
Managing underperformance, where timing becomes a delicate ethical decision
Unexpected redundancies or restructures, finalising these high stress actions just before the holidays is to be avoided if at all possible
Year-end projects that must be completed regardless of capacity
And of course, the never-ending business as usual
All of this arrives together, at pace, and with emotional intensity. If you work in HR, you know this rhythm. If you’ve led an HR team, you’ve lived its impact.
The Emotional Labour No One Talks About
What makes HR’s workload particularly heavy at year-end isn’t just the volume of work. It’s the nature of the work.
HR professionals hold confidential information that others never see. They manage fear, disappointment, hope, conflict, and uncertainty—often within the same day. They absorb the emotions of the organisation so others can carry on. And they do it quietly.
Most HR teams keep going thanks to: adrenaline, a commitment to the people they serve, professional pride, and the solidarity of the colleague or two who truly “gets it”.
There’s a unique bond within HR teams at year-end, that shared look of “this too shall pass”.
But here’s the hard truth: There is rarely time to rest, reflect, or regroup. Stress becomes the norm because the work never stops. Over time, that normalised stress becomes burnout.
Why Leaders Should Pay Attention
If your HR team is struggling, it is not an HR problem. It is an organisational problem.
HR is often the early warning signal for wider cultural strain. When HR starts showing signs of fatigue, detachment, or emotional depletion, it usually means:
The organisation is moving too fast
Resources are stretched beyond design limits
Leaders are unknowingly passing pressure downward
And the people supporting your people have no outlet
In law firms especially, HR operates in the emotional middle, carrying the load of both the partnership’s expectations and the wider business services population’s needs. Supporting them isn't a “nice to have.” It’s a business continuity choice.
Why Traditional “Support” Often Misses the Mark
One of the most common misconceptions among leaders is that the solution to HR burnout is something light and social, lunch, drinks, or a team dinner.
But here’s the truth: when HR is drowning, a lunch invitation often adds more pressure. Their time is already stretched, and when they do have an hour free, they’d much rather spend it with family, friends, or simply in quiet recovery.
Support needs to be meaningful, not symbolic.
What Real Support for HR Looks Like
External Coaching HR professionals carry heavy stories and emotional complexity. An external coach gives them a confidential space to process, decompress, and build resilience.
Structured Recovery Time After High-Intensity Periods Just as fee-earners get “deal downtime,” HR needs recovery time after intense project cycles especially restructures, investigations, or year-end cycles.
Reduced Pressure Points Small tweaks make a big difference: stop last-minute decision-making, push non-essential projects into January, streamline approvals, and allow HR to say “no” when capacity is maxed.
Genuine Appreciation Not performative. Not generic. A real acknowledgement of the emotional labour and complexity HR absorbs every day.
Clearer Boundaries Around Partner Requests In law firms, HR is often the first call when partners feel pressure. Setting agreed guidelines for what is urgent and what isn’t protects everyone from unnecessary late-night pressure.
A Message to Leaders: This Year, Do It Differently
Your HR team holds up the culture of your organisation in ways that often go unseen. They’re the first to know when someone is struggling, the last to down tools, and the ones who carry the unseen weight of other people’s hardest moments.
This Christmas and beyond, take a moment to check in on the people who hold everything together. Give them the space, support, and acknowledgement they rarely ask for but deeply need.
Supporting your HR team isn’t just about kindness. It’s about building a resilient, healthy organisation where everyone, including the people supporting your people, can thrive.
About Caroline Bowes
Caroline Bowes is an Executive & Career Transition Coach with over 20 years of senior HR leadership experience in international law firms. She supports leaders, HR professionals, and business services teams across professional services to navigate transitions with clarity, confidence, and resilience.
If you're an HR Leader seeking confidential space to process this year's demands, or a Managing Partner looking to implement structured support, let's talk about building that essential resilience.