Are HR teams taking on more of the emotional strain than EAPs?
Are HR teams taking on more of the emotional strain than EAPs?
In a new survey, around half of HR professionals said “burnout” is going to be the “biggest business risk in 2026” — and that HR themselves are the ones taking on the burden of dealing with employee wellbeing. 42% said that managing wellbeing and burnout was the most “emotionally demanding” part of their job.
63% agreed with the claim that HR was their organisation’s “crisis hotline”, and around the same proportion that dealing with other people’s wellbeing issues had left them with “little energy” for anything else.
Chronic empathy load
In response to the findings, HR sector commentators have agreed that the situation around wellbeing and the rise of AI is putting unprecedented pressures onto HR teams.
They point to the pressure on HR to create positive an organisational culture, combined with the need to take on employee’s crises and emotional issues, as building up into a “chronic empathic load”, a relentless series of difficult personal situations to manage. And this, in turn, is leading to HR’s own emotional fatigue and exhaustion.
What’s going wrong?
EAPA UK chair, Karl Bennett said: “Employee wellbeing has certainly become more of a priority for HR over the past decade. That responsibility comes with added pressures, particularly given the complexity it can involve. If there’s been one major lesson from that period, it’s been that are no simple answers in terms of benefits like gym membership or meditation apps.
“But the survey findings are a worrying sign if HR are not making use of the professional expertise of an EAP and access to independent support and services like counselling. It obviously shouldn’t be the job of HR to become involved with trying to solve individual cases and the difficult, personal situations around mental health etc. It’s critical that the role of EAPs is understood and being properly communicated to employees — and that EAPs and HR are working in partnership to understand the causes of burnout issues and how best to target different forms of support and changes that might be needed.”