Hi Steve,

I think I will probably echo what others have said.... I am deeply weary from the last two plus years. On the upside, we have been able to make changes in our business that we would have struggled to do previously like hybrid working, drive better teamwork and understanding of each other. On the other hand, it has been utterly constant in pressure, stress and dealing with the constantly changing world that we are in and as we know finding time to look after ourselves whilst looking after everyone else is seriously hard work and it is draining especially in a standalone HR role and that is even with the best boss!

Whilst I love what I do and the people I work with, I cant envisage doing this for many more months or years and I think I am probably not alone in the people profession.

Rachel

In reply to Rachel :

I think there are lots of us feeling a similar way- and I can fully empathise with Emma, having been given (constructive) feedback about my "readable" face! (There go my plans for an alternative career as a crack poker player.....)
Like everyone else I am tired! Like many others I have worked longer hours whilst WFH and carried forward 15 days holiday for the past 2 years. For whatever reason (Covid, lockdown, cost of living, heat) people in general are getting more needy and generally anxious and I guess many of us feel guilty at not being able to make life better for them. I enjoy my job - I like the different component parts and the challenges and the people I work with - but more and more I wonder if this level of work is really sustainable or what I want to do. I have a good supportive manager but he can't always shield his team from the increasing demands made on us, both by external forces and constant internal changes. I think "flat" describes it well - not depressed or miserable or even unhappy - just "getting on with it"

In reply to Helen:

This thread has really impacted me. Thanks to everyone who has shared their thoughts so far.

So pleased we have this space where people feel they can open up to their peers. We've been talking about this within CIPD, too. We're listening and very mindful of the 'pulse' of the profession.

Colleagues here tell me that this broad sentiment on the wellbeing of the profession is reflected elsewhere.

I think the last few years have been a steep learning curve - literally, given I used the month I was on furlough leave to complete 70% of my Level 5 assignments! There was a lot of pressure throughout the pandemic to give the right answers, immediately, but with no more information than our employees had.

My company has been extremely supportive of me, and therefore I have been able to be supportive of our employees. We’re a small family-run company, and despite our largest ever turnover of staff (generally overwhelmingly positive reasons for leaving), we’ve maintained our caring culture and have employed some fabulous new people despite the pressures of the recruitment market at the moment.

I would agree that it seems some of our people feel more fragile, nervous, anxious and in need of support - which is tiring for all concerned. I do feel like we reach a point where we have been as supportive as is possible, but the infrastructure around mental health in the community is fairly broken, and therefore further external support is difficult for our employees to access.

One of our current issues is the wider societal conversation about WFH. Reading the millions of articles on it makes it feel that working from home is now a basic human right, no matter your role - but half of our employees are customer-facing and therefore don’t have the option of working from home. So that is a point of tension, which can sometimes make for difficult conversations.

Thanks for the thread Steve - it’s always nice to be asked “how’s things?”! Perhaps some of us feel like we’ve stopped asking our colleagues the same question, for fear of the answer…?

Tired

In reply to Catherine Haycock:

That is tired, Catherine 

Another reminder how we need to look after ourselves.

In reply to Steve Bridger:

I don't know about others but I am really finding it difficult working from home so often.. During the pandemic my org downsized our office and move to perm hybrid working but unfortunately the office was moved a further distance than it had been..

I'm a lone parent so most days the only time I leave the house is to do the school run and I'm struggling with the isolation. I am considering looking elsewhere but my org are very supportive and allow me to work flexibly around my daughters school so I feel a bit stuck.

@becci Lloyd. Couldn’t agree more, I work full time from home and the isolation has been a real shock to my system. I am seriously considering another role just so I can return to hybrid. There unfortunately isn’t any office space for me to be hybrid in my current role, and most of my team love being fully remote. I’m really feeling the impact from a personal point of view..I feel most jobs are now mostly remote or a few are hybrid. For some people it works so well for work life balance but if it doesn’t work for you, then you just have to adapt. It’s mixed feelings really as I wouldn’t love being fully office based; hybrid for 2-3 days in the office would be great for me, with the team committing to the same.

In reply to Becci Lloyd:

Hi Becci, sorry to hear you are feeling so isolated with wfh. Do you have people/team/line manager you can chat to regularly eg via Teams/Slack etc? I have a catch up every day at the same time with my team and it's great just to check in for a chat and an update on what we're all working on, what's coming up next etc and anything else going on in our lives. It might also be worth exploring any co-work places in your local area, or suggesting the odd meet up with colleagues mid way in a cafe, park or gallery or something similar?

In reply to Samantha:

I think your ER-Admin experience is normal! at least from something similar I experienced.. the best I have is that the tasks need very different styles and levels of analysis, behaviour, focus and input. They're both familiar, so you think it should be fine, but your brain does a mental gear shift each time, gets used to that way of being.. then you have to shift again and reacclimatise - and (think Zoom) it does take more out of you than you think!
Answers? Segmenting time during the day / week; Getting some temporary help (could be a part-time internal secondment from a client-group admin if external is not on? but your organisation is wasting money having you doing admin and then, your not efficient with the rest); Publishing an employee assistance resource of some sort (signposting to relevant info sources / support; FAQs; Citizen's advice, EAP, OH..) to handle some of those new queries and help them feel cared for - I like your thinking about it being possible new 'helplessness'.
Good luck and best wishes X

Nicolas. I totally agree and have that same experience. I am sorry you feel the way you do. it's been hard for sure. HR is expected to be Jack of all trades and I have got to the point where I feel master of none. There is an expectation that we can have the biggest impact on our staff wellbeing, and we do loads even before the pandemic hit, but it seems the more we do the more people expect us to make their world better. Whilst we can to a point, the workplace cannot be the be all and end all..individuals have to take responsibility. As a team of one strategic, one advisor and a part time admin to 340 employees in a challenging work environment with Govt passing down their ever changing decrees, it is tough. I myself no longer want to be an HR practitioner because it feels to me that whatever I do for our staff, there is no acceptance or understanding that I, and my team, are human too and the ETs that I read up on every day leave me and my colleagues unsupported almost always falling on the side of the employee. What happened to the need to be able to run a business. When will common sense come into some of these outcomes. I feel sad that I am giving up a job I loved but I can't keep giving of myself at the level I have been doing. Its been a tough decision to make. I feel for all my HR colleagues and hope that you are able to take steps to look after yourselves in the coming weeks, months.

In reply to Wendy Perry:

Sorry to hear it's come to this Wendy - I think more common sense is something we can all get behind although as the saying goes, 'common sense is not that common!' If you wanted to talk through any of your concerns about the effect your job is having on your health, please do consider ringing the CIPD wellbeing helpline for members where you can talk to an expert. www.cipd.co.uk/.../wellbeing-helpline-services

In reply to Wendy Perry:

I know exactly what you mean, Wendy. With the cost of living rises, I find myself spending more and more time deeply concerned about people who are off on long term sick leave - I have a number who are really struggling financially as they've exhausted company sick pay and SSP and I spend as much time talking to them about other sources of support as I do about managing their absence and trying to find a way back to work for them. I feel exhausted from trying to help them - they view me as some sort of counsellor/social worker/problem solver who should be able to fix everything for them and I feel like I'm letting them down when I can't.

Thanks for asking again Steve, how are you?

Without sharing details publicly I’ll stop at…

Tired, undervalued, humiliated and isolated but mostly bitterly disappointed at this stage of my career to feel this way.

Empathy to all struggling and well done to those going strong :)