Why Are HR Professionals Leaving the Profession? HR Retention Challenges Explained
- Felicity Baker
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Organisations have spent years worrying about employee retention. But perhaps there is a more uncomfortable question we need to ask: why are HR professionals leaving the profession, and what happens when the people responsible for supporting everyone else start leaving too?
The answer appears to be a combination of increasing workload, growing role complexity, emotional labour, burnout and a lack of meaningful support. Findings from the HR Mental Wellbeing Report 2026 found that 38% of HR professionals are considering leaving the profession, raising important questions about the sustainability of HR careers and the future capacity of HR teams.
This should concern all of us.
When experienced HR professionals leave, organisations do not simply lose knowledge and expertise. They lose relationships, trust, organisational memory and often some of the strongest advocates for employee wellbeing and healthy workplace culture.
Why Are HR Professionals Leaving the Profession?
Research and experience suggest that there are five key reasons why HR professionals are increasingly questioning whether they can remain in the profession:
Growing workloads and competing demands
Emotional labour and HR burnout
Lack of meaningful support
Increasing role complexity
Ethical and organisational pressures
While every individual's experience is different, these themes appear consistently across conversations with HR professionals and within the findings of the HR Mental Wellbeing Report.
HR Professionals Aren't Leaving Because They've Stopped Caring
There is a common assumption that people leave professions because they become disengaged.
In our experience, the opposite is often true.
The HR professionals we speak to care deeply. They care about people. They care about doing the right thing. They care about creating healthy workplaces.
It is not a lack of commitment that drives many HR professionals to consider leaving. Rather, it is the cumulative effect of what the role asks them to carry.
Today's HR professionals are often expected to:
Support employees through crises, grief and distress
Navigate conflict and difficult workplace relationships
Deliver redundancy and disciplinary decisions
Manage competing organisational and employee needs
Interpret rapidly changing legislation
Respond to wellbeing concerns
Support leaders through periods of uncertainty and change
Many do this while receiving very little opportunity to process the impact of that work themselves.
A Profession Whose Remit Keeps Expanding
Over the last decade, the role of HR has changed dramatically.
In many organisations, HR professionals are no longer viewed primarily as administrators. The role has expanded to include strategic partner, culture champion, wellbeing lead, mediator, coach, ethics advisor and change specialist.
This evolution has brought influence and opportunity. But it has also brought significant complexity.
Many HR professionals describe feeling caught between competing responsibilities. They are expected to advocate for employees while simultaneously representing organisational priorities. They are often the visible face of decisions they did not make and are left managing the emotional consequences of those decisions.
The result is a role that increasingly involves navigating ambiguity, ethical dilemmas and significant psychological pressure.
The Hidden Emotional Burden Behind HR Burnout
One of the least discussed aspects of HR work is the emotional labour involved.
Emotional labour refers to the effort required to manage our own emotions while responding appropriately to the emotions of others.
Most HR professionals encounter this daily.
They are often the people employees turn to when they are distressed, angry, frightened, grieving or overwhelmed. They absorb concerns, contain emotions and help others navigate difficult situations.
Yet unlike many other professions where emotional labour is recognised as an occupational hazard, HR has historically had very few structured support mechanisms in place.
As a result, much of this burden remains invisible.
Over time, the cumulative impact can contribute to stress, emotional exhaustion and burnout in HR professionals.
What the Data Is Telling Us About HR Retention Challenges
The findings from the HR Mental Wellbeing Report 2026 suggest that this is not a temporary issue.
Across three years of research involving almost 3,000 HR professionals, a consistent picture has emerged of a profession operating under sustained psychological pressure.
This year's findings showed that:
38% of HR professionals are considering leaving the profession
24% have taken time off due to stress or mental wellbeing challenges
62% are very likely experiencing burnout
44% report clinically significant symptoms of depression
Only 13% feel very well supported in relation to their mental wellbeing
Perhaps most importantly, the data suggests that support matters.
HR professionals who feel well supported are significantly less likely to experience burnout and significantly less likely to be considering leaving the profession. They are also less likely to experience anxiety, depression and prolonged periods of poor wellbeing.
These findings suggest that support is not simply a wellbeing initiative. It may be one of the most important protective factors influencing HR staff retention.
Why HR Turnover Matters to Organisations
If experienced HR professionals continue to leave, organisations will feel the impact.
Recruitment costs increase.
Knowledge is lost.
Relationships disappear.
Trust is disrupted.
The burden on remaining team members grows.
And the capacity of HR teams to support the wider workforce becomes diminished.
Put simply, organisations cannot build healthy workplace cultures if the people responsible for supporting those cultures are themselves struggling to stay afloat.
Addressing HR turnover is therefore wider than an HR issue, it is also an issue affecting organisation-wide effectiveness.
Reducing HR Turnover and Creating a More Sustainable Future for HR
There is no single solution to the challenges facing the profession.
Workload matters.
Leadership matters.
Organisational culture matters.
Professional development matters.
But perhaps most importantly, we need to start acknowledging the reality of HR work.
The emotional demands of the role are real.
The psychological impact is real.
And the need for meaningful support is real.
Creating a sustainable future for HR requires organisations to move beyond expecting resilience from individuals and instead build systems that support the people carrying some of the organisation's most complex and emotionally demanding responsibilities.
If we want HR professionals to continue supporting everyone else, we need to ensure someone is supporting them too.
Download the HR Mental Wellbeing Report 2026
The HR Mental Wellbeing Report 2026 provides the first three-year view of mental wellbeing within the HR profession, drawing on responses from almost 3,000 HR professionals.
Download the report to explore the findings in full, including what predicts better outcomes, why support matters, and what organisations can do to improve HR wellbeing, reduce HR turnover and create a more sustainable future for the profession.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is burnout so common in HR?
HR professionals regularly support employees through conflict, restructures, wellbeing concerns, disciplinary processes and organisational change. The combination of emotional labour, workload pressures and limited support can increase the risk of burnout.
Are HR professionals leaving the profession?
Research from the HR Mental Wellbeing Report 2026 found that 38% of HR professionals reported considering leaving the profession, highlighting significant concerns about retention within HR.
What are the biggest HR retention challenges?
Common challenges include workload pressures, emotional exhaustion, role complexity, organisational pressures and a lack of meaningful support for HR professionals themselves.
What helps HR professionals stay in their roles?
Research suggests that supportive leadership, opportunities for reflection, manageable workloads, access to professional support and psychologically safe working environments are all associated with better wellbeing and lower turnover intentions.
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