HR leaders play a pivotal role in shaping organizational culture, supporting employees through crises, and navigating the complexities of today’s ever-changing business landscape. However, in the process of caring for others, we often overlook one crucial aspect: who is supporting the people who support the people? Ensuring that HR leaders maintain their own energy, well-being, and resiliency is essential to sustainable leadership—both for themselves and for the broader organization.

In today’s workplace, the demands on HR leaders are immense. Responsibilities are constantly evolving, with remote work, global teams, and shifting economic conditions adding layers of complexity. As a result, the needs of employees continue to change, requiring HR leaders to adapt quickly and with care. Addressing these needs often involves difficult conversations with people at all levels of the organization, requiring empathy, compassion and strategic solutions. While this type of work can be incredibly rewarding, it’s also a significant source of stress. And while short bursts of stress are inevitable, prolonged or sustained stress, if left unchecked, can lead to burnout. It’s important to recognize that stress itself is not the enemy. In fact, high-intensity periods of work, or sprints, are necessary to meet work demands. However, when the stress or sprinting is sustained without adequate recovery, burnout becomes a real risk.

To understand this better, let’s look at the analogy of a professional athlete. Athletes spend approximately 95% of their time in training—focusing on honing skills, strengthening their bodies, and allowing for planned rest and recovery. Their performance peaks for that last 5%, during which they showcase their talent. HR leaders, by contrast, are often performing at full capacity day in and day out, with little time dedicated to “training” or recovery. This relentless pace can lead to fatigue, poor decision-making, and eventually burnout. The challenge for HR leaders is to carve out time for their own recovery, balancing the demands of the role with the necessary self-care practices to maintain long-term performance.

Overcoming Resistance: Small Steps for Big Impact

One of the most common challenges I hear from my clients in HR leadership is the resistance they face from senior leadership when trying to implement wellness initiatives. Many are met with skepticism because their senior leaders often don’t recognize how to bring it to life within the organization, or don’t know the importance of their example in this arena. The best way to begin is to start with small, meaningful steps that, over time, accumulate into significant cultural shifts.

Training for Awareness and Prevention

In working with leaders, one of the top strategies we implement is embedding wellness practices into leadership training and development programs. Engaging leaders in open dialogue about what wellness looks like for them personally and professionally helps to foster a culture of awareness and support. We also work with leaders to develop specific language around wellness, rest, and recovery, ensuring that this language is used consistently across all departments. When wellness becomes part of the organizational lexicon, it helps create a more supportive environment for everyone.  Training leaders to recognize the signs of burnout, develop energy management strategies, and prioritize rest can have a ripple effect throughout the entire organization.

Applying Your Oxygen Mask First

We are all familiar with the explicit instruction on airplanes to put our own oxygen mask on first before assisting others. HR leaders need to prioritize their wellness in order to show up to support the people of the organization. The most effective HR leaders I work with make self-care a non-negotiable part of their routine. They plan their days, weeks, and even years around intentional recovery periods. They engage in activities that fuel their bodies and minds, such as exercise, hobbies, or time spent with loved ones. By prioritizing their own wellness, they are better equipped to show up for their teams in a meaningful way, providing the support and guidance needed to sustain performance across the organization.

Energy mapping is one of the most effective tools for ensuring that HR leaders can sustain peak performance without burning out. By identifying the tasks and activities that drain energy and those that replenish it, HR leaders can design personalized energy management plans that optimize their own well-being. Leaders can adjust their schedules to maximize productivity by aligning demanding tasks with their peak energy hours and more relaxed, less high intensity tasks when their energy is typically low. They can also include strategies for managing high-stress periods, incorporating mindfulness practices, prioritizing movement and exercise, and scheduling regular mental resets throughout the day.

Modeling Wellness: A Catalyst for Organizational Change

Senior leaders are uniquely positioned to model wellness behaviors that can drive a broader cultural shift within the organization. For example, imagine you’re a junior HR coordinator in your first year at an organization. If you see your CEO encouraging employees to take breaks, perhaps even joining them for a walk or a lunch outdoors, it sends a powerful message. The same can be said for leaders who model behaviors like scheduling regular breaks during long strategy sessions or taking the time to go for a walk during one-on-ones with employees. The key is to make these actions visible. When leaders prioritize rest and recovery in visible ways, it opens the door for others to do the same. As these behaviors become normalized, the organization as a whole begins to recognize wellness as a key pillar of its culture. It transforms from a secondary concern to a primary value—one that shapes “the way we do things around here.”

Culture Makers, Culture Changers

Ultimately, HR leaders are the stewards of organizational culture. They have the power to shape and mold the values, principles, and employee experiences that define the workplace. Whether an organization has 10 employees or 10,000, creating and maintaining a culture of wellness requires consistent effort, strategic planning, and leadership from the top down.

For HR leaders, this means embracing new strategies for energy management and resiliency. By recognizing the signs of stress and burnout—both in themselves and in their teams—they can take proactive steps to prevent negative outcomes and support sustainable leadership practices. HR leaders who model wellness, make self-care a priority, and develop strategies for recovery create an environment where everyone in the organization can thrive.

Kathy Andrews will be speaking at HR Conference & Expo 2025. Be sure to join her session, Power Up HR: Boosting Productivity with Energy Management & Wellness to Prevent Burnout.