HR Reality Check: Is This Really What It’s Like to be an HRBP?
My newest segment of my Intentional HR Leader podcast: HR Reality Check. This is where I take real HR situations and break down what’s actually going on and how to approach it as a leader. My goal in this segment is to support HR professionals who may be struggling with similar situations and to give you a taste of what my coaching and mentorship style is…so this one is advice for a new overwhelmed HRBP.
They write:
“I’ve been an HRBP for almost a year now in healthcare, and the workload has been crushing me since the very beginning. I have three years of generalist experience prior to this position and was so excited to level up, but was unprepared for the fact that I’d be working long hours and weekends just to keep up.
I only manage about 300 employees, but I’m getting more emails and messages than I’ve ever seen in my life. My work covers the whole employee cycle including recruitment, employee relations, title, compensation, reorgs, offboarding, you name it. The only thing that’s outsourced is payroll and benefits. I’m constantly anxious, stressed, thinking about work even when I’m not working because I have so much to do all the time and so many people need things from me.
On top of this, I have a coworker who is also an HRBP. That manages other employees also in my departments. So we work together a lot and are in chats and meetings with leadership together. They’ve been around a long time and are honestly the most type A person I’ve ever met. They’ll respond to chats and emails in seconds. I’m not even kidding. I have to admit it’s impressive and I have no idea how they do it.
This characteristic does, however, cause some issues for me because they’ll start group chats with our boss or leaders we support about things and I’m not able to respond right away because I’m in back to back meetings, not quick enough compared to them, or simply prioritizing something more time sensitive.
The conversation will get carried away without me having the opportunity to jump in and share thoughtful feedback or guidance. I feel like it looks bad on me for being completely quiet in the chat, but I’m genuinely doing more important things.
I’ve tried getting ahead of it by separately messaging them that I’ll respond to something, but I have to be immediate or they’ll get carried away and it’s so frustrating.
What are successful ways you’ve found to manage a heavy workload, tight deadlines, demanding managers, and also allow yourself work-life balance? Or is this just the life of an HR BP? And what are your best recommendations for managing an overwhelmingly heavy email inbox?
I’m curious if there’s ways I can improve my current process and any advice on how I can work more collaboratively with my coworker.”
My response:
Everything that was described in this question is the difference between strategic HR and tactical hr, and it sounds like the coworker is operating tactically. And no, this is not just HRBP work…it’s a lack of structure, boundaries and leadership alignment.
If the same types of issues keep coming across your desk, that’s not your workload, it’s your system telling you something is broken or doesn’t exist at all.
When I work with my clients, I always suggest three buckets:
The first one is reactive, what are you reacting to that is coming across your desk? What just shows up each day? This could be operational tasks like address changes, payroll questions, employee issues, etc. These are things that are unplanned, but do fall under HR.
But…it could also be things that aren’t HR? One of my clients gets plumbing questions…and that’s not HR, so it needs to be re-routed, but for now, we are just creating the buckets. So, we put it in the reactive bucket…
Then we look at the next bucket, operational - these are the things you have to do each day or week that are scheduled. Maybe it’s a team meeting, maybe it’s reviewing attendance…these are the things that you have planned. Things that go into this bucket include: recruiting - reviewing resumes, scheduling interviews, offer creation/approvals, onboarding - new hire paperwork/process completion, orientation and offboarding scheduling exit interviews/conversations and logistics to ensure the employee is out-processed, equipment is returned, system access removal, etc. None of this work is wrong, it’s operational HR and necessary, but the problem is that this is all you have time for…if your entire week is consumed by keeping things moving, you’ll never have the space to improve how things work.
Operational work should run on a cadence. Reactive work should be filtered by systems and strategic work should be protected.
It’s not that you just need to get better at managing all of this, it’s that you need to change how your work is structured, owned and how people have access to you.
The final bucket is strategic…what actually moves the needle. What is going into the strategic bucket? These are things that you are working on that aren’t a quick update to a policy, but are program or project based, maybe you’re implementing a new performance management program and rolling that out next year, but you’re working on the project now or maybe a new attendance incentive program. These aren’t tasks, these are projects that take time and have steps. They aren’t done in 1 hour. These are the things you are designing better outcomes for, using the Intentional HR leader framework, not reacting to problems…defining what good looks like and working backwards, this could be performance, culture, accountability…for example, not chasing timesheets, but designing a system where they are submitted on time without HR involvement.
This could include any systems or processes you’re building, like creating intake processes for HR requests, standardizing how work shows up to HR and reducing the dependency on HR for every decision. This is where you stop being the system and you actually build the system, putting these types of things in place can reduce 50% of your reactive workload long-term. The key is having the time to do these things.
Operational HR keeps things running while Strategic HR changes how things run.
If your work doesn’t reduce future problems, it’s not strategic yet.
You want
to be seen as strategic
to have influence
to stop being reactive
But you’re stuck because:
you don’t have space
you don’t have structure
you don’t know where to start
Strategic work doesn’t get added on top of what you already have to do, it replaces the work that shouldn’t be on your desk in the first place.
And then finally, in regards to the coworker, this is going to be the most challenging part because this person has been doing this work for a while, as stated, so they are used to functioning in this reactive capacity.
I would recommend daily or weekly meetings to share information, priorities and to discuss the best way to approach certain situations or to divide work. Determine a plan or since they have been there for a while, ask how they handle it the workload. Keep in mind, though you’re watching them react. They aren’t moving the needle. Your ultimate goal should be to get a plan of action in place on how to stop having to react to everything and for both of you to start leading your work.
Utilize them to help you build the strategy and the system. Ask them what their process is. Seek to understand how they handle these things because they were clearly in your shoes at one point in time. I would get their insight. Not only will it shed light for you, it will also make them feel valued. By asking them for advice and support on your overwhelm, you can work on a better way to work together. But by actually asking them and, and talking to them and, and understanding how they’re working, that will go a long way in building trust.
“That’s your HR Reality Check.
This is what happens when everything has access to you. And the shift is deciding what actually deserves your time, then ultimately building your role around that.
That’s the difference between reactive HR and intentional HR. If you’re reading this and thinking, ‘this is exactly where I am’—constantly reacting, overwhelmed, and trying to figure it out on your own—this is exactly the work we do inside my Intentional HR Leadership Coaching program.
This isn’t more HR training. This is where you learn how to lead—how to think strategically, communicate with clarity, and to stop being the default for everything.
If you’re ready to make that shift, the first step is a Reactive to Strategic Audit call where we determine how much you are reacting vs. leading and what areas you need the support.