From recruiting and retention to company culture and the latest in HR tech, HR Brew delivers up-to-date industry news and tips to help HR pros stay nimble in today’s fast-changing business environment.

HR Brew

Adam DeRose

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HR teams need to better help warehouse, factory, and transportation workers address their mental health and on-the-job stressors.

Some industrial employees report that work stressors affect their home lives

Kristen Parisi

University of Pittsburgh researchers find drug and alcohol abuse may increase when robots are introduced to the workplace.

Robots may get the job done faster, but they could be harmful to employees’ mental health

Profile silhouette of woman in the clouds on a sunny day

Mental Health

The global mental health crisis keeps growing, with more than 720,000 suicide deaths per year. Now, one country believes it’'s up to each public servant to keep an eye out for mental distress warning signs.

 Legislators in Northern Ireland recently introduced the Suicide Prevention Training Bill, which would provide suicide prevention training to all public workers, the Irish News 

Northern Ireland, since its latest 2021 census, has a population of roughly 1.9 million, but 70% don’t receive mental health services. In 2023 alone, 221 people died by suicide. Supporters of the bill believe that the government should do more to prevent suicide and that it starts with government workers.

“This is about getting everyone on the frontline some level of training so that they will have the confidence and basic skills to use the right language, and to be able to guide that person towards the proper support available,” Órlaithí Flynn, chair of Stormont’s All-Party Group on Suicide Prevention, told the Irish News.

Not everyone thinks the proposed legislation will help the mental health crisis in Northern Ireland. “In many many cases there are no warning signs, people don’t talk about this stuff, or the signs are really subtle,” Siobhán O’Neill, a professor at Ulster University, told 

. “Recognizing when someone is thinking about suicide and having those conversations and thinking about the warning signs—that’s a much more complex matter.”

Suicide rates in the US reached near-record highs 

, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and some employers, like Cardinal Health, CVS, and Lululemon have deployed mental health training for employees, HR Brew previously 

Employers hope that workers will recognize warning signs in their peers and be able to help, when appropriate. And organizations like the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention offers workplace training on how employers should handle mental health distress.

“It doesn’t mean that the manager or the employee needs to be an expert,” Cara McNulty, former president of behavioral health and mental well-being at CVS Health, told 

. “It just helps generate the conversation. And the more conversations we have, the more we normalize that people don’t have to suffer in silence.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988 or chatting online at 988lifeline.org

Northern Ireland is considering suicide prevention legislation

All public-facing government staff would undergo training to recognize when someone may be in mental distress.

World of HR: Suicide prevention training bill considered in Northern Ireland

Mikaela Cohen

Some 36% of US workers are burned out, and 33% feel more burned out now than they did this time last year, according to a recent 

 from staffing firm Robert Half. And employee burnout can be pretty costly: Burned out individual contributors can cost US companies an average $3,999 per hourly worker and $4,257 per salaried worker, a recent American Journal of Preventive Medicine 

 found. These costs jump to $10,824 per manager and $20,683 per executive.

“What hurts companies more than anything, it’s managerial burnout,” said John R. Miles, CEO and founder of leadership firm Passion Struck. “When a manager doesn’t feel like they matter, the entire team feels it. If you have a disengaged manager, you’re likely going to have a disengaged team.”

Employee burnout can result in increased absenteeism, sick days, attrition, and turnover, Leah Phifer, an employee engagement expert and founder of consulting firm WhyWork, told HR Brew.

Leaders experiencing burnout may exhibit unusual-for-them irritability, short tempers, and impatience with employees and peers, she said, and lead to decreased productivity, performance, creativity, and innovation among employees.

And for leaders, it can have a “social contagion effect” on the organization, she said.

“When [leaders] walk into a room, and their face is really drained or stern, it doesn’t matter how the people in the room are feeling,” she said. “They could have been buoyant and celebratory, but as soon as that manager walks into the room looking completely drained and exhausted, it’s going to affect the mood in that room.”

 Burnout isn’t caused simply by workload, Miles said. It can stem from a “mattering erosion,” when employees feel like who they are, what they value, and what they do aren’t important.

“It’s not as if burnout happens over a short period of time. It builds up in a matter of micro-losses,” Miles said, like when employees are made to feel “less than” or excluded by coworkers, or sacrifice time with friends and family, or on their health, to work.

When this happens, everyone in an organization can end up in a “downward spiral” toward burnout, he said.

 HR pros can help combat burnout by flagging “emotional shifts” to leadership, Miles said. That way, they can mitigate burnout in its early stages, before it becomes “difficult to counteract.” HR should be the place, Miles added, where leaders can share “what’s hard, what’s working, and what’s breaking them down.”

“Who’s supporting the support?...We treat managers like they’re buffers in the organization,” Miles said. “They’re the ones that we’re expecting to absorb change, deliver the hard news, [and] mediate emotional challenges. But I think what we’re not doing is we’re not checking in on their capacity.”

Phifer recommended HR pros also help leaders recognize their unique burnout symptoms, so they can communicate how they’re feeling with their employees and colleagues. If they don’t, she added, their team may experience retention issues.

Papers stacked around and on top of office chair.

Why HR should pay closer attention to the cost of leadership burnout

Stop, drop, and roll—only you can help prevent your company’s leaders from burning out.

Try as they might, HR leaders aren’t always equipped to help employees, especially employees who’ve experienced trauma. That’s why we spoke with Rachael Kelly, founder and CEO of HiveSmart, a consulting firm that specializes in trauma-informed practices.

Kelly, who wrote about her personal and professional experience with trauma in her book, 

From Trauma to Triumph: Finding Your Way Out: The End

, shared how people leaders can talk about trauma in the workplace—something she’s done as an HR pro at companies like Pizza Hut and Sonic Drive-In.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Having a greater understanding and appreciation for the fact that there’s things always behind the scenes that are going on with employees, and that affects how people show up in the workplace…It’s often we think about these kinds of things happening that is somebody else, or somebody not a CEO or CHRO sitting in the seat. But the reality is that it affects everyone, and it does not discriminate at all. I work with people who are presidents and CEOs of companies that are white men and people who are part of marginalized communities, and it is a universal truth that people experience a lot of trauma, and we see it in the workplace, because it’s human beings.

The first part is recognize [and have] awareness…When I’m seeing things happen and when I’m seeing behavior in the workplace that might be confusing. I need to be aware, and be curious, and compassionate, and empathetic about what might be happening, versus judging and reacting to that behavior…Two is understanding how you lead people through that, and there are certain tools and mechanisms that you can use to help people as you’re navigating through the current environment and when people are feeling traumatized.

How can HR pros help employees in these situations?

First is creating a safe space with that person and building trust. And, so if you see something going on, a lot of times what I do with people is just showing that you care, and saying, “Hey, I noticed this. Or, I’m seeing this. What’s going on? How are you doing? What’s coming up for you?”...You’re not trying to be their therapist. You’re also not trying to cross certain lines…[It’s] I just want to check in with how you are, as a human being and as a person, because I care about that. And in doing that, regularly checking in with somebody, it’s just holding a safe space for them to say, “Yes, I’m okay.” Or, “No.”

How has trauma influenced or informed your leadership?

Before I went into HR, when I first started, I was in restaurant operations, and going into these dirty, messed up restaurants and turning them around…In every single one of those scenarios, when you’re turning around restaurant operations, that is not easy work to do. And, everyone who is [there], most of the people who are working in minimum-wage jobs, frontline roles, there’s a reason we land there. There’s history there, and in all scenarios turning around all of those businesses…it was always about helping people to overcome adversity. It was helping them to believe in themselves and helping them to helping to identify those core, raw skills and attributes, those gifts that they have, and helping to shape them and direct that in a productive way…[It] always meant overcoming adversity and trauma that existed in people’s lives and backgrounds.

[When trauma] happens when you’re young, and then the cognition in my head is…“I’m not worthy. I’m not smart. I’m not capable.” And, that holds you back, so breaking those limiting thoughts and beliefs with someone is a key part of them breaking through. And, then all of a sudden, you would see people just ascend, and have amazing lives and careers and break out of their own shell.

As I grew my career, just under the understanding of psychology and human beings, and how human beings function, the relationship between thoughts and feelings and behavior and performance—it’s very much informed my experience, very much informed all that work.

An interview with Rachael Kelly, author of ‘From Trauma to Triumph’

“The reality is that [trauma] affects everyone, and it does not discriminate at all,” Rachael Kelly, founder and CEO of trauma-informed consultancy HiveSmart, tells HR Brew.

How HR can help employees who’ve experienced trauma

Is your workplace as mentally healthy as you think?

Some 59% of employees say their employer thinks their workplace is “mentally healthier than it actually is,” and 39% worry their mental health condition could negatively impact them at work, according to a 2024 American Psychiatric Association 

The US mental health crisis is why Stephen Sokoler, founder and CEO of preventive mental health consultancy Journey, wrote 

The Mental Health Advantage: How the World’s Best Companies Drive Performance and Wellbeing Through Proactive Mental Health

Sokoler shared with HR Brew what people pros can do to help their employees’ mental health.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

It would be the importance of focusing on proactive, preventive mental healthcare, as opposed to simply reactive care. And, a lot of our health system and a lot of what we have in corporate America tends to be reactive. Once there’s a problem, then we’ll provide support. But every study has shown, both in the workplace and in the lab, that if we can be proactive, if we can be preventative, there’s not only better outcomes for employees, but there’s better outcomes for the actual company.

What’s an example of proactive versus reactive mental health strategies?

Most companies have EAPs that are on the internet and they’re there, and it’s kind of “break glass for emergencies,” and it provides therapy once something has reached a critical point. And, when it comes to proactive mental health, it’s [about] how do we help employees to build healthy habits, so that they are able to keep themselves mentally and emotionally well and balanced to show up at work at their best.

How are we reducing stigma so that people can talk about mental health openly and get the care that they want? And how do we catch things early? So, how do we leverage things like predictive analytics and consistent engagement to make sure we have early intervention which leads to better clinical outcomes?...When it comes to physical health, like societally, we know that if you catch something earlier, you’re going to get a better outcome. And, it’s the same thing for mental health. So, how do we make sure that we’re able to find things when an employee is first challenged, versus waiting until they’re really at that breaking point? 

How can HR leaders start prioritizing proactive mental healthcare?

I always talk to HR leaders about speaking the language of the business, so we’re not talking about, simply, things, like engagement and employee satisfaction scores, although those are obviously critical measures. Let’s talk about reducing healthcare costs. If you’re a self-insured company, especially here in the US, you’re probably paying a lot of money for healthcare…If you can help people build healthy habits, if you can catch things sooner, they’re not having a panic attack, they’re not ending up in the ER, they’re not needing very extensive short-term leave or long-term leave. That really impacts the business.

Is there anything else HR should know about how mental health can impact a business?

At the end of the day, HR has a lot of broad range of responsibilities, but one of the main ones is performance…How do we build an organization that is going to perform at the maximum level? And employee mental health is one of the key levers there, and unfortunately, it’s often looked at…as a nice to have, or it’s looked at as, like, we’re doing this for the good of the employees…[But] people showing up at their best is going to have a really strong business outcome…Moving the thinking from an investment in mental health is a cost to it’s really an investment—that makes a big difference, and I think we’re seeing a lot of top-performing companies do that and making that mindset shift.

An interview with Stephen Sokoler, author of ‘The Mental Health Advantage’

“How do we make sure that we’re able to find things when an employee is first challenged, versus waiting until they’re really at that breaking point?” author Stephen Sokoler tells HR Brew.

HR needs to be more proactive when it comes to employee mental health, expert says

Before mandating an RTO, check on your employees’ mental health.

Nearly one-fourth (23%) of US employees are depressed, 

 to the American Psychiatric Association Foundation. Due to depression and anxiety, roughly 12 billion workdays are lost annually—that translates to $1 trillion, the World Health Organization 

As companies increasingly move remote and hybrid employees into offices full-time, HR pros should be mindful of the “hardships” they may experience, said Betsy Schwartz, senior director for the Center for Workplace Mental Health at the American Psychiatric Association Foundation. The center recently 

 resources to help employers transition their employees to in-person work.

Employees’ mental health may suffer when adjusting to a five-day RTO, especially if they’re contending with caregiving needs and commuting costs, Schwartz told HR Brew.

To ease the transition, she said HR can remind employees about existing mental health resources, or offer new ones. The Center for Workplace Mental Health, she added, 

 a short, online training course that teaches employees and managers to identify and talk about mental health issues in the workplace, and find resources to help.

“We all have great intentions. We all want to be helpful, but it’s not common sense always to know exactly what to notice and how to engage someone in the conversation,” she said.

Another strategy that can be helpful, Schwartz said, is encouraging employees to use PTO as a means of gradually easing into a full-time, in-person workweek. She said she’s seen managers encourage employees in the first few weeks of an RTO to take weekly vacation days, so they’re not coming back five days, but three or four, and then five.

“Employees can feel uncertain just because it is a time of change, so it’s really important for HR managers to be clear about what resources are available in the company and what the policies are,” she said.

People walking across image of multi-colored brain

HR should be mindful of employee mental health during an RTO

The Center for Workplace Mental Health at the American Psychiatric Association’s senior director shares how HR can make the transition less mentally taxing.

Let’s address the elephant in the room: Climate change.

Extreme weather events resulting from climate change pose a threat to the health of over 65 million “nonelderly” workers, according to 

 from health policy nonprofit KFF. While 81% of executives are concerned about how these weather events might impact the workplace, only 62% have a response plan, a recent 

 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found.

Whether wildfires in California or hurricanes in North Carolina, extreme weather events happen all around us, said Tracy Watts, senior partner and national leader for US health policy at consulting firm Mercer. “So many things happened last year, I felt like that really brought climate to the forefront…as something that is a true threat to worker health,” she told HR Brew.

Bruce Tracey, Blanchard professor of HR management at the Nolan School of Hotel Administration, Cornell University, who works with companies on weather protocols, agrees with Watts—adding that it’s important for companies to recognize how these events can impact employees, in order to develop responsive plans.

“Climate change is one of many notable forces that influence people, both at work and at home, and as a result, firms need to recognize that these kinds of forces do influence people, emotionally, cognitively, and behaviorally,” Tracey said.

Experts shared with HR Brew how people leaders can support employees before, during, and after extreme weather events.

HR pros can create a communication plan to raise awareness about climate change, Watts said. Watts, who lives in Florida, said that during hurricane season, Mercer’s parent company Marsh McLennan communicates with her about how to stay safe, a protocol every company should follow.

“We get communication…saying, ‘Hey, we’re coming into hurricane season. Here’s a list of things you want to be mindful of. You want to have [these] kinds of supplies on hand…so that you’re prepared going into the season,’” Watts said.

HR should check in with employees during extreme weather events, asking about their evacuation or safety plans, their location, and if they need emergency assistance, Watts said. For weather events that last an entire season or occur during working hours, like extreme heat for those who work outside, she suggested HR inform employees of potential health risks and ways to adapt working conditions.

“Going into the season, [tell] people what they need to be aware of in extreme heat, what to watch out for, knowing the symptoms of heat fatigue,” she said. “[Be] more vigilant with outdoor workers…Where do they go to cool off? How do you provide water to them?...A lot of it is really just being aware, and planning, and then acting accordingly.”

When consulting companies, Tracey said weather-related protocols are often “buried in a handbook somewhere.” But they need to be visible and discussed regularly.

“It’s an identifier of who you are as a company, that safety is an important part of how we do our business here. … Talk about it [in] meetings…[and] formally through training and performance reviews, and accountability systems…reward those who are complying with, and supportive of, and reinforcing these types of values that go back to safety first,” he said.

Watts said extreme weather events might require resources similar to those needed during the pandemic, like emergency relief funds. HR teams can also conduct climate vulnerability assessments, which can help identify employees who are susceptible to extreme weather events. With that information, HR can offer more specific resources.

Companies can tap their local government and community for support, too, Tracey said, whether employees are temporarily out of work and need state unemployment benefits, or need shelter and food.

Employers should also remember to have sensitivity and compassion, said Kerry Ebersole Singh, executive VP and chief talent solutions officer at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

“Be human and sensitive to the realities that people are now faced with because of the changing elements,” Singh told HR Brew. “Employers, HR professionals, they need that…understanding that this is very much a new space for us in this moment of humanity’s existence.”

Extreme weather events can be traumatic for employees, Tracey said, making access to mental health resources important. Supporting employees can be a heavy responsibility for people leaders, so those resources should be available to HR pros, too.

“Mental health extends to the leaders as well, and that they need to have outlets and resources to help them with the loads that they carry,” he said. “We’re all human beings, and we all can be influenced very negatively if we don’t have a very constructive means to manage these influences.”

Split image of a desk in two different weather conditions.

Climate change is a workplace issue. Here’s how HR can support employees.

Experts share how people leaders can support employees before, during, and after extreme weather events.

Hey, HR pros. We see you working hard to take care of your employees—but when was the last time you took care of yourself?

People pros shouldn’t have to make personal sacrifices to do their jobs. Otherwise, they may end up like Annie, a character in Jana Casale’s 2022 book 

. She excels in her HR job, and her boss compliments her work ethic, but she doesn’t give herself as much TLC as she gives her employees. Instead, she exhibits self-destructive habits, like doom scrolling on social media and neglecting daily exercise.

Sarah Katherine Schmidt has worked as a recruiter and a people pro since 2010. In that time, she said she’s seen a “creeping departure” from HR pros prioritizing themselves. People leaders’ greatest strengths are often empathy and emotional intelligence—and they can also be their greatest weaknesses, Schmidt told HR Brew.

“We are servant leaders, which means we will put everyone in front of ourselves. It is the absolute hardest thing sometimes…to put ourselves first,” she said.

While most HR pros (95%) are proud of their jobs, nearly half (47%) admit their well-being and mental health are negatively affected by the work, according to a Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) 

Schmidt, the VP of customer experience at performance software company Peoplelogic, shared with HR Brew how people pros can avoid ending up like Annie.

While helping others is a natural part of the job, Schmidt said people pros should allow themselves more mental and physical space throughout the workday so they can process how they feel and identify what they need.

“We all need to carve out time for ourselves to explore,” she said, suggesting to ask yourself why you’re feeling a certain way, or what’s causing your lack of energy, or lack of engagement. “If we notice these pieces about ourselves that don’t quite feel right, we need to take the time to explore that a little bit more.”

In that spirit, Schmidt said she goes on walks, takes yoga classes, and bakes, but all HR pros need to find the activities that best serve them and allow them space to check in with themselves.

“When you get really good about tuning in, you start becoming very aware of when you’re potentially reaching that stage of burnout,” she added. “Are you sleeping? Are you having enough water? Are you feeding your body good nutrition? It’s not even about, ‘Am I working out every day?’ It’s, ‘Am I meeting my basic needs?’”

HR pros help employees find the benefits and resources they need when they’re going through tough times, but they tend not to do the same for themselves, Schmidt said.

“What I have often seen and experienced, I’m guilty of it…I will work for a company that offers unlimited PTO, that has the Calm app, has [a] BetterHelp subscription, [and] I am the first one to not use that but encourage everyone else [to],” she said. “It’s important for HR and people operations professionals to actually leverage those benefits for themselves, so that they can be champions for the adoption within the broader workforce.”

Schmidt said it can be helpful when company leadership promotes benefits and resources. If they’re built into the company culture, HR pros will be more likely to use them.

“Me taking time for myself fills me up, so that I can show up for everyone else, but I have to show up for myself first,” she said. “It almost takes, unfortunately, getting burnt out, and being in that place of truly having an empty bucket, to recognize and build back up what you need for your own reserves, so that you can go be there for people.”

A multiple image overlay of people with heads in their hands, looking distressed