Let’s face it – HR has changed. You don’t need us to tell you that! The field has grown and encompassed so many disciplines in just the last few years. Adam Weber, CEO of Adam Weber Coaching and former Chief Evangelist at 15Five, saw the writing on the wall when he spoke to ALIGN attendees last fall. In his session on the top five secrets of the top 5% of strategic HR leaders, Weber noted that prior to five or so years ago, the primary responsibilities of HR were mainly administrative: payroll, compliance, and benefits. That is no longer the case, as responsibilities have exploded to include employee experience, manager effectiveness, engagement, retention, capacity planning, culture, succession planning, performance, and more. However, as responsibilities have grown, budgets and staffing resources have not. So how can HR professionals shift to accommodate this growth in responsibility while making use of the resources they already have?  

First of all – let’s take a breath. It’s okay to acknowledge that you may have been feeling this overwhelm far before you found this blog today. You’re not alone. In fact – 95% of HR leaders have reported that working in HR today is simply too much stress (Sage HR). There are a lot of contributors to this. BizLibrary found in their 2025 Trends Report that the top 3 challenges HR professionals expected to face in the coming year include not having enough time to develop a training program, inability to measure the impact of training, and poor learner participation. That’s not to mention the disconnect between the way HR views themselves and the way executives view HR. It’s okay to take a moment and hold space for this massive bummer. And even though it might feel a little hopeless – we promise that it’s not, and that there are things you can do to shift your position from pinned down to positive.  

Many HR professionals cite a lack of leadership support as one of their biggest challenges at work. While every workplace relationship is different, it could be that executives and HR professionals are locked in a negative cycle of denial due to an unclear relationship between HR strategy and overcoming business challenges. For starters, let’s make sure that HR has absolute clarity on the top three objectives of their organization. Roadblocks are less likely to occur if business objectives are baked directly into HR strategy. One way to make this clear to executive teams is by using a shared vocabulary. What kind of acronyms and terms are leadership teams using to describe business performance? Leadership buy-in can be easier to access when HR strategy is directly tied to business objectives and a shared language encourages synergy and clarity between teams.  

Many HR professionals cite a lack of leadership support as one of their biggest challenges at work. While every workplace relationship is different, it could be that executives and HR professionals are locked in a negative cycle of denial due to an unclear relationship between HR strategy and overcoming business challenges. If you aren’t quite sure where to begin on identifying, business challenges, BizLibrary’s 2025 Trends in Training report found that the top three challenges that CEOs expect to face in the next year are Leadership Development, Upskilling and Reskilling, and Talent Acquisition and Retention.  

Another recommended strategy to help align HR with the current state of work is to prioritize data-driven decisions. Many HR professionals are not utilizing data to the extent which is possible to make decisions. When it comes to training, BizLibrary has found that measuring the impact of their programs is the second highest challenge for HR professionals for the last three years. Almost 35% of respondents reported that measuring the impact of their initiatives is very difficult as they don’t understand what to measure. This is corroborated in an industry report by SAGE HR, where they noted that the lack of analytical skills in the HR team is perceived to be a challenge for HR by 85% of executives and a main challenge by 30% of executives. As we’ve touched on briefly, leadership support can be hard to get in HR – this could partly be due to the fact that many CEOs and CFOs are not willing to approve the cost of additional HR programs without compelling data on how these programs contribute to business objectives. Data-driven decisions help prevent reactive strategies and can move HR from a reactive position to a proactive position.  

So how can HR professionals start to utilize data more? While using a tool such as an HRIS or an LMS with an HRIS integration can make a big difference, if administrators don’t understand how to interpret or make relationships between the data, having the data available won’t make much of a difference. To address this issue, upskilling is necessary. And not that we need to tell you this – but upskilling is really just a fancy way of saying ‘learning something new.’ It doesn’t have to be complicated – anything from reading an article to watching a YouTube video to receiving a certification is upskilling. Our recommendation is to consume resources directly related to identifying metrics and relational data. We’d love to just tell you which metrics to keep an eye on – but ultimately these things are determined by the scope and goals of your programs.  

And it’s not just HR that’s changed in the last few years – it’s the workplace as a whole. For what may be the first time in history, employees in the workplace can span across six generations. The oldest generation of individuals that may still be employed are the Silent Generation – people in their eighties who still hold jobs and in many scenarios – leadership positions. The youngest employees joining the workforce are the early teenagers of Generation Alpha seeking their first after-school jobs and summer work. In addition to generational gaps, the workplace has shifted and continues to shift post-pandemic and through federal policy changes. So it’s really no wonder that HR teams, or in many cases – solo HR professionals – might feel burnt out, isolated, and alone.  

Adjusting HR and L&D teams to the current state of work isn’t an overnight fix, but a few of these strategies can help improve HR synergy with executive teams, which can in turn improve overall HR work conditions. It’s not an exhaustive list, but to help shift HR to the current state of work, try this: 

• Gain clarity on business objectives – Ensure HR strategy aligns with the company’s top three priorities to reduce roadblocks and improve leadership buy-in. 

• Prioritize data-driven decision-making – Leverage data to demonstrate the impact of HR programs and secure leadership support. Avoid reactive strategies by using data to inform proactive HR initiatives. 

• Develop analytical skills in HR teams – Upskill HR professionals to better interpret and utilize HR metrics, making HR efforts more measurable and effective. 

• Utilize HR technology – Implement tools like HRIS (Human Resource Information Systems) or LMS (Learning Management Systems) with HRIS integration to better track, analyze, and automate HR initiatives. These technologies can also have a massive impact on repetitive tasks such as payroll, time tracking, and more. 

• Acknowledge workplace complexity – Adapt to the challenges of managing a workforce spanning six generations with diverse needs and expectations. 

• Take a step back and breathe – Recognize the symptoms of burnout and invest in employee wellness (including your own!) to avoid the long-term effects of disengagement  

BizLibrary is dedicated to creating a more competent and compassionate workforce – and while sustainable change has to be a global cultural effort, we do what we can to aid HR and L&D professionals to create change at their own workplaces. Our content libraries and learning platforms help deliver accurate, reliable, and useful information to employees at every level. We help HR and L&D professionals utilize automation to roll out compliance, upskilling, and leadership development to their workforce at scale, which in turn can have a positive impact on employee engagement, retention, and business performance as a whole. If you’re curious about how BizLibrary can partner with you to bring this kind of success to your organization, book a demo today!