By Victoria Shikongo
As the conversation around mental health continues to grow louder in workplaces, much of the focus is on employees and the support they need.
Organisations are investing in wellness programmes, counselling services, and awareness campaigns to encourage openness and resilience. These are important and necessary steps.
But in reflecting on this, one group often gets overlooked: our Human Resources practitioners.
In every workplace, HR is the department employees instinctively turn to when challenges arise. Whether it is conflict, unfair treatment, or personal matters affecting performance, HR is seen as the mediator, the adviser, and often the problem-solver.
Their role is to listen, to guide, and to resolve issues in ways that protect both the employee and the organisation.
Yet this is never simple. At times HR becomes the bearer of difficult news. The outcomes they communicate may not match what employees hope for, and HR is often caught in the crossfire. Supporting both the employer and the employee is a delicate balance, and it is easy for resentment to fall on HR when answers feel unfavourable.
Sometimes they are tasked with delivering decisions made by the board or management. Even then, sometimes employees interpret those decisions as personal choices by HR, or an expectation for HR to intervene, creating unnecessary tension and mistrust.
Beneath these visible roles lies an overlooked truth. HR professionals are human too. They carry the weight of others’ struggles while shouldering their own. They see unfairness but cannot always speak up.
They may feel silenced, knowing that voicing their concerns could lead to victimisation. Sometimes they face isolation, pressure, and disappointment, yet they are rarely given the grace to give their personal view openly.
This raises a question we hardly ever ask: Who is HR for HR?
Do we allow them the same space to be vulnerable that we expect them to provide for others? Do we recognise their need for a safe environment where they can be heard and supported? Or do we silently expect them to carry everyone’s burdens without ever laying down their own?
It is time to rethink how organisations support those who are tasked with supporting everyone else. HR practitioners need a trusted space, a sounding board, and strong systems of care. Their well-being is not an afterthought. It is fundamental to the health of the entire workforce. When HR suffers in silence, the effects ripple through the culture of the whole organisation.
So, who listens when HR needs to be heard? Who advocates for them when they feel unseen? And where do they go when they simply need to exhale?
The time has come to start this conversation. Because the question remains: Who is HR for HR?
*Victoria Shikongo is an MBA graduate with a bachelor’s in marketing and over ten years’ experience in media. She writes in a personal capacity.
