Few things shape your professional experience more than your relationship with your CEO. Whether you’re an HR of 50 or 10,000 employees, the difference between thriving and burning out often comes down to one question: Does your CEO actually value HR?

If they don’t, the result isn’t just frustrating—it can be unsustainable.

Burnout in HR isn’t just about long hours or emotional labor. It’s about operating in an environment in which you’re under-resourced, misunderstood, and often forced to advocate for your own role.

A video of one CEO recently went viral after she aired her disgust with HR departments.

Jennifer Sey, founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, was recorded last month while she said, “I want to be the first company that has no HR. They produce nothing. They monitor our words. They tell us what we can and cannot say. They inhibit creativity. … It’s terrible for business.”

Keith Hammonds, a former Fast Company executive and currently COO and president at Solutions Journalism Network, critiques human resources in his article in Fast Company, Why we hate HR, “The human-resources trade long ago proved itself, at best, a necessary evil — and at worst, a dark bureaucratic force that blindly enforces nonsensical rules, resists creativity, and impedes constructive change. HR is the corporate function with the greatest potential — the key driver, in theory, of business performance — and also the one that most consistently underdelivers.”

Too often, CEOs misunderstand the role of HR or the liability they are protecting their employer from. In a workplace with this type of CEO, HR is simply the scapegoat for unpopular policies, creating further isolation for HR professionals in their own organizations.

The experiences of HR leaders vary widely, depending on how executive staff view their contributions. “I went from Target to a financial institution, and it couldn’t have been more different,” says Dave Reitsema, a previous HR executive and founder of HRInsidr. “One place I was respected. The other? Completely disregarded.”

Unfortunately, Reitsema’s story isn’t rare. The same HR leader can go from being an innovative strategic partner in one company to being relegated to a policy cop in the next. Many in HR hope their next CEO is better than their last, without calculating the true costs to their mental health if they are not.

HR departments that are devalued are often brought in late to address employee issues and generally treated as an afterthought. Or they can be left on their own to defend people policies initiated by executive staff. This isolation fuels stress and lowers morale. According to SHRM’s Employee Mental Health in 2024 report, workers who feel a strong sense of belonging are 2.5 times less likely to feel burned out. Working in HR demands unity, teamwork, and support to succeed. Without it, burnout becomes almost inevitable.

On her podcast I Hate it Here, Hebba Youssef, chief people officer at Workweek, an online publication for burned out HRs, shares how her relationship with her CEO, Adam Ryan, helped rebuild her faith in the HR function. “I hired you because I want to build a workplace where people stay working for years to come,” Ryan tells her. “I knew this CEO was different,” says Youssef of Ryan.

When company leaders give their HR departments clarity and support and align HR’s mission with the organization’s strategic goals, they establish the foundation for HR to thrive. It’s not just about executive staff giving HR an adequate budget—it’s about their support of HR’s important role in their company.

“CEO’s and HR’s priorities usually further the same goal, but they go about it in different ways,” explains Youssef. For example, she says, most HR professionals would agree that DEI efforts influence culture and talent acquisition, but CEOs may see it as an added expense. It takes a strong relationship between CEOs and HR heads for them to appreciate one another’s perspective.

“She cares about the way people will feel after reading a company-wide email, whereas I care about what people will think,” says Ryan of Youssef. Each strategy will have repercussions on company culture, he explains, but the key is for HR leaders and company heads to debate their unique perspectives and come up with a shared strategy.

Bringing together the unique perspectives of CEOs and HR leaders can create a balanced and powerful culture. When CEOs are open to HR’s input, they can better understand the connections between things like diversity and increased profits. But when HR leaders and company heads are at odds or worse—have no working relationship at all—HR will become further isolated and the company overall will suffer.

One Interim VP, People and Culture, Felicia Shakiba, says when she reported to the COO the organization experienced problems. “That structure remained in place until the organization hit rock bottom. The challenges they were encountering were addressed, but the cultural norms that contributed to those challenges remained untouched.”

When the reporting structure was revised, she was able to “have meaningful, human conversations with the CEO about culture. As a result, perceptions of the employee experience began to improve and the root causes of the organization’s challenges were addressed.”

Educated, supportive CEOs don’t micromanage HR—they champion it.

“My HR leader is my right hand helping me to build the right team and right culture for the company,” says Jose R. Costa, CEO North America at GrandVision NV.

Ask Reddit or Quora why HR is “the most hated department,” and you’ll see comments from readers such as:

• “They’re just there for the company.”
• “They don’t do anything for employees.”
• “They’re unqualified and overpaid.”

The odds for their success are often stacked against HR leaders from the moment they are hired. How much they will have to overcome these obstacles, from workplace to workplace, depends on their primary relationships with leadership. When you’re under-supported and stuck enforcing unpopular policies without strategic alignment, employee resentment of HR builds. “It’s not just about individual boundaries,” says organizational psychologist Dr. Jessica Sharp. “If the environment doesn’t support your success, burnout is inevitable.”

When you’re under-supported and stuck enforcing unpopular policies without strategic alignment, employee resentment of HR builds.

Julie Bank, chief people officer at Brighton Health Plan, writes in HR Executive about her journey to building a relationship with her CEO, whom she didn’t speak to during her first five years at the organization. Over time, Bank began to collaborate on projects with the CEO, and their conversations became healthy debates, after which Bank says her team “repeatedly demonstrated that we understood the business and were key contributors to its success.”

Sometimes it can be an uphill battle, but true collaboration with leadership is always worth pursuing.

Today’s HR generalist is often a CHRO in disguise—expected to juggle legal issues, recruiting, company culture, onboarding, compliance issues, and employee mental health, all without the resources or influence to lead.

This is especially true with small business owners and entrepreneurs who are working within tight budgets. Their lack of knowledge about the true function of HR can quickly result in misaligned priorities when it comes to expectations.

While the need for people leadership is real (interim CHRO demand is on the rise), many companies still hire an HR generalist and expect miracles.

For HR professionals to be able to truly play the roles of effective people managers, fundamental changes need to take place at many companies.

For CEOs

• Learn what HR actually does—and what it should do.
• Give HR leaders decision-making power.
• Include HR early in conversations, not after decisions are made.
• Understand that people strategy is business strategy.

For HR leaders

• Assess whether your environment sets you up to succeed—or burn out.
• Don’t carry everything alone. Make the case for team support.
• Use data to align your goals with business objectives.ship with the CEO as you would with your most important hire.

No HR leader, no matter how skilled, can transform a culture if their CEO isn’t on board. But when their interests are aligned to achieve organizational success, the HR/CEO partnership becomes one of the most powerful forces in a company.

If you constantly feel like you’re swimming upstream to get things done, it may not be you.

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The information contained in this site is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter.