May HR marketing insights: Fit note reforms, burnout, and workforce design

As organisations move into the middle of the year, many HR teams are doing so with unresolved pressure. A government backed fit note trial is reshaping how absence is handled, burnout within HR teams is becoming harder to ignore, and the way roles are being designed is shifting quickly.

This month, HR teams are juggling shifts in how health and absence are handled, visible strain within their own function, and ongoing changes to how jobs are structured and shared. These changes are tightening the demands on HR whilst capacity is being stretched,

For brands speaking to HR leaders, this context matters. Messages grounded in the realities HR teams are dealing with are far more likely to hold attention, particularly when they reflect the level of judgement these changes demand day to day.

1. Fit note reform trial is changing how absence is managed

A government trial across parts of England is changing how sickness absence is handled. The focus is shifting away from signing people off work towards helping them stay in role or return sooner with the right support.

Employees may still receive a fit note or be referred straight to a support service, bringing together clinical and non clinical staff. The pilots also introduce earlier conversations between employees, employers and trained advisers, focused on adjustments and keeping people connected to work from the start of absence. Although, how this works in practice is still being tested.

The trial responds to long running frustration with fit notes offering little guidance. In its place is a more joined up approach, though its success will depend on how consistently those conversations happen.

For HR teams, the implications are immediate. Absence management will rely more heavily on judgement and communication. Line managers will need to be confident in handling sensitive discussions, and HR must be clear on what support is realistic, where limits sit, and how to protect consistency and trust.

2. Burnout inside HR is an increasing risk

Pressure within HR teams is becoming increasingly hard to overlook, with research consistently showing HR professionals reporting higher stress than much of the wider workforce. 42% of HR professionals describe themselves as burned out, compared with 35% across the general workforce, while over threequarters of HR professionals are showing signs of burnout or high risk as of this month.

The drivers are structural. Workloads continue to rise without equivalent investment, with 67% of HR professionals reporting increased responsibility while headcount stays flat. Emotional strain compounds this pressure, with 59% of HR professionals experiencing higher emotional load than the previous year.

This pressure affects how HR judges value. When HR teams are under sustained pressure, they focus on what helps them think and make decisions and quickly tune out anything that feels like extra reading. Content must earn its place by helping HR leaders deal with real challenges and reduce mental load, not add to it.

3. Workforce design stretches the meaning of a job

Alongside pressure inside HR, the shape of work itself is continuing to change. According to Manpower’s Global Future of Trends Report 2026, many organisations are redesigning roles. This includes breaking them into tasks, then distributing those tasks across employees, AI tools and freelance talent.

Hybrid super teams are becoming more common, but not without tension. Skills requirements are changing quickly, particularly in areas that rely on judgement, communication and people management. Some employers are discovering that heavy automation without redesign creates gaps, leading to rehiring or rework.

For HR, this creates a difficult balancing act. Flexibility has to sit alongside fairness, clarity and progression. Without clear explanations, employees are left to fill in the gaps themselves. HR leaders are looking for realism. Content that shows how organisations are thinking through job design, skills pathways and human oversight feels credible. When predictions sound too certain, they tend to trigger scepticism instead of confidence.

What May’s HR trends mean for your content strategy

This month’s trends show a function absorbing pressure from multiple directions at once. Health conversations are moving closer to the workplace, HR teams are under visible strain, and workforce structures are becoming harder to explain and manage.

For HR focused PR and marketing, relevance comes from restraint and insight, not volume. Three principles matter most:

• Help HR leaders communicate with judgement, not scripts
• Acknowledge pressure inside HR rather than talking past it
• Treat workforce change as something people experience, not just plan for

When content reflects what HR leaders are actually experiencing, it earns attention. That relevance builds trust, and trust is what keeps brands credible when decisions are harder and margins for error are thin.