A Day in the Life of a People & Culture Manager: Carrying Everyone’s Risk But Their Own
Why HR leaders are now first responders to psychosocial crises - without the training, tools, or support.
6:30am: Your phone buzzes. Another “urgent” email from overnight - a frontline employee was assaulted by a customer. The store manager did what they could: sent the worker home, filled out an incident report, and left it to HR to handle the rest.
You’re being asked to assess risk, provide support, review the legal exposure, and draft a response - before 9 am.
8:00am: You arrive at your desk. There’s already a full queue waiting for you:
Operations want to know if the site should close temporarily.
Legal asks if the incident is “reportable” under WHS or new psychosocial obligations.
Communications want a holding statement in case it surfaces online.
The CFO wants assurance it won’t escalate into a claim.
Somewhere between those emails, you’re still expected to run inductions, review policies, and “keep culture strong.”
10:00am: You glance at the latest Safe Work Australia report: workplace violence and aggression claims are up 56% over the past five years.
Threats, intimidation, and abuse are now recognised hazards - not “just part of the job.” You wonder how many more incidents are going unreported because staff don’t want to be seen as “weak.”
11:30am: In between crisis calls, you’re doing policy triage: updating the code of conduct, revising your psychosocial policy, and trying to weave new legislative requirements into already stretched frameworks.
The AHRI Work Outlook report flashes across your feed - HR workloads are at record highs. Everyone’s talking about psychosocial risk, but few are resourcing it properly. You sigh. You could’ve written that report yourself.
2:30pm: Another call. Another manager. Another “incident.”
Someone’s been threatened by a member of the public. You listen, reassure, document, advise - on autopilot now. No one taught you crisis management in HR school, but here you are, walking line managers through trauma response steps.
4:00pm: You’re in a cross-department meeting. Operations, Safety, Legal.
Questions swirl:
What level of immediate response is “reasonable”?
When do we escalate to external support?
What’s our obligation if the staff member refuses help but is visibly distressed?
The call ends with everyone agreeing to “tighten procedures.” But everyone knows the next one’s coming and the system still won’t be ready.
5:30pm: As you finally start to breathe, you realise something: The frameworks, policies, and training modules are all designed for before or after a crisis - not during.
The changes to workplace safety policy are important, but also deeply concerning. Organisations can now show compliance pre-event through training and prevention programs, and call the police or activate legal processes post-event.
7:30pm: You send one final email: “Heads up - this may hit social media tomorrow.”
You’ve contained another crisis, comforted another manager, and kept another problem out of the headlines. But you haven’t eaten dinner. Or taken a breath. And tomorrow, it starts again.
Why This Isn’t Just “Part of the Job”
HR and People & Culture teams are being forced into crisis-response roles without training, resourcing, or authority.
The system still sees psychosocial harm as a “soft” issue - not the business-critical liability it is.
Regulators are stepping in (SafeWork NSW recently paused UTS job cuts over psychosocial risk).
And yet, the moment of impact, those first hours after an incident, remains unprotected.
Compliance may tick the box. Compassion saves the person. Only real-time response prevents escalation.
Why We Built VUCA Risk
Because those “shaky moments just after” shouldn’t rely on luck or goodwill. Because crisis shouldn’t fall solely on the shoulders of HR. And because duty of care doesn’t stop when the incident starts. VUCA Risk’s Safety Assist and Biz Assist were created to fill that missing layer - the first 48 hours when people and businesses need immediate, structured help before reputational and human damage sets in.
If you’re in People & Culture - thank you.
You’ve been carrying the weight of the system for too long. We see you. And we’re building something to help you carry it.