Kristin Latimer explains why HR’s biggest time drain isn’t a technology problem—it’s an ownership problem.

Anyone in HR knows that no day is the same. Any and every day can bring a string of stalled approvals, delayed handoffs, and small fires that need to be put out. And while strategy is top of mind for most HR leaders, it often ends up at the bottom of the ever-growing daily to-do list.

“From chasing on approvals, nudging managers, and coordinating with IT, HR has taken on additional responsibilities outside of strategy,” says Kristin Latimer, director of global rewards at Nintex, a workflow-automation company, who has named this phenomenon: HR as the “traffic controller.”

“Being a ‘traffic controller’ means HR has quietly become the team responsible for moving all processes along,” she says.

This is most noticeable in the tedious, and sometimes indivisible, administrative tasks that land in HR’s lap. The common thread of admin tasks, Latimer says, is that these processes don’t live in one place. They span systems, departments, and people who each own a fragment of the process, but no one owns the whole thing. “HR becomes the connective tissue holding everything together,” she says—not by design, but by default.

The Culprit? Lack of Ownership

The wide array of daily tasks isn’t because teams lack tools or technology, Latimer explains.

“The rising burden on HR is a combination of tool and ownership issues, with ownership being the root cause,” she says.

Organizations tend to respond to friction by buying another tool without asking why the breakdown happened in the first place. This results in a patchwork of point solutions that doesn’t address the issue of nobody having claimed responsibility for the handoffs between teams.

“An HRIS can help manage employee records but is rarely the source of disruption,” Latimer notes.

The issue is that HR keeps getting asked to fill the gaps between processes and teams simply because employees don’t know who else to turn to.

The Early, but Often-Missed, Warning Sign

This kind of invisible labor doesn’t show up on a dashboard, which is exactly why it’s problematic. Latimer points to a specific signal CPOs should watch for: When a team stops doing strategic work, burnout may already be underway.

HR professionals who spend weeks chasing approvals instead of focusing on retention or culture are being quietly siphoned away from the strategic work that makes a strong impact. Latimer explains that, rather than waiting for attrition data or exit interviews, leaders should examine how much visibility they have into existing processes and where they currently stand.

“When leaders don’t have a good sense of how much of their team’s time is being consumed for non-strategic activities, that is when the risk is highest,” she says.

Removing Friction Through Redesign

If ownership is the root cause, the fix isn’t a memo to managers; it’s redesigning the handoff itself. Latimer’s suggestion is to make accountability automatic rather than personal. For example, when a shared, automated process connects HR, IT, and managers, each party is notified at the moment it’s their turn to act—no chasing required.

“HR doesn’t feel like it is ‘making’ managers do something and friction is removed as it is no longer a personal task,” she says. “Most organizations are still relying on manual processes to track things like IT provisioning or manager approvals, making it one of the most high-volume and high-touch tasks the HR works on. Automating that handoff process will save significant time as well as reduce compliance and security exposure through a consistent auditable trail.”

Where to Start

For leaders looking to reclaim their teams’ time, Latimer’s advice cuts against the instinct to solve the problem by hiring more people.

“CPOs looking to reclaim their team’s time should start with visibility, not headcount,” she says. That means conducting an honest internal audit of where hours are actually going, then targeting one process and automating it end to end before scaling further.

The deeper lesson, though, is about where leadership attention belongs. A system of record can support the work, but it can’t replace it.

“Process work is ultimately what leaders need to remain focused on,” Latimer says. “Workshopping the process itself, not just buying software to manage it, is what builds organizational visibility—and keeps employee trust intact.”