General HR
HR Administration 2026: How SMEs Are Redefining the Role of HR
Marlen Kothen
on August 7, 2026 • 4 min. reading time
They are the HR professionals who moderate the reality of the German Mittelstand every single morning. They manage sick notes, coordinate part-time requests, and feel the shortage of skilled workers firsthand. An exclusive HRlab survey of 121 HR professionals at small and medium-sized enterprises now paints a clear picture: HR wants — and needs — to work more strategically, but is far too often held captive in an administrative swamp.
Reality Check 2026: HR Caught Between a Vicious Cycle and Rising Complexity
For months now, Germany has been engaged in a heated debate about work ethic, "lifestyle part-time work," and high sick leave rates. But while politicians, economists, and the media loudly discuss a supposed lack of performance, one voice is largely missing from the public conversation: that of HR departments.
The results of the HRlab Survey 2026 dispel many of these clichés — while also revealing the enormous pressure HR departments are currently under. The scope of HR's tasks has become drastically more complex over the past three years:
- The sick-leave vicious cycle: 63% of respondents report an increase in sick leave. The main cause? Not laziness, but psychological strain and stress (54%). A further 28% state that being overburdened due to staff shortages leads to even more absences.
- The part-time boom: In 64% of companies, the share of part-time employees has increased. For HR, this means a higher coordination workload (32%) and more difficult team communication (19%).
HR departments today are no longer just managing standard day-to-day operations — they're managing complex working worlds shaped by flexibility.
Voices from the field: "HR work is more than hiring and firing"
The unfiltered feedback from HR professionals in our survey shows that the real pain points are recognition and working conditions. A clear pattern runs through the anonymous statements: the desire for less bureaucracy and more strategic focus.
HR work is far more than just hiring and terminations. It's significantly more extensive, more complex, and more strategically important than it's often perceived to be. HR professionals are partners — both to company leadership and to managers.
Fewer administrative and data-protection requirements from lawmakers would allow more time for real work with employees.
The problem: while administrative workload keeps rising due to legal requirements, eAU (electronic sick note) inquiries, and coordinating flexible working-time models, the time for what really matters — people — falls by the wayside. When HR departments are stuck putting out fires and managing paperwork, there's no capacity left to train managers, reduce psychological strain within teams, or strategically bring down sick leave.
How the Mittelstand can break free
How can this vicious cycle be broken? The answer isn't to ignore regulatory obligations, but to automate them as efficiently as possible. That's the only way to create the breathing room HR teams urgently need for real HR work and strategic value creation. This is exactly where HR software like HRlab comes in. By digitizing standardized processes, HR reclaims control over its own time:
- Bureaucracy on autopilot: Instead of manually typing up vacation requests, sick notes (eAU), and master data, digital workflows and employee self-service handle these tasks in the background.
- Minimizing part-time coordination effort: With almost two-thirds of companies having to coordinate more part-time work, digital absence calendars and flexible time-tracking systems keep things manageable.
- Data-driven strategy instead of gut feeling: Effectively reducing sick leave requires solid data. HR analytics show at a glance which departments have correlating overtime and absence rates, allowing HR to proactively counteract burnout waves before they happen.
Further practical tips for HR:
- Challenge: Sick notes — 100% automated eAU retrieval with HRlab
- Challenge: Process optimization — Digitizing HR processes: examples with measurable time savings
- Challenge: Reporting and metrics — People analytics in practice: how differently SMEs use HR data
- Challenge: Skilled labor shortage — Developing staff as a response to the skills shortage
Conclusion: HR is not a cost factor — it's a success factor
The HRlab Survey 2026 proves it: the German Mittelstand is in the middle of a transformation. HR professionals are no longer merely administrators — they are the moderators of this change. Companies that free their HR teams from administrative shackles now and invest in modern tools kill two birds with one stone: they reduce frustration within the HR department and create the breathing room needed to strategically tackle the most pressing issues of our time — from employee retention to stress prevention.
