HR managers: Guardians of employee wellbeing?

This paper assesses the role of human resource (HR) managers adopting a strategic role and devolution of HR work to the line in work organisations, and details interviews with 46 line managers drawn from an exploratory study in three work organisations in the UK over a two‐year period. The study finds that HR managers can be seen to be both engaging in the process of enhancing employee wellbeing at work, and also acting against it. The conclusions drawn are that, while the advantages to employee wellbeing through adopting a strategic HR approach led by HR managers and devolution of HR work to the line are numerous, the potential costs to employee wellbeing are also significant. The latter must be addressed by organisations if future employee commitment to these organisations is to be secured.