Slack Is Ruining Your HR Team's Productivity

You open Slack at 9 AM. You have 47 unread messages. 12 are DMs. 8 of them are HR questions. By 9:30 AM, you've answered zero emails, started zero projects, and typed "let me check on that" six times.

This is your life now.

The Math of Interruption

Let's be scientific about this:

• Average time to recover from an interruption: 23 minutes
• Average Slack messages received by HR per day: 50-100+
• Average DMs requiring response: 15-30

If each DM takes you 3 minutes to answer and 23 minutes to recover from, you're spending your entire day just on Slack. That strategic project? It doesn't exist.

Why HR Gets Hit Hardest

HR is everyone's first stop for questions. Employees don't know the answer? Ask HR. Manager doesn't want to deal with it? Route to HR. New hire needs something? HR.

You're the default destination for every "I don't know where to ask this" question. And in Slack culture, that means constant pings.

The Types of Slack That Kill You

The Quick Question

"Hey, quick question..." — It's never quick. It never ends with one question.

The Lazy Search

"Where do I find the PTO policy?" — It's in the handbook. That you sent them. That's in a pinned message. That they could search for.

The Pre-Question Question

"Hey, are you free?" — Just ask the question. Don't ask to ask.

The Thread That Won't Die

17 messages deep on something that should have been an email or a meeting. Or nothing.

What Actually Works

1. Create an HR Bot/Channel

Route questions to a channel or bot instead of your DMs. This creates visibility and reduces duplicates.

2. Set Response Time Expectations

"HR responds to Slack within 4 hours for non-urgent matters." Communicate it. Stick to it.

3. Batch Your Slack Time

Check Slack at specific times instead of constantly. Turn off notifications during focus blocks.

4. Redirect, Don't Answer

Instead of answering the same question again, point to where the answer lives. Train self-sufficiency.

5. Automate the Answering

Get an AI assistant that lives in Slack and answers the questions before they reach you.

The Goal: Async HR

The dream isn't zero Slack. It's a world where employees can get answers without synchronously interrupting you. Where self-service is better than asking. Where your DMs are for things that actually need you.

It's possible. It just requires intention, tools, and the willingness to set boundaries.

Ready to escape Slack hell? Check out Deb — she's the first line of defense.