Too many tools, too little time: Untangling the HR tech stack
📝 From the editor
If it feels like your HR tech stack spiraled out of control... it’s because it did. 🌪️
Last issue, we looked at the rush to integrate AI into work. This time, we’re unpacking what happens when we add everything else, too.
What began as a handful of useful tools now looks more like a maze of logins, tabs, and systems that don’t speak to each other. Even the most tech-savvy teams are feeling dizzy.
A digital overload crisis
The average knowledge worker now juggles 8.8 applications each day, rising to 10 for those at director-level roles and above (Asana, Anatomy of Work). But app count is just the surface layer.
Harvard Business Review reports that workers switch between apps 1,200 times per day, losing nearly four hours of focus every week. Asana’s research goes even further: employees using 16 or more tools estimate they could save up to 9.6 hours per week if their company streamlined processes.
This fragmented digital experience may also be fueling employee stress. According to Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report, 40% of employees worldwide said they felt stressed during much of the previous workday — a rate that has remained high in recent years. While stress has many causes, HR professionals increasingly point to scattered systems and nonstop context switching as added sources of pressure.
The cost for HR teams
For HR, the overload has gone from frustrating to flat-out exhausting. Teams have layered on separate software for employee records, performance, engagement, time tracking, payroll, learning, and more. But instead of saving time, many People professionals are losing it to admin. Our own2024 Workforce Trends Report reveals the problem is reaching critical levels:
85% of HR leaders are under pressure to streamline tech stacks, optimize processes, and reduce costs
70% of professionals report rising workloads — more tasks, larger teams, and heavier admin
Every extra app, login, or duplicate process adds friction for HR teams already stretched thin. And the cost doesn’t end there. When tools overwhelm employees, adoption drops; this makes it harder to run critical processes like feedback, goals, and development consistently and at scale.
Simplifying your tech stack is a strategic necessity. Reducing tool sprawl helps HR teams operate more efficiently and creates a better experience for the people they support.
What’s the people-first path forward?
Fewer tools. Less switching. More time for meaningful work.
Bringing your HR workflows into one place won’t fix burnout overnight. Research-backed insights from MIT Sloan School of Management and Harvard Business Review suggest that reducing digital noise and improving work processes helps employees reclaim time for meaningful work.
Streamlining platforms and toolsets, combined with clear governance, can support these changes by making workflows less fragmented. For HR, this creates more space to focus on people rather than processes.
This issue of People Over Perks is all about untangling the HR tech stack. Less tool fatigue. More focus.
🎧 Bonus: The scattered soundtrack
I put together a playlist for those days when your browser has 42 open tabs.
P.S. I’m here every other week with fresh insights, sharp takes, and people-first ideas to help you navigate the world of work. Thanks for reading.
🔍 TheLeapsome lens
Making sense of the sprawl: HR strategies for smarter consolidation
With so many tools scattered across the HR ecosystem, it’s no wonder teams want to simplify. These reads from our library explore how HR teams can streamline their tech stack — and why fewer, better-connected systems lead to more strategic impact.
🆙 HR processes to elevate your strategy
This guide outlines the fundamental workflows HR teams need to succeed: from onboarding and engagement to feedback and payroll. It also explores where consolidation can reduce complexity.
Whether you’re switching systems or starting fresh, this resource breaks down how to migrate data, configure workflows, and get buy-in for a streamlined HRIS rollout. It’s designed for teams looking to replace scattered tools with one system that works.
A unified HRIS with employee self-service can put your HR workflow on autopilot.
Learn more about Leapsome’s HRIS — with people enablement features to make it even better!
🧩 Ideas shaping the workplace
In each issue, we highlight powerful perspectives shaping how we work. Here’s a conversation that speaks directly to this issue’s theme.
🎧 Eric Athas & David Rice: “How to Navigate Tech Overload and Foster Workplace Innovation”
Eric Athas, Deputy Editor at The New York Times, joins host David Rice on the People Managing People podcast to explore how too much tech can stretch people thin.
Athas shares how leaders can reduce cognitive overload, clear out old processes, and give room for work that matters.
[...] you can see just the pace of the invention and innovation has grown so significantly. And there is a real cost to that. Obviously, many of those inventions have improved the way that we live, have improved the way that we work, but there are so many.
And one of the big costs in the workplace that I’ve written about before is this idea of “innovation burnout,” which is just too many new things, too many new initiatives, too many tools to manage. And it takes a lot of the fun and the joy out of learning something new.
Small (or not-so-small) but powerful ideas to help leaders rethink how we work.
This time, Ben Aronowicz, Co-Founder at Team Union, shared his thoughts on the impact of tool overload on employees and HR and how to address it. 💜
Every new tool demands a pause; another login, another system to figure out. Multiply that across onboarding, workflows, and scattered data, and it’s no wonder everyone feels overwhelmed.
At Team Union, we draw a clear line: a few core tools, like Notion, Confluence, or Asana (where we house client policies and roadmaps), are taught and used daily. Others, like our HRIS and payroll systems, are supported behind the scenes.
That intentional split reduces admin drag, streamlines onboarding, and keeps our focus on people, not platforms. It also helps our employees focus on delivering value.
I’m a fan of anything that cuts friction, even small tools like AlfredApp, which reduce time lost switching between apps.
📣 Events worth your time
🗓 Coming up: Meet us at Zukunft Personal 2025
Sept. 10–12 | Cologne, Germany
We’ll be at Europe’s leading HR event, reimagining the future of work with thousands of People experts. Swing by our booth, catch a live demo, or chat with us about your HR strategy.
▶️ On demand: “Maximizing impact with less: Strategic budgeting for HR leaders” Jenny Podewils, Leapsome’s Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Pernilla Wranéus (VP Global Head P&C at Accedo.tv), Marie Richter (Fractional CPO & Consultant), and Lee Bage (Global VP People Operations at Valtech) discuss strategies for making thoughtful cutbacks, defending essential expenses, and optimizing your HR tools for impact.
▶️ On demand: HRIS Demo & Learn Reduce admin, automate absences and processes, and keep employee data secure — all in one place. This 45-minute session, led by Product Expert Suraj Paneru, shows how Leapsome helps HR teams simplify operations and free up more time for their people.
.png?upscale=true&width=1080&upscale=true&name=POPs%20Issue%203%20(Playlist).png)
