40% of managers say their mental health declined on the job

The plight of the middle manager has taken a turn for the worse since the pandemic, leaving many in the role prone to burnout as they juggle competing expectations with limited support from their employers. Managers were already tasked with addressing low morale and absorbing additional work as companies have been hit with layoffs in recent years—but now a number of employers are more pointedly culling their ranks, too.

A dwindling force

Amazon is reportedly cutting thousands of middle managers by the end of this month, following in the footsteps of other tech companies like Meta and Google that have sought to flatten their workforces. Additionally, Gartner analysts estimate that as employers rely more heavily on artificial intelligence, 20% of companies are likely to cut more than half their middle manager roles. 

Yet the latest edition of Deloitte’s annual Human Capital Trends Report finds that managers remain a crucial element of the workforce, even as many of them are struggling to manage their workloads. According to the report—which polled nearly 10,000 leaders and compiled input from manager-specific surveys—managers spend almost 40% of their time on administrative tasks or putting out fires on a day-to-day basis. Just 15% of their time is spent on long-term strategic thinking, and another 13% on developing their direct reports.

More than a third of managers reported feeling like they were not sufficiently prepared to handle the people management and leadership aspect of their jobs, and that their company had not given them the tools they needed to perform. 

The future of middle managers

As meQuilibrium CEO Jan Bruce recently wrote in Fast Company, this could be the year we see a “manager crash”—and companies may not be equipped to deal with the fallout. The Deloitte report noted that 40% of bosses surveyed said their mental health suffered after they took on managerial duties. What’s more, younger employees may not be ready to step up as managers burn out or step away from their roles; in surveys, Gen Z workers have expressed little desire to become managers themselves.

Companies seem aware of the challenges facing middle managers, not to mention the fact that their jobs may need to evolve accordingly. But that doesn’t mean they’re taking appropriate action to better support these employees or reevaluate what their function should be in today’s workforce. Per Deloitte’s report, nearly three-quarters of employers said they understood the importance of revamping the role of managers, but only 7% claimed to be making meaningful progress to address the issue.

The impact on team morale

While cutting middle managers may seem like an efficient move during times of belt-tightening, taking that approach can leave their reports feeling adrift and may even reduce their autonomy by enabling senior leadership to wield more decision-making power.

The Deloitte report posits that one of the most important facets of a manager’s job is to coach and develop the employees who report to them: In fact, 67% of employees claimed that their manager knows best how to motivate them at work.

View the full article