'HR needs to work with executive leadership to rebuild the middle manager role entirely'
Three-quarters (73 per cent) of middle managers in Canada are experiencing burnout, according to a recent survey.
This number is even higher for those who work at large enterprises (1,001+ employees, 76 per cent) and those who work remotely (76 per cent).
The Capterra survey also revealed that 50 per cent of Canadian middle managers don’t have enough time in a week to complete their tasks, with 56 per cent saying it is impossible to give their direct reports the one-to-one time that they need.
Over one in three middle managers are actively looking for a new job. However, the younger a person is, and the newer they are to middle management, the more likely they are to be burnt out and searching for a new role.
In fact, 46 per cent of middle managers with less than two years of managerial experience reported looking for a new job, compared to 30 per cent of managers with 10 or more years of experience, according to the survey.
Recommendations for developing middle management
According to Capterra, “HR needs to work with executive leadership to rebuild the middle manager role entirely” because problems with middle management can start when the wrong individual is placed into a management role. The best worker is not always best suited for a management role.
Additionally, only 45 per cent of survey respondents said they received managerial training when they were hired or promoted to their role, and 71 per cent said they “rarely” or “never” received ongoing managerial training afterward.
To help solve middle management issues, employers should:
- Promote managers based on potential, not performance.
- Offer more training, both formally and informally.
- Remove hurdles to actual people management through automation.
- Prioritize middle manager success in 2024.
“One middle manager can be the difference between a critical employee staying at a company for decades or walking out the door within six months. That’s why, despite trends toward flattening the org chart and eliminating the level entirely, companies need to put more resources behind their middle managers in 2024 to help them succeed. Rethinking the middle manager role using the recommendations in this report can help right the ship on middle manager burnout and set your organization up for success this year,” the report said.
