Employee morale isn’t great these days. Job satisfaction is low. Burnout rates are high. Workers are feeling overwhelmed and undervalued. But if you look closely, it’s not the lowest-ranking employees reporting the greatest levels of stress and anxiety. Nor is it the leaders tasked with running companies during an unprecedented period of workplace transformation. It’s the poor souls stuck in the middle.
These middle managers—the butt of the joke in so many office comedies for their outsize ambition, assumed mediocrity, or embrace of the status quo—actually play a crucial role in most workplaces. They get stuff done. They motivate others to get stuff done. They provide the vital link between the C-suite and the rest of the company—two groups that often have vastly different desires and motivations.
Serving as this go-between has become harder recently, as the strategic priorities of executives diverge even further from the needs of their workers. Two-plus years into the pandemic, with a recession on the horizon, many corporate leaders want employees back in the office (at least part time), believing that this workplace cohesion will help them better navigate an uncertain economy and lingering supply chain issues, on top of the regular pressures of increasing the bottom line. Employees, for their part, want flexibility, career development, meaningful work, and a supportive corporate culture. When these priorities clash, it’s these managers who are stuck doing the, well, managing.
The results of a recent study conducted by human resources company Humu illustrate the bind. The majority of HR leaders said that managers should be focused on “facilitating transformation, improving team agility, and leading a high-performing team.” Managers, however, reported much more practical (and immediate) concerns: “helping teams combat burnout, retaining top talent, and hiring and onboarding.” Managers are “getting crushed,” says Liz Fosslien, head of communications and content at Humu. Is it any wonder that her organization found that managers are twice as likely to be looking for new jobs as nonmanagerial employees?
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