Middle managers are the backbone of any organization, bridging the gap between senior leadership’s vision and its execution with employees on the ground. These people leaders are integral to any organization’s success—but their pivotal role also comes with a unique set of challenges.
Balancing the requests of senior leaders with the individual needs of team members is no easy task—and without an effective wellness strategy to support their overall wellbeing, it’s easy for middle managers to stretch themselves too thin and burn out. In fact, a survey from 2023 found that nearly half of individuals are aiming to leave their middle management positions this year due to a lack of support, signaling a worrying wave of resignations.
But what exactly is causing middle managers to feel burned out, and how can senior leaders better support them and keep their businesses intact?
Let’s take a closer look at the burden organizations carry from middle management burnout, along with six effective strategies to prevent it from happening.
Before we can understand why middle managers are burning out, it’s important to understand how their role poses unique challenges that lead to stress in the first place.
Middle managers have a critical part to play in an organization, acting as the vital link between the strategic directives from leadership and the day-to-day operations of employees. From managing projects and fostering team cohesion to implementing feedback from their own managers, the roles and responsibilities of middle managers are essential to implementing high-level decisions effectively and translating them into actionable plans and processes.
However, it’s that same dual responsibility of balancing upper management requests with the needs of their direct reports that can lead to difficulties.
Not only can middle-level managers often get caught in the middle of conflicts at different levels, but their role can also conflict with itself—as they both delegate work and perform it.
The result? Mid-level leaders must often work for long hours and under high amounts of stress as they navigate complex organizational dynamics and expectations. Some may even be operating with limited resources or authority, yet they’re still held accountable for results, leading to the feeling of being stretched thin.
Add to that the stress from their personal lives and growing financial anxieties, and it’s clear to see how burnout escalates in middle managers.
Proactively spotting symptoms of burnout is one of the first steps to effectively address it, but it’s not always simple to identify.
While it might be easy to see the consequences of stress and burnout in performance dips for some employees, middle managers don’t always have such clear metrics to signal underlying stress. More often, it’s subtle or significant changes in behavior that reveal how they truly feel.
For many middle managers, burnout can manifest itself in a range of behavioral symptoms, such as:
In addition to the mental impacts of burnout, managers can also experience physical side effects, including:
These symptoms of stress can have significant long-term health implications, so leaders must be able to recognize these signs as potential indicators of burnout. Identifying and addressing these symptoms promptly is the most effective way to move the needle on wellbeing across all levels of an organization.
It’s clear that preventing burnout in middle managers is crucial to a healthy and productive work environment—but it’s difficult to know where to start. While tactics like offering bonuses or occasional words of recognition might help in the short term, they do little to prevent future burnout proactively.
To better care for middle management teams now and in the future, here are six strategies that focus on laying the foundation for effective support for middle managers.
Looking for ways to elevate the wellbeing of your employees, middle managers, and strategic teams? WellRight has you covered with comprehensive wellness programs tailored to address the unique needs and challenges of your organization.
Discover how WellRight’s solutions empower your people leaders to thrive both personally and professionally. Contact us today.