Dive Brief:
- The growing prevalence of manager burnout is one of the most pressing challenges employers will need to address in 2025, according to survey findings by Top Workplaces, an employer recognition program, and its technology platform, Energage.
- Two-thirds of managers say they struggle with heavy workloads, partly because they’ve had to spend up to three-quarters of their day in meetings, leaving little time for deep work or team engagement, Top Workplaces said.
- “As organizations prepare for 2025, re-evaluating meeting practices is essential. Leaders should assess whether meetings are necessary, ensure agendas are well-drafted, and consolidate or cancel sessions where possible,” the program recommended.
Dive Insight:
Survey results confirm one source of the problem: Managers, who’ve been overseeing increasingly larger teams, likely hold more than 260 meetings annually, Top Workplaces reported in September.
But meetings aren’t the only issue. Managers also have to juggle competing demands between senior leaders and employees, leading to what Perceptyx has labeled “the manager squeeze.”
Sandwiched between the stress and responsibility of overseeing their direct reports and “managing up” to satisfy superiors, managers consistently scored lower than executives or individual contributors on work-life balance, according a June 2024 report from Perceptyx.
This puts the entire organization at risk, a senior data analyst for Top Workplaces recently warned. Managers are the backbone of any company, and their well-being affects productivity, employee satisfaction and business success, the analyst explained.
However, there are ways to reduce the likelihood of manager burnout, Top Workplaces said in its latest report. For instance, leaders can reduce team sizes, streamline workflows and cut down on unnecessary meetings.
Clear and transparent communication is another challenge, Top Workplaces pointed out.
The biggest shortfall in this area is failing to notify employees about organizational changes or provide them with sufficient information about a change, according to the program’s research.
That indicates a disconnect between management and staff, Energage noted in a December post. “While this disconnect is often unintentional, it can make the difference between employees being on board or resistant to change,” the post stated.
When employees were asked what they wanted to know, they mentioned being told about changes in general and changes that impact their team and company decisions, including the thought process behind these decisions, such as why leaders supported one project over another, Energage reported.
Employees also express dissatisfaction with decisions that are “pushed down without dialogue or Q&A or [a] plan in place,” the platform noted.
This lament highlights a third challenge: Listening to employees and acting on their feedback. When organizations do so, “whether by addressing burnout, improving pay, or enhancing benefits, [they] build trust, loyalty and engagement,” Top Workplaces stressed.
A fourth challenge includes increasingly pronounced generational differences in an organization’s workforce, with each generation’s distinct needs shaping the workplace, the report said.
Employees, especially those 65 and older, express significantly higher levels of loyalty, pay satisfaction and work-life balance, while younger employees prioritize growth opportunities, fair compensation and meaningful work, according to Top Workplaces research.
To address these differences, employees can tailor benefits, development programs and recognition efforts that resonate with each generation’s priority, the program suggested.
Different generations, Gen Z specifically, may also require different management styles, according to a November 2024 report from online education magazine Intelligent.com.
In particular, managers said they’ve had to devote more time and resources, including more direct feedback, to their Gen Z direct reports, the magazine noted.
While Gen Z employees come in with stronger technical skills than previous generations, they may lack practical experience, especially soft skills, like communication, time management and team work, a chief adviser for Intelligent.com stated.
Upskilling and training can help with these and other issues, such as reliability and divisiveness, experts previously told HR Dive.
