The vicious cycle is documented across numerous studies and surveys which suggest an increasingly fast-moving and complex business environment is causing senior leaders to put greater pressure on managers, and those struggles are trickling down to everyone else. 

“Employees are being given more expectations, teams have been restructured and reorganized, budgets have been cut, so managers are being asked to do more with less, and faster,” explains Gallup’s director of research and strategy for workplace management, Ben Wigert.

Wigert says those heightened expectations have made it harder for managers to give frontline staff the time and attention they need, causing those employees to either quiet quit or leave the organization entirely, further fueling the cycle. 

“From the organization’s perspective, they’ve gone through all this change; the market has changed on them, their customers’ expectations have changed on them, and their employees’ expectations have all changed,” Wigert says. “That disruption and change, while well-intended, causes a lot of fatigue for their employees.”

Complexity and Uncertainty is Driving Manager Fatigue 

Wigert explains that organizations today are under pressure to offer their customers more complex digital services, while employees are asking for greater flexibility, all during a period of cost-cutting and economic uncertainty. As a result, senior leaders are asking more of their middle managers, and it’s burning them out. 

According to Gallup research, managers are now reporting higher rates of disengagement and burnout than non-managers. They’re also more likely to be looking for a new job, and more likely to feel like their organization does not care about their well-being than frontline and senior staff.  

“When the manager is feeling stuck and burnt out, that’s cascading down to their team,” Wigert says. “As a result, it’s becoming more difficult for them to show up for these meaningful conversations and to address each employee’s needs when they’re having difficulty having their own needs met.”

A Growing Disconnect Between Managers and Their Staff

According to recent Gallup research, only 20% of employees say they receive weekly feedback from their managers, while half of managers report delivering that feedback, suggesting a significant disconnect.

“The issue isn’t who’s right or wrong, it’s that managers think they’re delivering feedback and recognition that counts, and employees don’t agree,” Wigert says. “They’re not reaching the expectations for coaching and support on a regular enough basis, so they’re [perceived as] absent.”

Other research confirms that feeling has become widespread among employees. According to a recent survey conducted by Clarify Capital, two in five employees say they have been “ghosted”—or left without a timely response to a direct inquiry—by their manager. Those who have also reported being 67% more overworked and 60% more burnt out than those who haven’t. 

Communication Gaps with Managers Are Causing Employees to Check Out

Most managers, however, aren’t ghosting their staff on purpose. According to the survey 67% admitted to forgetting to respond, 54% said they’re too overwhelmed by their workload to offer a timely response, and 36% say they’re overwhelmed by the number of messages they receive. Overall, just 8% admit to ignoring staff intentionally. 

“People are being laid off, and someone has to fulfill those responsibilities, and it’s a domino effect that results in work overload, which results in having too many messages in your inbox, which can result in forgetting to respond to someone putting in a simple request for help,” explains Michael Baynes, CEO and cofounder of Clarify Capital.

The reasoning, however, matters little to employees who are feeling neglected. According to the survey, 37% of those who feel ignored are actively “quiet quitting” and 76% plan to look for a new job in the next year, consistent with Gallup data, which shows worker engagement recently hit an 11-year low.

“It’s the exact results that you’d expect,” says Baynes. “Employees not feeling appreciated, not feeling respected, and not feeling that they’re valued, or that the work that they’re doing is important.”

Leaders Are Also Absent, According to Middle Managers 

Ironically, as frontline staff express frustration at the lack of communication from their managers, middle managers are voicing the same complaints about their leaders.  

According to a recent survey by Zeno Group, 86% of middle managers say clear and timely communication from senior leaders is vital to their success, yet only 54% say their leaders are providing it.

“Having the right level of communication helps people understand where they fit in, how their job contributes to the overall success of the company, and what’s expected of them,” says Anne DeAngelis, Zeno Group’s executive vice president of employee engagement strategy. “When you don’t have that communication, people will fill the void with their own ideas.”

A Little More Empathy and Patience Will Go a Long Way  

With the economy still up in the air, the flexible work debate far from settled, and technological disruptions only becoming more frequent, it’s hard to imagine a swift change in the underlying challenges facing managers and their staff.

For the meantime, DeAngelis says each party needs to consider how they can offer greater support to those that depend on them, through both stronger and more intentional communication, as well as more empathy and understanding. 

“Oftentimes leaders will do roundtables or huge town halls with their companies, but they don’t do something that is specific to the middle managers, and I think there’s a real opportunity there to help build that trust and build that relationship,” she says.

Middle managers, meanwhile, are encouraged to engage in more one-on-ones with their direct reports. As their other responsibilities pile up, however, they also need more explicit permission from senior leaders to prioritize those interactions. 

“For employees, it’s just about awareness of what’s happening inside the organization,” she advises. “It’s a team sport; everyone has a role to play.”

Fast Company

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