The Overwhelmed Middle Manager: Why Investing in Manager Wellness is the #1 Strategy for HR and Retention
In 2024, HR and Chief of People managers identify Leader and Manager Development as their top priority.
The modern manager is not just leading a team; they are acting as a therapist, an IT specialist, a culture ambassador, and a retention specialist—all while juggling their own technical workload.
The result is a burned-out middle management layer, which directly impacts the 70% of employee engagement that is attributable to a manager. This is the organizational struggle we must solve first.
The Manager’s Triple Burden
The New Reality: Managers are reporting feeling overwhelmed by an increased scope of responsibilities, often juggling 50% more tasks than they can reasonably handle.
The Cost to the Organization: Manager burnout is a direct line to team disengagement and turnover. Disengaged managers create disengaged teams, leading to lost productivity and retention costs.
Evolving Manager Development: From Training to Evolving the Job
The Traditional Trap: Throwing more training at an overwhelmed manager simply adds to the workload. The solution is not more learning, but systemic change.
Actionable Strategy:
Focus on Capacity and Clarity: HR must partner with leadership to reset expectations for the manager role, rebuild the manager pipeline with clear focus areas, and remove process hurdles that consume their time (e.g., simplifying approval flows or automating certain reports).
HR as the Architect of Managerial Wellness
The Proactive Approach: Wellness for managers isn’t a yoga class; it’s about psychological safety and work-life balance being baked into the role.
Strategic Interventions: Provide The Overwhelmed Middle Manager with dedicated coaching/supervision outside of the direct line of reporting, and empower them with autonomy to adjust team processes.
A manager who feels supported is better equipped to support their team, directly boosting employee well-being and retention.
Conclusion:
The health of a company culture and its talent retention strategy rests on the shoulders of its middle managers. By focusing on evolving the managerial job—providing capacity, clarity, and genuine support—HR leaders can solve their biggest organizational struggle and create a ripple effect of well-being and engagement across the entire company.
As a renowned corporate video content creator, Courtney produces both long and short-form videos on resilience, positive workplace culture, and well-being.
Courtney Orange is also a highly respected keynote speaker, facilitator of positive workplace culture, and well-being program facilitator. He has collaborated with organisations such as Barclays, Rolls-Royce, Amazon, Netflix, and Samsung.
Courtney ignites the mindsets of employees, middle managers, and leadership teams by delivering engaging programs, sessions, content, and talks that provide scientific and data-backed information.
As a result, his short-term and long-term programs have assisted individuals, teams, and departments in:
– Addressing workplace issues with more collaborative mindsets
– Embracing changes and adjustments with greater resilience for The Overwhelmed Middle Manager
– Improving retention rates and boosting organisational productivity and profitability
Talk and workshop durations range from 30 minutes to 1 hour. If you or your organisation wishes to book a taster session or requires any further details on video content, keynote talks, strategy sessions, or workshops, please contact me via email at info@courtneyorange.com
