The employee role most at risk of attrition in the post-Covid world isn’t the bottom-of-the-rung employee roles in an organization. And, even though the Great Resignation is affecting employee attrition for entry-level positions, it’s lower and middle managers that are still struggling with increased stress at work- enough that it’s affecting their happiness levels in other areas of their lives. :
Covid presented many challenges to employees. Across the board, stress levels increased as employees struggled to learn how to work remotely. But, that increased stress leveled off and dropped as employees adjusted to working remotely and increased autonomy at work.
But, lower and middle managers did not see the same drop in stress levels. Now, more than two years later, stress for lower and middle managers continues to be high.
One of the biggest reasons for this because lower and middle managers often get less say in corporate decisions and less support from upper managers than they give to their teams. Sometimes corporations forget that managers are employees while expecting managers to be the company’s voice.
This leaves them navigating the often conflicting desires between the company and the teams they manage.
Managers are Stressed Out, Burned Out, and Many are Unengaged
According to Gallup, the rate of burned-out and stressed-out managers is a “particularly urgent problem” right now. Gallup found that only 25% of managers strongly agree that they can maintain a healthy balance between work and personal obligations.
Harvard Business Review outlines an increasing struggle that managers have to keep up with ever-changing and increasing responsibilities:
“The traditional role of the manager evolved in hierarchical workplaces of the industrial age, but in our fluid, flatter, post-industrial age that role is beginning to look archaic.”
Gallup recommends that senior managers manage front-line managers by helping them to personally develop within their careers, have coaching conversations, and upskill them. O.C. Tanner recommends that organizations recognize that managers are employees and treat them as such. While managers strive to increase engagement and decrease attrition among workers, organizations should take the same steps to assist managers. This is especially important as managers are at a high attrition risk.
Low and Mid Managers Claim They Don’t Need Recognition, But Studies Show Otherwise.
According to the O.C. Tanner culture report, mid-level managers are 33% less likely to feel appreciated and lower-level managers are 47% less likely to feel appreciated than senior managers. These are concerning statistics because mid- and lower-level managers are usually the most impactful leaders to the rest of the employee workforce.
Mid and lower-level managers often create the employee culture within their teams and greatly impact individual contributors within the company.
Although nearly one-third of managers state that they don’t need recognition, studies show that their work-related stress dramatically decreases when recognized. It may be that managers feel a leadership responsibility not to voice their own needs for recognition in the face of their team’s needs.
When managers are recognized for their work and contributions, their anxiety reduces by 67%. Manager stress is reduced by 52% when a manager is frequently recognized.
Organizations are rapidly growing to retain and attract employees during the Great Resignation, but research by Gartner found that only 14% of organizations are trying to ease their manager’s burdens. This leaves lower and mid-level managers at a high risk of attrition because these leaders focus on retaining their team but not getting the support they need from their organizations.
Lower Managers Need Recognition From Those They Manage the Most
Mid and lower-level managers simply don’t get enough recognition. Within an organization, they are often setting the tone for employee recognition. Although recognition from senior managers is critical to lower and mid-level manager work happiness levels, so is peer and upward recognition.
Managers need recognition from their peers and other leaders. But managers also need recognition from the teams they manage.
Mid and lower-level managers often feel the tug-of-war between what the organization wants and what their team wants, which is in conflict as much as 50% of the time. They are often expected to act as shock absorbers by minimalizing the impact of company directives to their team and absorbing team frustration directed toward the organization.
The O.C. Tanner Research Institute found that managers desire recognition from those they manage. 65% of the leaders who participated in the research stated that receiving praise from their own teams and those they manage would improve their experience at work.
The problem is that most teams don’t think in terms of regularly recognizing their manager. Individual contributors expect to be recognized by their managers or team leaders but don’t expect that they have a responsibility to recognize higher-ups and other leaders.
Organizations With Integrated Recognition More Often Provide Upward Recognition
When organizations have integrated recognition that’s part of the company culture, managers are more likely to be recognized by their peers and those they manage. Integrated recognition provides employees with opportunities to celebrate with formal recognition.
For organizations to have a fully integrated recognition culture, they must have senior leadership that actively recognizes, a formal recognition program, and software that makes recognition seamless and easy for employees to participate.
Recognition software also helps facilitate recognition to managers by automatically providing opportunities for employees to celebrate formal events such as work anniversaries.
When managers work for organizations with integrated recognition, their anxiety decreases and their leadership increases.
Conclusion
From managing managers to treating them like the employees they are, managers need many of the same forms of recognition that other employees need. They need to be recognized by their leaders, peers, and teams. They need to have chances to grow professionally, be mentored and have a say in decisions that impact them. Managers need more recognition than just their salary and benefits.
For more information on incorporating recognition into your company culture, schedule a demo today.
About Thanks
Thanks is a leading provider of a recognition-based platform that increases communication, builds teamwork, and makes recognition a part of company culture. Fast, easy and simple Thanks makes it easy to bring data-driven employee recognition to your entire organization. O.C. Tanner purchased the Thanks platform in 2019 to fulfill the recognition needs of smaller businesses.
Thanks customers benefit from the same decades of research in employee motivation and company culture that O.C. Tanner enterprise clients enjoy, but in a product that is geared for fast, easy and simple deployment. Whether you’re starting a recognition program or improving and expanding on what you already have, Thanks has everything you need to engage your people with effective, scalable recognition.