Why Middle Managers Are Reaching a Breaking Point

Summary

• Middle managers are working longer hours—57% put in over 47 hours a week—leaving them at high risk of burnout.
• Expanding spans of control, shifting strategies, and workflow friction are the biggest drivers of strain.
• The role of middle management is evolving from execution to resilience, culture-building, and adaptability.
• Organizations can ease the pressure by clarifying priorities, reducing meeting drag, right-sizing teams, and investing in development.
• Supporting middle managers strengthens the link between strategy and execution and creates more resilient, high-performing teams.

It is no secret that work has changed.

But while organizations adapt to shifting priorities and economic uncertainty, one group is quietly bearing the heaviest load: middle managers.

Recent research shows that 57% of middle managers are working more than 47 hours a week, essentially putting in an extra day on top of an already full schedule. This pace is pushing many toward burnout and the effects cascade across engagement, productivity, and retention.

What Is Driving the Strain on Middle Managers

• Expanding span of control: The more teams a manager oversees, the more hours and meetings pile up. Many who manage four to five teams are logging more time than members of senior leadership.
• Strategy to execution pinch: Middle managers translate executive direction into daily action. When priorities shift every three months and goal clarity lags, they must lead teams through uncertainty while still delivering results.
• Resource and workflow friction: Persistent capacity constraints, heavier meeting loads, and hybrid coordination chip away at focus time and increase context switching.

Competency Evolution For Middle Managers

The role of middle managers has shifted from primarily executing plans to building resilience, culture, and change readiness.

Yesterday	Today	Tomorrow
Insightful decision making	Communicating with impact	Adaptability
Communication	Insightful decision making	Connecting with empathy
Driving execution	Leading with resilience	Exhibiting self-regulation
Building high-performance teams	Adaptability	Inspiring innovation
Building relationships	Leading through ambiguity	Influencing with impact
Influencing	Enhancing collaboration and belonging	Enhancing collaboration and belonging
Shaping strategy	Influencing with impact	Leading through ambiguity
Collaboration	Shaping strategy	Shaping strategy
	Building organizational talent	Energizing the organization
	Guiding transformation	Guiding transformation
		Plus: Business acumen, sound judgment

 

What Organizations Can Do Now

1. Make priorities explicit and current
   Reset objectives on a quarterly rhythm, publish tradeoffs, and tie team goals to business outcomes. Clarity reduces rework and stress for middle managers.
2. Protect time and reduce meeting drag
   Cap meeting blocks, require agendas and decisions, and default to shorter run times. Audit recurring meetings and remove those without a clear owner or purpose.
3. Right-size spans and simplify workflows
   Rebalance teams where managers carry four or more groups, standardize intake and approval paths, and streamline tools to limit context switching.
4. Invest in development that matches today’s demands
   Prioritize coaching and peer communities focused on resilience, leading through ambiguity, and influencing across functions. Pair this with targeted training on communication, change leadership, and talent development.
5. Recognize the emotional load
   Normalize check-ins, resource planning, and recovery time after intense cycles. Recognition that is specific and timely reinforces healthy performance.

A Practical 30-60-90 Plan For Middle Managers

• Days 1 to 30: Clarify three outcomes that matter most, cancel or shorten low-value meetings, and define decision rights with your leader and peers.
• Days 31 to 60: Introduce a weekly priorities review with your team, document tradeoffs, and pilot one workflow simplification that saves an hour per week.
• Days 61 to 90: Establish a peer coaching circle, run a retrospective on changes, and set two growth goals aligned to the “Tomorrow” competencies.

Middle managers are the link between strategy and execution, culture and results. When organizations give middle managers clarity, capacity, and growth, they gain resilient teams and faster execution. Invest in the role now and the entire system works better.

Learn more in our paper Work Isn’t Working Like It Used To.