‘Burnout’: Australia’s forgotten middle managers have had enough

Middle managers are experiencing heightened levels of burnout, largely due to premature promotions, which is causing them to move to new jobs.

In a survey of middle managers across Australia by software research site Capterra, 73 per cent of survey participants reported burnout.

“A middle manager reports to senior leaders and is a people leader of junior team members,” HR expert Amanda Doueihi said.

“The average age of middle managers in Australia is between late 20s to late 30s.”

Middle manager Imogen Jones, 25, is among this growing cohort who have experienced severe burnout.

Ms Jones said it was the day-to-day responsibilities and tasks she had to complete which were not captured in her KPIs and her performance review which led to her eventual burnout.

“KPIs never take into consideration the day-to-day stuff that always comes up,” Ms Jones said.

“For example onboarding; where in the KPIs do you have justification for onboarding? You don’t.”

She explained that there is often a disconnect between what the job of a middle manager is on paper and what the job actually entails on the ground, which can often lead to burnout.

“If you expect someone to work 9 to 5 then you have to understand part of that time entails doing tasks that you don’t necessarily put on the KPIs,” she added.

Many middle managers are forced to work overtime and take work home in order to meet all of the unspoken expectations of their role, without any recognition they are having to do so.

“I don’t think you can manage burnout, it is something you survive.

“The only way I survived it was with external support from my partner and family, which really shouldn’t be the case,” she said.

A previous boss of Ms Jones’ was also in a middle management position and had a heart attack at the age of 28, which she claims was the result of severe burnout.

HR expert Ms Doueihi defines burnout as, “an individual who is physically, emotionally and spiritually drained as a result of doing so much of their work without any recognition or any opportunity for support.”

“Middle managers suffer from increased levels of burnout because they are being asked to juggle two fronts,” Ms Doueihi said.

“So they are having to manage up to their senior leadership team without receiving a lot of guidance.

“They also having to manage their direct reports and wider team, without necessarily having the right skills set, resources or training.

“This leads to a lot of clean up work because they are on this constant hamster wheel.”

Middle managers expressed interest in receiving training on areas such as conflict resolution (43 per cent), delegation (41 per cent), communication (30 per cent), time management (29 per cent) and project management (28 per cent), the survey reported.

80 per cent of middle managers have rarely or never received managerial training after being hired or promoted, with 55 per cent receiving no opportunity for mentorship from more senior leaders.

“Culture is a big part of this conversation because if you are not in a workplace culture where you are allowed to speak up, then as a middle manager you are going to be forgotten,” Ms Doueihi said.

She went on to explain that a large portion of middle managers are hired internally and are being “prematurely promoted” without proper training and onboarding; this is contributing to their experience of burnout.

“Middle managers are getting burnt out because they are trying to do more than what they can do,” Ms Doueihi said.

Ms Doueihi advised those struggling to find a person who can act as mentor or just someone to provide guidance when you’re reaching burn out.

“We can’t do things in isolation … you need to find a safe person in your workplace to get guidance from, so that you’re not trying to figure it out by yourself while already being mentally overloaded,” she said.

“Boundaries around time are also really important.”