Burnout Starts at the Top: Protecting Your Managers Too
In the rush to support frontline employees, organizations routinely forget the people doing the supporting. Managers absorb their team's stress, deliver hard news, hold accommodations together, and carry their own workload on top. They are among the most burnout-prone people in the company - and among the least likely to ask for help.
The manager squeeze
Middle managers get pressure from above and need from below, with less autonomy than either. During hard times they're expected to be a steady presence for their team while managing their own stress invisibly. "I have to be okay for them" is a fast route to burnout.
Why it's a business risk, not just a kindness
A burnt-out manager makes worse decisions, disengages their team, and often leaves - taking institutional knowledge and a team's stability with them. Manager burnout is contagious: their state sets their team's ceiling. Protecting managers protects everyone they touch.
What actually helps
- Make sure managers know care is for them too, not just their reports
- Reduce the invisible load - clarify what they must own vs. escalate
- Model that leaders use the resources they promote
- Give them a fast, confidential path to real care
Your managers need care as much as their teams do. CorpCARE covers them too - confidential, fast, physician-led.
Sources
- Deloitte Insights. "Leading workplace well-being" (Well-being at Work survey — worker, manager and C-suite results). https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/talent/workplace-well-being-research-2024.html
- Workforce Institute at UKG. "Mental Health at Work: Managers and Money" (summarized by SHRM). https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/employee-relations/report-managers-bigger-impact-employee-mental-health-therapists