The so-called Great Resignation has focused to a large extent on the employees that are moving jobs with an ever greater willingness. A recent survey from Wiley highlights that the period is also providing incredibly stressful for managers too.

The survey involved around 5,000 working professionals and found that the high number of resignations in the past year has resulted in considerable instability in work teams, creating an extremely stressful environment for managers.

Changing teams

Nearly all respondents said that at least one team member had left during the past year, with the majority experiencing two or more such changes. Such turnover is especially problematic for managers as they need to maintain productivity despite this churn.

This can obviously create a vicious cycle, as when managers are stressed, they can often exacerbate the churn in their team as it’s so well known the impact managers have on employee engagement.

“It’s well known that having good managers is vital to organizational success, but their role becomes even more critical to employee engagement and retention amidst the Great Resignation,” the researchers say. “In order to ensure managers get their unique needs met throughout this time of instability, Wiley is working hard to help companies understand how to better support leaders to reduce work-related stress.”

Stress management

As a result, the researchers believe that managers would greatly benefit from resources to help manage their stress, but the researchers accept that even these resources may be insufficient due to the complexity of the job and the workload the role contains.

This means that managers often have insufficient time to capitalize on such resources, especially if the loss of team members has resulted in additional work being heaped onto their plate. Indeed, the authors concede that some managers might actively avoid stress management support in case they’re perceived as being either weak or unable to cope with their workload.

The report concludes with three main recommendations for companies to help them better support managers during this stressful time:

• Offer managers a safe space to talk about work-related stress and listen to their needs.
• Provide recognition to managers for the work they are doing and take steps to help them feel respected, valued, and appreciated.
• Offer management skills training so they are better equipped to deal with the day-to-day demands of the management role.