Millennial managers burned out, eye career exits
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — Seventy-five percent of millennial middle managers feel overwhelmed, stressed, or burned out, with nearly half considering leaving their roles as a result, according to a survey by productivity software provider Capterra.
The data from middle managers – defined as those under 35 – in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, show that the less experience someone has as a middle manager, the more likely they are to be burned out.
Over 40% of managers with less than two years of experience are looking for jobs, compared to just 20% of those who have been managers for over a decade.
This comes as tech giants like Meta and Google have been flattening management hierarchies and laying off thousands of middle managers over the past year, seeing them as unnecessary bureaucracy.
Capterra principal HR analyst Brian Westfall warned that this approach could backfire. “Unless employers can solve the issues causing such high rates of middle manager burnout soon, there won’t be enough managers to go around as older leaders retire.”
Meanwhile, data from Vitality also showed that millennial employees across levels in the UK are struggling with worse mental health and burnout than older generations, costing an estimated £138 billion (US$176 billion) in lost productivity every year.
About 60% of American millennials are willing to take a 20% pay cut for improved work-life balance, according to a Ford survey. This signals a departure from the traditional hustle culture in the American workforce.
Comparatively, only 33% of American baby boomers would accept reduced pay for more personal time, while 43% of Gen X and 56% of Gen Z agreed.
