Managers, those left behind If you do a Google search with ‘’psychological health at work and managers’’, you won’t find much. The manager is a bit of a poor child when it comes to mental health in the workplace. They must prevent risks and ensure the good mental health of their employees, but what about their own? The workplace does not care enough about their stress. Yet, before the pandemic, one in five managers suffered from psychological distress (1). And during the pandemic, a third thought about quitting their jobs, according to the Morneau Sheppell Mental Health Index (2).
According to the same index, in 2020, managers were experiencing greater mental distress than participants who were not managers. There is no evidence that their situation has improved since then. Let’s take a look at their situation They must always do more and often with fewer resources. They must position themselves on many issues and be available at all times. They are accountable to senior management, must mobilize their troop, deliver goods and services in a labour shortage environment, manage conflict, etc. In mental health, they also have new tasks, they are asked to fight taboos in their teams. They face new realities such as being concerned about psychosocial risks. They are also experiencing work-life balance difficulties. Their personal lives are being encroached upon. Their professional autonomy is not always respected. They face contradictory or ambiguous orders. They experience a double lack of recognition (employees and bosses). For the quality of life at work, we can forget about it!
Sandwiched Managers today face more demanding employees. The latter no longer accept authoritarian styles of management, they want to take part in the discussion on changes and the allocation of resources in the company, they no longer allow poorly motivated things to be imposed on them.
For their part, senior management constantly asks to do more with less (3).
At the end of the day, managers are sandwiched between conflicting requests from employees and senior management.
Consequences on health
According to Salima Hamouche, who examined the stress and work environment of managers, 19.5% of managers reported experiencing psychological distress and 20.5% admitted to alcohol consumption that could lead to addiction (4). The February 21, 2019 issue of Avantage magazine reports that, “According to various studies, between 20% and 49% of managers suffer from high distress, a higher proportion than in the general population. They are also more likely to report sleep problems and musculoskeletal disorders. Managers are also more reluctant to talk about their mental health, with 65% saying they hide their emotions” (5). According to a 2017 Great-West Life survey, “44% of managers reported suffering from depression, compared to 37% of employees. The same survey also shows that managers do not feel supported enough” (6). Without being a guesser, we can say that if the companies concerned do not adopt a good action plan soon, improving the mental health of their managers will quickly become their next concern in occupational health and safety.
As for managers, if they do not take care of their level of stress at work, they will have to deal with more and more attacks on their psychological integrity.
Some protective measures The company:
Must stop seeing the manager as solely responsible for their mental health. We have to break this macho culture of manager being without fail, resilient and always in control of their emotions.
Must identify psychosocial risk factors in managers’ workplaces and provide training on hazard prevention.
Must make realistic demands and ensure that managers are not constantly overworked.
Must put in place a communication policy so that managers are not likely to respond at all times to numerous requests by email or other means.
Must ensure that their managers have good working conditions and work-life balance.
Must review the organization of work to make it easier for them to work from home and ensure that it is not misjudged when they use it.
Must ensure that managers receive recognition from their bosses and also from their employees.
Managers:
Must take responsibility for their own mental health and detect situations that pose a risk to their health.
Must come out of the closet, and accept to ask for help when the workload is too high and they feel exhausted.
Must question their leadership style. Did they borrow a backward and authoritarian style with which they do not agree? If so, they expose themselves to difficult value conflicts for their physical and psychological health.
Must protect their professional autonomy and not allow themselves to be dictated to in ways that run counter to their values.
Must attempt to clarify contradictory or ambiguous demands they receive from their superiors.
Should withdraw from function in some cases when faced with a toxic environment where their psychological safety is threatened. This may seem radical, but it is much better than ending up with a mental illness.
I know it's quite a program, but if employers don't work to improve workplace health, they will pay for it in productivity through increased absenteeism and presenteeism.
As for managers, their psychological health is at stake. The risk of exhaustion and ill-being will soon be part of their normal occupational risks. It’s too bad, we can do so much better!
Amelie, your coach
Sources:
(1) A non-profit organization that has been operating for 31 years, Relief is a national centre of expertise that responds to the needs of the community by providing various mental health services, including support for people living with anxiety, depression or bipolar disorder.
(3) https://www.lesaffaires.com/dossier/sante-au-travail/les-gestionnaires-sont-a-bout-de-souffle/630219
(4) Hamouche, S., et A. Marchand. « Les cadres et leur santé mentale au travail », mai 2017. [Communication présentée au 85e Congrès de l'Association francophone pour le savoir–Acfas, Montréal].
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