Mental wellbeing | How to prevent line manager burnout

Line managers don’t tend to access mental health support services as much as the rest of the workforce. Why? Because they simply don’t have the time. What would most help them prevent work-related stress and burnout? Time…In other words, work life balance. It’s a catch 22 situation.

These were the findings of a spot poll with our HR and line manager audience at a recent Generali UK webinar.*

Of course, this isn’t a representative sample of the UK line manager population, but it is a useful snapshot. And considering over 50% of line managers feel burned out – in comparison to 34% of adults in the wider population – starting somewhere is, arguably, better than nowhere. Because the default in most organisations is to wait and react only when things go wrong.

And although there’s a lot of focus in the media and in workplace training and support on work-related stress and burnout for the wider workplace population, the blame often falls at the feet of line managers; in terms of workload, deadlines and poor management practices.