You know that sinking feeling of seeing an employee drag into work? 

Truth is, it’s even worse when it’s their manager.

Right now, the workplace is on shaky ground. Globally, the weak link isn't staff, it's managers themselves. Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report shows that manager engagement dropped from 30 per cent to 22 per cent last year, levels not seen since the peak of COVID lockdowns. 

That might sound like hogwash business jargon, but it’s costing organisations a pretty penny around the globe, roughly $430 billion globally in productivity in 2024, thanks in part to disengaged leaders and their teams.

It gets worse in certain cohorts. Female managers under 35 have dropped the lowest in engagement. So why is this happening? On one side, executives are demanding higher targets, on the other, employees are looking for guidance that just isn’t there. Gallup says managers own up to 70 per cent of how engaged their teams are. So when they’re feeling unsupported, it really shows.

HR needs to change how manager roles are structured, back them with real coaching, doll out the right support, and give them the space to lead without burning out. 

In this blog, we’ll unpack why mangers matter not just for morale, but for topline growth and how HR can actually show managers some support before it's too late.

So in this blog, we’ll explore why managers are under pressure in 2025, why they lack support and what HR can do.

The pressure 

Managers are feeling the heat at the moment because they’re under pressure. 

On top of that, according to LinkedIn half of employees around the world are looking for new work. Reports in Australia suggest mangers feel like they’re stuck. Expectations from employees have piled up significantly in areas like performance, wellbeing, engagement and flexibility. Managers are now expected to deliver on all of that, while also serving as translators between strategy and reality to upper management at the board. 

They’re managing up, down, sideways and diagonally, all while trying not to burn out themselves. And what’s waiting for them on the other side of all that pressure? A coaching course and a checklist on “leading with empathy.” 

To some managers, that’s not really support. It’s not active. It feels like a brush-off.

The reality is, many organisations haven’t adjusted to what the job of a manager actually is in 2025. It’s more than task delegation or performance monitoring, it’s about cultural translation. It’s balancing expectation. Managing people, it’s in the title! And that’s complex, emotional work, and it’s rarely resourced properly.

What’s worse, is they cop the far brunt of the blame. We assume they’re not trying hard enough. Or we quietly write them off as the problem. And then when they burn out or check out, we act surprised.

Instead of being set up to succeed, managers are often treated like middle-management meat shields. It’s not the job that’s broken, it’s the way we support it. And if HR doesn’t step in to rethink the role, no one else will.

Question of support 

Yes, leadership development has a place. But if all we’re offering managers is more training, we’re missing the point.

Most managers already know what to do, what they don’t have is the time, backing or bandwidth to do it. They’re being asked to support mental health, lead flexible teams, deliver results, enforce policies, and stay “people-first” while doing it. No wonder they’re tired!

Up skilling is only helpful when it’s backed by real support. They know what good leadership looks like, they just don’t have the conditions to deliver it. And that’s when disengagement sets in. Managers in this position either grind themselves down or quietly pull away. Neither option is good for the business.

If we want better managers, we need to stop treating it like a knowledge gap and start treating it like an operational one. HR has to make space for leadership to happen, not just teaching people what it should look like.

What HR can do

If you want managers to lead better, show them what better looks like. HR often tells others to model the behaviours they want to see, now it’s time to take our own advice.

Start by being clear and consistent. Managers need HR partners who are present, reliable and realistic. That means no dumping a new policy in their lap at 5pm on a Friday. It means making sure they’re in the room before decisions are made, not just when it’s time to cascade the memo.

It also means challenging the role itself. The structure of middle management hasn’t kept pace with how work is changing. We need to stop stacking responsibilities on managers like they’re bulletproof. Some of the tasks they’ve inherited like low-level admin, performance policing, cultural mediation don’t necessarily belong in their remit.

Redesigning the role doesn’t have to mean blowing it up. Sometimes, it’s just about creating new paths such as player-coach roles, peer-led pods, or embedded people partners who support teams without adding another layer of hierarchy.

If your want more of that, you have to build it into your system, not just expect people to muscle through.

About us

At Martian Logic, we help HR teams get real about what’s working and what’s not. From performance management to engagement and everything in between, our HRIS platform gives you the tools to support people, not just processes. If your managers are stuck in the middle, we can help you lighten the load. Our software makes it easier to track, support, and redesign roles. We’ve worked with thousands of HR teams across Australia to streamline admin, redesign systems, and build better workplaces from the middle out. Contact us today and let’s build the kind of leadership support your business actually needs.