Hybrid work “hasn’t delivered on its promise for leaders” — leading to large drops of confidence in the state of leadership, according to a Feb. 8 report from DDI, a leadership consulting firm.
Only 40% of leaders said their companies had high-quality leadership, a 17% drop from two years ago and “the biggest decline in a decade,” DDI said, on par with the ratings measured during the 2008 recession.
“Companies are facing a leadership crisis — existing leaders are frustrated and exhausted, benches are thinning out and there is a significant shortage of leaders prepared to fill key roles,” Stephanie Neal, director of DDI's Center for Analytics and Behavioral Research, said in a statement.
The hybrid work model, in particular, may be weighing leaders down with work-life balance problems. Less than half of hybrid leaders feel “fully engaged,” DDI said, and only around a third said their work energizes them — 10% less than their in-person and fully-remote counterparts.
Leaders are also under-equipped to handle growing burnout. Signs of burnout have increased dramatically since 2020, and almost three in four leaders told DDI that they “often feel used up” by the end of the day. And only 15% said they feel equipped to prevent employee burnout on their teams.
That’s why more employers have been turning to manager training programs — even as a potential recession looms. Managers play a key role in employee retention, a major concern as employers consider hiring freezes to reduce spend, various studies have shown. And they may even influence employee mental health more than therapists, one survey noted.
