Caught between pressures from above and below, frontline managers report some of the highest levels of job‑related stress.
In recent research with Johns Hopkins University, we tracked how employees across the UK are really feeling at work. Drawing on data from more than 300,000 people, the resulting report – Fostering Wellbeing at Work in the UK – shows that while wellbeing peaked during the early days of the pandemic, it has since slipped back – especially for key demographics like frontline managers.
Organisations with high wellbeing scores significantly outperform peers in retention, innovation, and financial returns. In fact, economist Alex Edmans’ analysis of data from 2001-2023 found that UK’s Best Workplace organisations – where employees have consistently high levels of employee wellbeing and employee satisfaction – perform more than four times better than the FTSE All-Share Index.
This means that supporting your frontline managers to thrive is vital not only to boosting wellbeing at your organisation, but for driving business success too.
| Useful Read: Your Roadmap for Fostering Employee Wellbeing For All
Executive-level managers generally report much higher levels of wellbeing – with the exception of 2020, when the Covid pandemic caused disproportionate levels of pressure for this demographic. Although these managers face greater job demands and conflicts, they also benefit from more autonomy, high-quality management, and increased opportunities for growth. Alongside social support, influence, and job significance, these advantages enhance wellbeing at senior levels.
Frontline managers’ wellbeing scores sit much closer to individual contributors than to other manager groups, demonstrating the rising workplace phenomenon of the “squeezed middle”. They are effectively sandwiched between pressure from senior leaders and the needs of their teams, with the least control over how work gets done and some of the highest levels of stress. A 2023 study by Great Place To Work found that nearly two‑thirds of frontline managers feel excessively stressed by their job demands often if not almost always, scoring around 10 percentage points lower on wellbeing than the employees they manage.
This disparity highlights the potential risk of Executive-level managers being out of touch with their employees. The ones that are able to continue to relate and earn trust with their workforce, must do so by recognising that their own experiences are not representative of those of their employees.
Building that sense of trust is key – as our research reveals that those with greater levels of confidence in management consistently report better levels of wellbeing.
Download the full report to discover more on how you can foster employee wellbeing for all. Get your copy here.