Stat e of th e

Ma na g er
Re po rt 2 02 2
 highly effective
managers drive

48%
managers account
for more than

Managers are more important— 25%

and more burned out—than ever greater profits for their
organizations than average
managers3
of team agility1

A future-ready workforce starts with great But managers are struggling. In 2021, the role of So we wanted to learn: Where are

transformations are
managers. Our research shows that teams are the manager became more important—and more managers struggling most? What support will
80% more likely to make improvements when
they see their manager taking action. And
during the pandemic, teams with a highly
stressful—than ever.

Leaders see managers as the key to improving

they need in the coming year? To answer
those questions, we surveyed 200+ managers
and 200+ Human Resources leaders, and
5x
more likely t0 succeed when
effective manager were 21% more likely to feel culture, retention, and performance. And employees analyzed data from over 90,000 employees. managers model change

supported and 15% better at creating new expect to feel supported, motivated, and valued by behaviors2

communication norms and routines. their manager—and are ready to quit if they don’t.1
This State of the Manager Report explores the
top challenges managers face, which actions
In light of so much pressure and scrutiny, managers will have the most impact, and what leaders
are becoming more likely to burn out and more likely should keep in mind for the year ahead.

to search for different roles themselves.

Tough trends modern managers face

Managers’ jobs are 10x harder Leader and manager priorities Managers are ready to quit Bad managers are getting worse
don’t match
Managers say retention, hiring, Managers are 2x more likely than Managers with low effectiveness
and team performance are their Leaders are focused on high-level individual contributors to be ratings became significantly worse
top challenges transformation, but managers first looking for new jobs in 3 specific areas
need help with the fundamentals

1 Harvard Business Review, 2018.

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report

2
SECTION ONE

The state of managers

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report 3

 2 Conduct a learning audit

In 1:1 conversations, talk to your team

1
about what abilities they’d like to
develop. Together, agree on

The most valuable skill to pursu

Top trending Inspire customer

A plan to practice this skill on-the-jo

5
Why this skill is important

champions

manager This week, talk to your people about the

critical role they can play in improving
Why? Having structured conversations
about learning can help employees to
make good choices, especially when

nudges in 2021
customer experiences. Try to share a story
they have down-time that could be
about a problem that was only solved
dedicated to self-improvement.
because someone spoke up.

Together, one step at a

4
Why? Teams perform better when employees
In 2021, Humu sent millions of nudges— time
advocate on behalf of their customers.
short, science-backed suggestions—to In your next meeting, help your team
break long-term priorities down into
managers to help them improve
smaller goals. Ask members to pick
performance, motivation, and

3
one thing to work on over the next
week—and to hold each other
wellbeing within their teams.

accountable.

Spread leadership around

Our data scientists looked at every Why? By focusing your team on action
The next time an issue comes up, don’t
and encouraging them to bring
immediately fix it or explain it away.
single nudge we delivered in 2021. accountability to the process, you set
Instead, ask who wants to step up to lead
Across themes like staying connected, them up for success—and real, positive
the team in investigating the problem—
Coach employees to change.
and finding a solution.

combating burnout, and making create mini milestones

progress, these were the 5 nudges that Why? By getting behind your team and
In 1:1s this week, help each employee to
helping them challenge the status quo,
managers rated as most effective. break a long-term goal into smaller tasks
you push them to be more innovative.
that they know how to tackle, or near-term
Bonus: you’ll also boost their motivation!
goals they're confident they can achieve.

Why? Breaking down complex tasks into

more attainable goals can lead to increased
employee motivation and performance.

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report

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Main nudges themes

All Humu customers Financial Services Technology Healthcare Telecom

Employee development Team alignment Work-life balance Encouraging innovation Employee development

Encouraging innovation Employee development Employee recognition Progress Encouraging innovation

Seeking feedback Manager development Employee development Employee recognition Seeking feedback

Primary drivers:
Primary drivers:
Primary drivers:
Primary drivers:
Primary drivers:

Retention concerns, the shift Lack of strong remote work Better set up for remote Pressure to accelerate Enormous pressure as phone
to a new way of working, and cultures, rifts between and hybrid work, boom in approaches to more rapidly and internet connections
employee expectations around remote and in-office teams, technology sector leading develop vaccines and other continue to be essential,
manager action-taking. and employee eagerness to to overwork and feeling solutions. employees wanting to feel
accelerate development. undervalued. included and valued amidst
stressful working conditions.

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report 5

 Free Response:

SURVEY QUESTION:

What
Whatisisthe
thegreatest
greatestchallenge
challengeyou’
you’vvee
Managers’ jobs Their teams are struggling to cope

faced
facedasasaamanager
managerover
overthe
thepast
pastyear?
year?
are 10x harder In 2020, 71% of employees experienced burnout
at least once.2 Over the past year, that number
climbed to almost 90%.3

22.6
22.6
Retention
%%
Retention
Valuable Call-outs:
MANAGER COMMENTS:
“Coaching to behaviors.”

“Coaching to behaviors.”

Continued uncertainty. An
2121
“Training while remote.”

In 2021, leadership teams shifted from focusing “Training while remote.”

ongoing global pandemic. The on the basics to rolling out every and any %% “Disruptions in the team culture.”
“Disruptions in the team culture.”

shift to hybrid. The Great program or policy that seemed like it could be irin
HH irin
gg
helpful. While these efforts were made with the
Resignation. In 2021, managers
certainly had their work cut out
best of intentions, they left employees
exhausted—and forced managers to contend 19.4
19.4
Team
%%
Teamperformance
performance
for them. Here are the four ways with the emotional damage.

managers’ jobs became more But managers don’t feel equipped to deal with 8.1% Communication 8.1% Communication
difficult over the past year. sky-high levels of burnout: in our survey of 200+ 6.5% Burnout 6.5% Burnout
US managers, almost half (44%) ranked 4.8% Culture
combating team burnout and balancing 4.8% Culture
workloads as among their top three priorities. 18.2% Other 18.2% Other

2 Asana, 2021.

3 Visier, 2021.
Humu.com · State of the Manager Report 6
 Employees who don’t perceive
growth opportunities are

Hybrid comes with a unique set Retention, hiring, and onboarding are connected to their new team and culture despite
7.9x
more eager to leave their
company, even if they otherwise
of hurdles harder than ever
the fact that they‘ve rarely (if ever) stepped foot
like their jobs
on-site. This obstacle is reflected in our
70% of hybrid employees feel disconnected In September 2021, 65% of America’s working research: 41% of managers told us that
from their co-workers, and 2 in 3 feel left out population said they were actively job searching, “recruiting, hiring, and onboarding new team
when they’re not working in the office.4
a sharp increase from 36% in May.5 And 36% of members” was one of their top three challenges.
employees who quit between March and
Hybrid managers have to take more intentional But not all managers know how to support
September 2021 did so without having a new job Employees want to make up for “lost”
steps to keep their teams connected and employee growth, especially outside of
lined up.6 In other words, employees’ growth opportunities

aligned. They also have to work harder to promotions. Almost half (47%) of new
expectations are changing. And if managers
combat bias: hybrid managers are prone to “on- Many organizations put performance reviews managers told us they were struggling to
want to hold onto and attract top talent, they
site favoritism”, meaning they tend to give more and promotions on hold in 2020, leaving give their employees enough feedback,
need to figure out how to adapt.

opportunities to the people they see in the employees worried that their careers were coaching, and career development
office. If they don’t take measures to proactively But even if managers are able to bring in new stagnating. Our research shows that opportunities. In 2021, we also saw higher
combat this bias, the consequences are high: hires, they immediately face another challenge: employees who don’t perceive that they have demand from managers for growth- and
they’ll contribute to greater feelings of isolation onboarding. Remote and hybrid onboarding is growth opportunities are a whopping 7.9x learning-focused nudges: across industries,
among their team—especially for those tricky, as managers need to more intentionally more eager to leave their company, even if “employee development” was consistently a
employees working from afar. craft the process so that employees feel they otherwise like their jobs. top nudge theme throughout the year.

4 HR Dive, 2021.

5 PwC Pulse Survey, 2021.

6 McKinsey, 2021.

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report

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 HR Leaders:

Leader and manager

Ranked most important Facilitating
53%
manager responsibility transformation

priorities don’t match What are key frustrations with your

manager development approach?
56% Time-consuming

In October 2021, we asked 200+ Human

Resources (HR) leaders what they saw as the What’s the most important 28% Performance
thing for your organization to
primary responsibilities of a modern manager.
improve on in the coming year? 19% Teamwork
HR leaders pointed to

Facilitating transformatio
Improving team agilit
Leading a high-performing team Managers:

But in the same month, managers listed a Balancing team

Which aspects of managing a team While HR leaders feel urgency around improving
different set of top priorities. In our survey do you find most challenging? 44% member workloads &
combating burnout performance and teamwork, managers are
of 200+ managers, three areas consistently
struggling with the fundamentals: wellbeing,
emerged as mission-critical focus areas—
morale, and retention. Stressed out employees
and challenges Where would additional support
45% Team is experiencing cannot perform at their best. We’ll cover this in a
or coaching be helpful? burnout
Helping teams combat burnou later section, but HR leaders’ goals may be best
Retaining top talen served by first focusing on helping managers and
Hiring and onboarding (rated 5.82/7) Knowing when team teams feel less overwhelmed and disconnected.

Rated #1 as most important

members need more
to success as a manager support or intervention

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report 8

Managers are Given how much harder their roles have
become, managers are looking for a change of
Since the pandemic started...

ready to quit pace. Our research shows that attrition risk in

2021 was 2x higher among managers than

25%
individual contributors, and we expect that
trend to continue through 2022.

2x
Across our customers, managers also reported
increase in managers’
higher stress levels over the past year. While after hours meetings
leading a remote team was one of their top

49%
concerns immediately after the pandemic hit, Higher attrition risk among
they began to struggle more with establishing managers than individual
contributors
work-life boundaries and maintaining their own
wellbeing as the pandemic continued. External
data backs these findings: Gallup surveys show
increase in manager
that burnout among managers increased by weekend collaboration
25% in 2021, but stayed relatively stable among
individual contributors.7

7 Gallup, 2021.
Humu.com · State of the Manager Report 9
 Bad managers are getting worse,
especially in these 3 areas
When it comes to management, there’s a large, To better understand where bad managers got
costly gap between those who have the skills to worse over the past year, we studied more than
lead and those that don’t — and our proprietary 50,000 managers and their teams. We looked at
research shows the gap grew in 2021. how teams rated their manager’s overall

The effect of bad managers...

performance, as well as their responses to a
series of more specific statements. According to
Top managers have consistently stayed
this analysis, the top areas where bad managers’ great, even through the pandemic. But
$360m cost to the US economy by bad
managers every year8
rating dropped in 2021 were communication,
listening, and feedback.
managers at the bottom are getting worse at
65% of employees would take a communication, listening, and feedback.
better manager over a pay raise9

70% of the variation in employee

engagement is explained by
manager effectiveness10

7 Gallup, 2021.

9 Forbes, 2012.

10
Gallup, 2015.

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report 10

1. Communication
2. Listening

Manager nudge

In 2021, teams that were dissatisfied with their Why organizations should be concerned: Bad managers also received lower-than-usual
Listen, then share back
managers rated them particularly poorly on the Without meaningful milestones, employees scores on the statement, “My manager listens

statements, “My manager clearly communicates are left spinning their wheels with no finish carefully to different points of view before coming The next time you’re considering
different possibilities, ask trusted team
our team’s future direction” and, “My manager line in sight—leaving them bored, burnt out, to conclusions.” And their ratings on the
members for their thoughts.

creates structure and processes that help our and ready to jump ship. Our research shows statement, “My manager regularly seeks feedback
When you’ve reached a final decision,
team work more effectively.” that employees who feel they lack clear to learn how to better serve the team” were 40%
make it a point to share how their
goals to work towards are 6.3x more likely to lower than top managers. comments informed it—and why you

start looking for a new role. And people who were not able to act on every suggestion.
Try something like, “I understand that X
don’t believe their work contributes Why organizations should be concerned: is a priority for many of you, but we have

Manager nudge significantly to their company’s mission are When managers actively invite and consider to do Y first because…”

just as likely to quit. employee feedback, they earn trust, boost

Communicate the team’s direction
motivation, and improve retention. Our
Develop and socialize a concrete
research shows that people who feel their
vision for your team — one that’s
independent but connected to your company takes action on what employees
company’s mission.

say are 5.5x more likely to stay. Not only

In your next 1:1s, ask questions to that, but managers who are responsive to
make sure each member understands
the needs of the people have teams who are
and feels personally connected to the
team’s direction. As you discuss 3 times as innovative as those with
specific tasks, clarify how they fit into managers that never ask for input.
the bigger picture.

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report

11
3. Giving feedback

And finally, employees flagged that bad Why organizations should be concerned:
managers had gotten significantly worse at In our trending manager nudges of 2021
offering actionable advice and at creating analysis, employee development was a top
learning opportunities. Bad manager ratings theme across industries. Many
on the statement, “My manager provides me organizations put performance reviews and
with feedback that helps me to improve over promotions on hold in 2020, making Manager nudge

time” dropped from mid-2020 to mid-2021, and employees anxious to get their professional Frame feedback as bridging the gap
continued to decline as the year went on. growth back on track. In our data, we see The next time you offer feedback to one
that people who feel their managers offer of your reports, first outline an exciting
them growth opportunities are 7.9x more vision you’d like them to work towards. For
example, you might say, “I believe you can
likely to stay at their organization. be a great manager one day, and I want to
help you get there.”

Then describe where they are, and a few

steps you’re going to help them take to
bridge the gap between their current
state and the exciting goal.

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report 12

S E C T I O N T WO

Where to focus in 2022

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report 13

5 key engagement strategies
every manager needs in 2022
Managers are a top driver of
employee engagement.

Great managers make 1: Clarity 2: Inclusion

It takes a 20% pay raise to lure sure the answer to Does everyone have a Do all employees feel
most employees away from a these five questions is shared understanding of valued, heard, and
where they’re headed? empowered to succeed?
manager who engages them, but a resounding “Yes!”
almost nothing to poach a
disengaged worker.11 Here are five 3: Purpose 4: Trust 5: Learning
proven steps managers can take Does the team believe their Do team members trust that Does a culture of
to keep their people engaged, work makes a positive impact their manager will support continuous improvement
on the world? them, and trust each other to exist within the team?
motivated, and productive. be accountable and helpful?

11 Gallup,
Gallup,2020.
2020.
Humu.com · State of the Manager Report 14
Clarity

1: Clarity

Inclusion

2: Inclusion
Set clear milestones and let employees
figure out how to get there. Proactively combat bias

When it feels like circumstances are beyond To strike the right balance between offering We tend to gravitate towards the people we
our control—say, a never-ending pandemic or too much and too little direction, managers see more often. Especially for managers Manager nudge

economic uncertainty—a sense of progress is should clearly outline the goals they’d like working in a hybrid environment, this bias can Make a list, and check it twice
paramount. People who don’t feel like they employees to hit and let them figure out lead them to measure and reward access
Consciously make sure you consider all
have clear, achievable goals are 6.2x more how to get there. Managers should make it a rather than performance. Pre-pandemic team members for advancement
likely to leave their company than those who point to be available—in 1:1s, team research by MIT12 shows that remote workers opportunities. When delegating tasks or
offering growth opportunities, write
regularly hit meaningful milestones. meetings, or during office hours—to answer tend to get lower performance evaluations
down each employee’s name and then
questions, but then step back again. and fewer promotions than their colleagues review your list to ensure that you
who are in the office. consider everyone, every time.

12 MIT Sloan Management Review, 2012.

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report

15
Purpose

3: Purpose 4. Trust

4 : rus
T t

Make work feel Help team members

personally meaningful invest in wellbeing
Our research shows that people who don’t Managers can do the same by tying each Transitions--like shifting to a new way of
feel their work contributes to their team member’s work back to the bigger working--are stressful and put teams at
company’s mission are 6.3x more likely to picture of why what they do matters to the heightened risk for burnout. When employees
quit their jobs than their peers who do. world. When assigning tasks, managers are anxious, they’re also not able to problem-
Meaning is also closely tied to motivation, should outline answers to: solve or innovate as effectively, and they
job satisfaction, and an increased become more likely to look for a new job.13 In
70%
willingness to help others on the team.
Why i s thi s pro ject im por tant?
2021, 70% of employees said they were willing
Of employees said they were

willing to leave their job for

H o
w will it im p act o thers
? to leave their current jobs for one that better one that better supports

The way to help teams rediscover the

their wellbeing

Ho w d o s e it fit int o the c o p

m any ’ s supports their wellbeing.14
purpose in their work is to make every task
bro ader ss o
mi i n?

and project mission driven. For example, To keep employees from feeling
CommonSpirit, the largest nonprofit health overloaded, managers should encourage
system in America, starts important regular breaks and offer flexibility
meetings with “reflections”, stories or whenever possible. In 1:1s, they can check-
videos recognizing how hard it is to be a in with their people by asking questions
health care worker in a pandemic while also like, “What can I do to support you this
connecting to all the good they do for their week?” or “How does your workload feel,
patients and communities.
and is there anything I can help take off
your plate?”

13 European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology , 2021.

14 isier, 2021.
V

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report 16

earning

5: Learning

Offer employees personalized

growth opportunities

Employees who feel their managers offer Managers should set aside time in 1:1

them growth opportunities are 7.9x more conversations to discuss what abilities each
People who feel their
likely to stay at their organization, and those team member would like to develop and managers offer them

who report learning new skills in the flow of

their work are 4.8x more likely to stay.

then, together, agree on: growth opportunities are:

7.9x
The most valuable skills to pursue

Managers can encourage development in the

A plan to practice these skills on-the-job

new year by helping their people create

Why these skills are important
personalized growth plans.

And become:
2.4x
90% 75%
of employees agree bite-sized of new information is forgotten

learning moments help them is just six days if it isn’t applied

develop faster in the flow of work

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report

17
3 ways to help Strategy 1: Keep it simple
Strategy 2: Support teams, too

struggling Simplicity will be key in 2022. As our The key to unlocking effective managers is to

managers
research shows, managers and their teams help their teams, too. Instead of piling
are overwhelmed. Asking them to remember responsibility only on managers, top- The nudges from Humu truly
20 new cultural values or filling their performing organizations also invest in created mindfulness related to
calendars with one-size-fits-all training helping each teammate build the skills they our hybrid work environment
Improvement can’t just fall on sessions won’t work.
need to deliver exceptional work. When that has always existed and is
the shoulders of already In 2022, we recommend leaders pair down people get better, managers’ jobs get easier, now more widespread. These
programs where possible to help managers giving them more time to focus on what nuggets of information reframed
overburdened managers. Here focus only on what matters most. In matters most. In other words, managers can’t our ‘old ways’ of leading and I
are three strategies leaders can conversations with executives, we’re hearing be maximally effective if their teams aren’t found them to be relevant and
adopt to set their managers up that many are abandoning complex values taking action, too.
timely as we begin the journey of
frameworks to instead focus on 3-4 values returning to the office.
for success in 2022. they want managers and teams to live by, and
then outlining a few key behaviors that map
to each value.

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report 18

 Different managers need support in different areas
Strategy 3: Offer specific,
personalized support

New managers
Experienced
Manager development efforts are 8x as Our nudges are built on the science of are asking for managers
effective if leaders first identify where a personalized support and are proven to support with: Recruiting, hiring, and are asking for Recruiting, hiring, and
onboarding (47%) support with: onboarding (45%)
specific manager needs to improve.15
drive better outcomes than generic
training or coaching. A study we ran at a
While our survey revealed consistent high- telecom customer showed that our nudges
level focus areas for managers (e.g. wellbeing were 15% more effective than corporate Giving feedback and Receiving and Keeping team Balancing workloads
and retention), it also surfaced distinct trainings in supporting teams through supporting career addressing members aligned and combating
differences across manager demographics development (47%) feedback (32%) to goals (40%) burnout (38%)
transformation. And at a technology
including years of experience and team size. customer, we saw that manager ratings
For example, managers with less than 2 years went up while managers were in coaching
of experience told us they’d like help giving sessions, but immediately dropped back to
and getting feedback, while managers with Managers of Managers of
smaller teams
larger teams

baseline once the program was over.

10+ years of experience were more concerned Managers at the same company who got
about keeping their team members aligned to are struggling with: Balancing workloads are struggling with: Balancing workloads
nudges, however, saw their ratings and combating and combating
goals and combating burnout. continue to climb as time went on. burnout (48%) burnout (40%)

Recruiting, hiring, and Keeping team Recruiting, hiring, and Building a strong
onboarding (43%) members aligned onboarding (37%) team culture (35%)
to goals (37%)

15 Leadership Training Design, Delivery, and Implementation: A Meta-Analysis, 2017.

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report 19

2021 was rough on managers —
but 2022 doesn’t have to be
For most managers, responding As we look to 2022, companies and managers
have an opportunity to learn from the past year
effectively to the impact of the and put simpler, more effective practices in place. If you’d like to learn more about how Humu can
pandemic was still the biggest The challenge for managers and senior leaders will
help you develop great managers by offering
challenge of 2021. Navigating a be to identify and focus on the key behaviors that
will help their teams thrive throughout the year.
them personalized, impactful support, we’d
new way of working, combating love to hear from you.

burnout, and retention and hiring We recommend prioritizing:

Contact us at humu.com or [email protected].
amidst the Great Resignation Simplifying existing programs and policies

topped managers’ priority lists.

Personalized, continuous development
opportunities

All to say: managers had a lot Unburdening managers by supporting teams

on their plates in 2021.

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report 20

 94%
of team members say they
notice managers taking
action on nudges

About Humu

Humu is an action management

platform that makes it easy for

Science shows that the fastest path to

improvement is via personalized coaching in the

That’s why managers love nudges. 90% of

managers say that nudges make it easier for

90%
of managers say nudges
flow of work. That’s exactly what Humu does. them to practice good work habits. And teams
make it easier to practice
managers to improve, every Humu nudges managers and teams to build the love nudges, too. 94% of team members say
good work habits
specific habits that will lead to their that they notice their managers taking action on
single week. With Humu, leaders
organization’s success. Unlike most tools, Humu nudges and making noticeable improvements.

can confidently give managers combines Nobel-prize winning people science

For more information about how Humu can
and technology to pinpoint which behaviors and
the exact support they need to help your managers, please visit
people skills managers need to be effective.
develop exceptional teams. humu.com/web-demo
Managers can feel confident that they’re

focusing on what matters most.

Humu.com · State of the Manager Report

21