Managers’ mental health: how to (re)find your balance?

Being a manager today means navigating (very) choppy waters: 1 manager in 2 says they are chronically stressed, and 70% report that their mental load has increased over the past two years. A finding all the more alarming given that 30% of managers are considering leaving their role to protect their mental health. Why this malaise? Changing ways of working, higher expectations from teams, economic uncertainty… The pressure is mounting. But many companies are starting to turn the tide with concrete steps: autonomy, listening and prevention. Here is a quick round-up on how to ease the pressure.

1. Management the French way: a love-hate relationship

A passionate relationship with work

The French have a unique relationship with work, quite unlike their European neighbours. Where other countries see their professional activity as simply a way to earn a living, 62% of French people view it as a central part of their lives. This cultural difference even shows up in the words used: where the British describe their working day as a “routine”, the French speak of “fulfilment” and “self-realisation”.

But this idealistic view of work has its flip side. By setting the bar so high in our expectations, we create fertile ground for disillusionment. A recent report by the IGAS sheds light on the excesses of this “French-style management”: a heavy hierarchy, rigid decision-making processes and a chronic lack of recognition. This corporate culture, so deeply rooted in our country, then becomes a catalyst for burnout. Managers, caught between lofty ideals and a constraining organisational reality, are the first to bear the brunt.

An increasingly tense context

This fragility, inherent in our relationship with work, is today made worse by a particularly difficult context. Managers have to grapple with an even more complex equation than before. 

On the one hand, their teams, particularly the youngest, are voicing new expectations around meaning and work-life balance. The figures speak for themselves: 91% of employees aged 18-24* say they feel anxious at work, a signal managers cannot ignore without risking the loss of their talent.

On the other hand, their room for manoeuvre is shrinking by the day: reporting has increased by 40% since 2020*, monitoring tools are multiplying, and the pressure on results keeps growing. The advent of hybrid working adds a further layer of complexity: 77% of managers report that it is harder to maintain team cohesion when some colleagues are on site and others are remote*. This accumulation of constraints creates a working environment in which balance is becoming ever harder to find.

*According to the Boson Project 2024 observatory.

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2. The new challenges facing managers

Juggling multiple hats

The manager’s role is undergoing a profound transformation. Far from the traditional image of the boss who directs and controls, today’s manager has to embody a multitude of roles, each demanding specific and sometimes contradictory skills.

Their first mission is that of a day-to-day coach. They must identify each person’s strengths and encourage their development, while ensuring the cohesion and performance of the team. The advent of hybrid working makes this task more complex still: how do you maintain an effective collective dynamic when the team is split between on-site and remote?

A new responsibility has also taken hold: that of looking after employees’ wellbeing. In a context where psychosocial risks are on the rise, the manager must pay particular attention to signs of fatigue or stress, while respecting the boundary between professional and private life. Faced with these changes, they must constantly adapt their working methods. The figures are revealing: 53% of managers reported high levels of stress in 2024*, an increase of 13 points in a year. A statistic that illustrates the weight of these multiple responsibilities on their mental health.

*According to the Boson Project 2024 observatory.

The daily balancing act

And these new responsibilities are only the tip of the iceberg. The reality on the ground turns out to be even more demanding than it appears. Managers today have to juggle project management under heavy constraints, where the objectives grow ever more ambitious while resources have to be optimised. Innovation is no longer an option but a daily necessity, requiring a constant questioning of working methods.

Maintaining social connection is another major challenge. The organisation of team-building events has to be thoroughly rethought, new team rituals suited to remote working created, all while paying particular attention to the more introverted personalities who might feel isolated in this new context. Generational adaptation adds a further layer of complexity: managers must orchestrate collaboration between different generations with sometimes conflicting expectations, master new codes of communication and demonstrate unprecedented relational agility. A genuine balancing act that tests even the most experienced.

3. The companies that have found the key

Betting on autonomy

Some companies have chosen to trust their managers and the results are there to see. Rather than piling on checks and sign-offs, they give them greater freedom to act. This means the ability to manage budgets of up to €5,000 without sign-off from above, or much simpler and faster decision-making processes. 

This trust placed in managers is not merely an abstract principle: it has a concrete impact. Among those who enjoy genuine autonomy, stress levels fall by 25%*. The teams, too, feel more involved and engaged (+18%)*, and the company’s overall productivity rises significantly. So it turns out that, by granting freedom, you set off a virtuous circle that benefits everyone.

* Ipsos – Observatoire de l’Engagement au Travail, 2023/2024 

Creating an environment that does you good

Other companies, such as Alan, have bet on creating an environment where it is good to work, for managers and for the whole team alike. The idea is no longer to punish mistakes, but to turn them into a source of learning. Here, every experience counts: successes as well as failures are shared, analysed, and used to move forward together.
The company culture values feedback and encourages dialogue at every level.

This supportive environment also comes through in the creation of genuine spaces for exchange. As at SMASH Group, with co-development (also known as peer-to-peer learning), where employees – managers or not – can take part to share their day-to-day difficulties, find solutions together and progress hand in hand. 

Discussion groups and mentoring are also on offer, allowing everyone to step back, learn from others, and recharge.

Within this logic of holistic support, continuous training takes centre stage. It is no longer limited to traditional courses, but is enriched with stress-management workshops and modules on new ways of managing, to help each manager grow with confidence in a constantly changing environment.

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Rethinking the organisation to ease the load on managers

The shift towards hybrid working has made the manager’s role considerably more complex. 76% of them report a significant increase in their mental load since these new ways of working were introduced. In their latest newsletter, the Meyer brothers shone a light on three particularly innovative management practices that deserve our attention, so concretely do they address these mental-health issues.

At Clinitex, management by values radically transforms the traditional approach. Edouard Pick, the group’s CEO, has put in place a values barometer assessed twice a year – the only indicator he keeps a close eye on across all his branches. This approach allows managers to break free from the pressure of financial results alone. Even with highly profitable branches, if the values barometer collapses, an immediate intervention is triggered to understand and support the teams.

Over at Cofidis, Tristan, manager of the Commercial Steering team, has introduced a practice as simple as it is effective: a bimonthly Kahoot challenge. This initiative allows managers to stay connected with their teams while letting off steam. The playful format, combining serious questions with a touch of humour, creates a collective breathing space while ensuring that the essential information gets across.

Another promising innovation is taking shape: Open Badges. Devised by the Mozilla foundation, these digital certificates make it possible to formally recognise relational skills, often invisible but essential for managers. How does it work? Each badge is a secure digital image that validates a specific skill: the ability to create a supportive working environment, the aptitude for spotting signs of stress within a team, or the knack for fostering cohesion at a distance. At IBM, where this system has been rolled out on a large scale, the results are impressive: +226% participation in management training and a notable improvement in team wellbeing. Managers particularly appreciate finally seeing their relational skills recognised on a par with their technical ones, thereby helping to reduce their work-related stress.

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Management is evolving, and so much the better! The companies that succeed are those that dare to rethink their model from the ground up. More autonomy, more dialogue, more trust: managers’ mental health is not a foregone conclusion. The examples of Alan, Morning and other innovative companies show that another path is possible. In a professional world in constant flux, that may well be where the key to calmer, more effective management lies.

And you – what practices have you put in place in your organisation to protect your managers’ mental health? Share your experiences in the comments!

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