Manager turnover is no longer a human-resources footnote. New data show that burned-out leaders leave at more than three times the normal rate, and their departure ripples through every team they once guided.
The data that got my attention
DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2025, based on 10,796 leaders across more than 50 countries and 24 industries, found that burned-out leaders are 3.5 times more likely to leave their position and half as likely to be engaged. The finding is not simply about wellbeing. It is a flight-risk signal for the people who sit between executive strategy and frontline execution.
Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report puts the scale in plain numbers. Global manager engagement fell from 31% in 2022 to 22% in 2025. That nine-point collapse is the steepest of any worker category, and the single largest drop happened between 2024 and 2025, when manager engagement fell five points in one year.
Why this matters now
Organizations are flattening structures and widening spans of control at the same time. Gallup data show the average manager’s span grew from 10.9 direct reports in 2024 to 12.1 in 2025, a nearly 50% increase since 2013. About 13% of managers now oversee teams of 25 or more people.
The people expected to coach, retain, and align teams are carrying heavier loads with less support. When managers begin leaving leadership roles to protect their wellbeing, the leadership pipeline shrinks and the daily quality of management drops for everyone below them.
What the research actually shows
The table below summarizes the most relevant findings from Gallup, DDI, and McKinsey research published in 2025 and 2026.
| Metric | Finding | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Global manager engagement | Fell from 31% (2022) to 22% (2025); -5 points in the single year 2024-2025 | Gallup, 2026 State of the Global Workplace |
| Leaders with increased role stress | 71% report much higher stress since stepping into their current role | DDI Global Leadership Forecast 2025 (n=10,796) |
| Stressed leaders concerned about burnout | 54% | DDI Global Leadership Forecast 2025 |
| Stressed leaders who considered leaving leadership | 40% | DDI Global Leadership Forecast 2025 |
| Burned-out leaders’ flight risk | 3.5 times more likely to leave; half as likely to be engaged | DDI Global Leadership Forecast 2025 |
| Average manager span of control | 10.9 in 2024 to 12.1 in 2025; 13% of managers now lead 25+ people | Gallup span of control research |
| Share of team engagement variance driven by manager | 70% | Gallup Q12 meta-analysis |
| Managers reporting stress “a lot of the day” | 45%, vs. 39% of individual contributors | Gallup global data |
| Middle managers reporting burnout | 43% | McKinsey middle-manager research |
Managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement. When their own engagement collapses, the buffer between company strategy and employee experience disappears. DDI also found that delegation is the top burnout-mitigation skill, with an 80% relative importance score in its model, yet only 19% of rising leaders demonstrate strong delegation ability.
A practical framework for leaders
Addressing manager burnout requires redesigning the manager role, not just adding resilience training. Leaders can start with five concrete steps.
- Audit manager workload. Track how each manager’s hours are actually spent. If individual-contributor work still consumes a large share, the team will not scale and the manager will not last.
- Right-size spans of control. Most managers can lead five to eight people well. Past 12 direct reports, reduce IC production targets and strengthen delegation systems.
- Build delegation and coaching skills deliberately. Delegation is the highest-impact burnout-mitigation skill, but fewer than one in five rising leaders show strong ability. Train it like a core business skill.
- Create clear expectations and feedback loops. Employees who strongly agree they know what is expected are 47% less likely to experience frequent burnout. Managers need the same clarity from their own leaders.
- Treat manager wellbeing as a business metric. Track engagement, stress, span of control, and retention risk for the manager population the same way you track pipeline or revenue.
Start with one pilot group of high-span managers. Measure hours, delegation quality, team engagement, and retention before and after the changes. Use that evidence to justify wider rollout.
The bottom line
Manager burnout is no longer an individual resilience issue. It is a structural problem that shows up in engagement scores, turnover costs, and team performance. Organizations that protect manager capacity will keep their best leaders and preserve team engagement. Those that keep adding responsibilities without redesigning the role will keep exporting stress downward and watching their leadership pipeline shrink.
Where to go from here
Leadership teams need an honest view of where manager capacity is breaking before burnout becomes resignation. An executive coaching program helps managers recover bandwidth, delegate effectively, and lead through pressure without absorbing all of it.
