When an employee leaves a job, pay is often the first reason that comes to mind. But today, more workers are changing roles to gain a specific experience or skill instead of prioritizing a bigger paycheck.

Managers are expected to keep teams steady, but they have become one of the most overburdened layers in today’s organizations. Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report shows that the pressure point in many organizations has shifted from employees to middle managers, who are caught between transformation and cost pressure from above and rising expectations from their teams below.