Middle Management Is Collapsing, Manager Engagement Fell from 31% to 22% in Three Years

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.