At a retail business based in New York, managers were distressed to encounter young employees who wanted paid time off when coping with anxiety or period cramps. At a supplement company, a Gen Z worker questioned why she would be expected to clock in for a standard eight-hour day when she might get through her to-do list by the afternoon. At a biotech venture, entry-level staff members delegated tasks to the founder. And spanning sectors and start-ups, the youngest members of the work force have demanded what they see as a long overdue shift away from corporate neutrality toward a more open expression of values, whether through executives displaying their pronouns on Slack or putting out statements in support of the protests for Black Lives Matter.
i had a manager who was mid thirties get put in charge of expanding a new group within the company. He did it, he did it fast and well and it became too much for him to handle and he somehow was able to tell the big guys "nah i'm not doing this anymore" and got put back into a technical role where he can just work and go home and see his kid. I was honestly glad to see it because the guy was a hollowed out shell of his former self and was not built to be a manager at that scale. He was a genuinely nice guy who'd fight for his people as much as he could though.
It definitely happens but its also a weird edge case. Usually the high up managers are just bumbling boomers who don't know how to PDF but the company went through a huge organization flattening right before he came in, essentially getting rid of around half the managers in the company because they somewhat correctly identified where the waste was coming from. Downside was the new manager was told to expand and he did and went from 20 people under him to nearly 90 and literally did not have enough time in the day to do all his management duties and everyone suffered because no one could get a moment from him to help with something.
That's so interesting because you are basically describing my boss. He hasn't gotten to that last part yet. Mid-30s, very smart. He turned our entire department around because all of the previous managers either retired or died. He's been promoted several times, genuinely cares about all of us and many of the changes he made were just a matter of stopping the "well, we just do x because we've always done that."
But, yeah, I genuinely worry he's going to burn out. He has a lot on his plate and I he's the only good manager I've ever had. I think he would probably enjoy a more technical role as well.
The people who should be managers care too much and burn themselves out or get taken advantage of, and the people who shouldn't strive on the stress and power.
It's a catch 22 where you can't have a good manager because good managers end up leaving and stop being managers.
One of the partners at my workplace had a breakdown and was on sick leave for months because the stress of management was too much for him. Now he's back in a technical role with no management duties and he's much happier than before.
Yeah I've had people senior to me ask where I see my career going and if I want more responsibility or to become a manager and I'm very blunt in telling them I don't want any additional responsibility. I only live one life, there's little point in burning myself out when I'm young when the chance I'll make enough to retire early is slim but the negative health effects are very definite.