Why are Canada’s managers so stressed?

According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2025 report, Canada and the U.S. rank the highest globally for worker wellbeing, with 52% of employees classified as “thriving.”  

At the same time, they also lead the world in workplace stress, with 50% of employees reporting feeling stressed “a lot” the previous day.  

The paradox is even sharper for managers – especially those who are young or female – who report high engagement alongside high burnout. 

Zhanna Lyubykh, assistant professor of management and organization studies at Simon Fraser University, explains that while the paradox seems contradictory, “thriving” and “stressed” can exist together. 

“It's not necessarily about work. When we talk about individual thriving, it includes your hobbies, your friendships, your family,” says Lyubykh. 

“Sometimes it's possible to see that discrepancy when people have meaningful and fulfilling lives in some domains – it can be outside of work – but they can be stressed out at work.” 

Manager burnout: cost of complex work 

The Gallup report notes that manager engagement in Canada is dropping, and points to factors such as workload, lack of autonomy, and insufficient support as significant factors. 

Lyubykh takes this reasoning a step further, explaining that the evolving nature of work itself is adding to the overwhelm. 

“I think work is becoming more complex, and then that complexity can have its benefits – sometimes you have more responsibilities, and you feel, ‘Oh, this is meaningful, what I'm doing. This is challenging,’” Lyubykh says.  

However, that complexity can also have a downside.  

“People enter the state of flow, and that's where they can thrive,” she says.  

“But there is a cost, because it can be stressful. There are so many things, it feels overwhelming, and those demands and multiple roles can accumulate and translate into workplace-related stress.” 

The rise in work hours also contributes, says Lyubykh: “Canada is better [than the U.S.], but the numbers are going up, which is kind of interesting, because we have so much technology, work should be easier. We should spend less time at work. But that's not what's happening.” 

Identity, meaning, and manager stress 

Canadian employees – especially managers – often closely tie their identity to their work, according to Lyubykh.  

“People in the U.S. and Canada in North America, they define themselves through work. They might be thriving, they are engaged, they identify with their organizations,” she says.  

“But at the same time … there is a cost. Because they spend so much time at work, and then the complexity of this work and job demands are increasing. People spend more hours, the work itself becomes more complex.” 

Supporting disclosure, reducing stigma 

According to Gallup, 27% of Canadian managers report being actively disengaged – a risk factor that correlates strongly with stress and turnover, Lyubykh says. She stresses that addressing mental health concerns of middle managers, and increasing supports, may help. 

“The rates of mental health concerns are alarming ... it can be from 15% to 65% when we're talking about milder conditions, such as feeling anxious about going to work,” she says.  

But organizations often believe little can be done, she adds: “A common assumption that organizations often make [is]... if a person wants support, they can disclose it, but it's a personal choice to disclose.” 

Disclosure, she explains, is shaped by an employee’s perception of the workplace and how their disclosure will be received, either with accommodation or with retaliation.  

“They look into their environment to determine, ‘If I disclose, will I get discriminated and stigmatized against, or on the contrary, will I get support?’” Lyubykh says.  

Disclosure is often required for accommodations, such as time off or flexible hours. Without it, employees may be under-supported, she says, and “that can exacerbate their mental health concerns over time.” 

Lyubykh adds a crucial detail: supporting managers to disclose mental disabilities, and then accommodating them, doesn’t only benefit those individuals – it has knock-on effects in the form of increased retention, organization-wide. 

“Having that supportive climate is beneficial, not just for the sake of disclosure. We're talking about job satisfaction,” she says.  

“People are more satisfied when they perceive their organization being more supportive of employees’ mental health concerns.” 

The pressure on middle managers 

Perhaps the most effected group, even among managers, is middle managers, Lyubykh says, detailing how this group is often in the unenviable position of having low levels of actual authority (as opposed to perceived authority), yet high accountability when things go wrong. 

“They are often accountable and responsible for a lot of things that are happening at the workplace, but they don't have authority, so they are squished in the middle … they're kind of in the worst position possible,” she says. 

“That's why it's important for organizations to take a look at responsibilities, accountability, but also what kind of authority and resources they have, and ensure that they match those things.” 

HR has an important role to play, Lyubykh says, by clarifying authority levels in job descriptions and ensuring they reflect real decision-making power. Empowerment, she notes, improves both wellbeing and performance. 

“Empowering employees to make decisions leads to better job satisfaction, leads to higher levels of performance for the organization ... there is balance between authority and accountability.”  

Leadership training and promotion practices 

Another area for HR intervention is promotion and training – Gallup reports that fewer than half of Canadian managers have received formal leadership training.  

Lyubykh cautions against assuming promoted employees know how to manage. “It's disingenuous to expect people to go into those positions and just know how to do things, because they don't.” 

This isn’t only about middle managers, she stresses – it’s about micromanaging senior leaders who aren’t relinquishing decision-making power.  

“There is a business case for this, which actually should be a very easy pitch,” she says, explaining that when managers are properly trained and given real autonomy to make decisions and influence the organization in observable ways, satisfaction, performance and productivity increase. 

But these efforts need to come from above, she stresses, as it is often high-level management that is causing the stress by micromanaging.  

“It comes from the top management of the organization, the leadership that needs training, or maybe good examples of how to delegate, how to have clarity over who is responsible for what, and being able to empower middle managers,” Lyubykh says. 

Promotion decisions should be based not just on technical competence, but leadership potential: “It's a different skill set,” she says. “Have the right training for how to lead people, with positive examples, positive leadership styles, and how to delegate decision-making authority.” 

Gender expectations and emotional labour 

The Gallup report identifies women and young managers as especially vulnerable to disengagement.  

Lyubykh notes, “Women and younger people get scrutinized more, so they have, paradoxically, a higher threshold level for their competencies than someone who is older and more experienced.” 

Additionally, women managers are often expected to be not only competent but “warm” – a taxing extra effort that is usually not required of male managers. 

“They are expected to manage other people's emotions and manage interpersonal relationships, and they are expected to listen to people and show that warmth, way more than, for example, their male manager counterparts,” she says. 

“That creates that double burden.” 

Leading by example: department heads 

Lyubykh emphasizes visibility and action – and that engagement and positive leadership strategies can’t only be the purview of HR. 

“Allyship can be particularly effective because people want to identify with someone who has authority, and someone who is a leader and modeling those positive behaviours,” she says. 

“So seeing, for example, women being representative in the leadership positions, seeing how men and women interact, seeing male leaders are talking about gender issues. Those strategies can be also effective.” 

Lyubykh identifies specific strategies for HR and other leadership to take to better support the mental health of managers:  

• Clarify authority and accountability in job descriptions. 

• Provide leadership training before and after promotion. 

• Normalize mental health conversations and disclosure. 

• Reduce bureaucracy around accessing mental health supports. 

• Promote allyship from senior leadership. 

“It's important to move beyond formal programs,” she says, explaining that some organizations inadvertently place barriers in front of employees who are attempting to access mental health supports, resources or accommodations. 

“Sometimes we see situations when it takes a ridiculous number of forms and signatures,” she says. 

“That's not a supportive organization.”