Two-Thirds of Managers Put Their Team's Health Before Their Own, Survey Finds

Managers are being told to watch for the warning signs of burnout in their staff — but a survey suggests many are running on empty themselves. An Ipsos poll of 500 managers, published in August 2026 for Hanse-Merkur, found that 67 percent find it easier to look after their employees' health than their own. Some 58 percent said their leadership duties make it harder to follow the advice they give others, and 53 percent regularly work while their performance is impaired. One in three has already considered giving up managerial responsibility.

The pressures they named are mostly structural. Staff shortages topped the list at 42 percent, ahead of constant availability at 33 percent and high workload density at 30 percent.

Warning signs leaders are urged not to ignore

Recent specialist commentary calls on managers to act on signs of overload rather than look away. Among the key signals flagged for everyday working life: rising absenteeism, irritability, a drained appearance, everyday tasks taking longer to complete, more careless mistakes, falling quality of work and social withdrawal.

Early, open communication is said to raise the odds of catching workplace strain in time and finding workable solutions.

A four-step approach for the working day

To tackle overload directly, the guidance sets out four stages. First, stay in regular contact so that changes are noticed early — and never discuss a person's situation behind their back. Second, hold a confidential one-to-one in which specific observations are raised factually, without jumping to interpretations.

Third, the manager takes the initiative, asks what support the person wants and agrees concrete measures to ease the load. Fourth, the leadership role is filled out by setting clear expectations and bringing in contacts both inside and outside the company.

HR staff are advised to seek preventive conversations at the first signals — persistent overtime or social withdrawal, for instance — rather than waiting for someone to call in sick. Such talks should be framed as a confidential stocktake of energy and work-life balance. Lawyers point out that employees do not have to disclose medical diagnoses to their employer; where there is doubt, the company doctor should be brought in.

It's often the organisation, not the hours

Overload frequently stems not from the sheer number of hours but from structural flaws in how work is organised. According to the Dutch Labour Inspectorate (Arbeidsinspectie), opaque expectations, a lack of decision-making autonomy and smouldering conflicts are among the primary triggers of workplace pressure.

Specialists in work and organisational psychology add that stress-management training alone achieves nothing when workloads, buffers and staffing levels remain permanently out of balance. And when managers try to absorb bottlenecks by taking on tasks themselves while postponing difficult conversations, they risk burning out.

The cost shows up in the sickness figures

The consequences of psychological strain are visible in the statistics. An analysis by the health insurer DAK for 2025 shows mental illness is the biggest driver of workplace absence: those affected were off for around 34 days per case on average, against just under 10 days for all illnesses combined. At European level, EU-OSHA attributes 50 to 60 percent of lost working days to stress and uncontrolled psychosocial risks.