While the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, is organizing a seminar on “working better” on Wednesday March 27, the warning signals about the malaise among executives are increasing. Procrastination, stress, demotivation, overload, teleworking… A look back at the figures which testify to the growing uneasiness of these employees who are burdened with more and more responsibilities within the company.
1 in 4 executives believe that their mental health has deteriorated
The figures which illustrate the discomfort of managers and executives accumulate with study, and this seems to increase with the proportion of responsibility of each employee. According to a study by the Association for the Employment of Executives (Apec) published in September 2022, 1 in 4 executives believe that their mental health has deteriorated in previous years. For managers, it is worse: 65% have the feeling of an insurmountable workload (compared to 47% for non-managerial executives), 62% feel a feeling ofburnout (compared to 48%) and 64%, intense stress (compared to 48%). So much so that more than 20% of young executives no longer want to move into management roles, for fear of seeing their mental state worsen. And for good reason: among manager respondents, 66% find this role stressful and 43% consider that it represents too much responsibility.
89% of leaders and managers procrastinate at work
Is procrastinating a sign of laziness? Nearly 9 out of 10 executives and managers admit to procrastinating during working hours. There are even 23% who do it “often” and 10% who do it “always”. While it may make you smile, the phenomenon has its source in more serious problems: that of demotivation, in particular, put forward by more than half of managers under 24, compared to a third of managers over 64. But also that of work overload, conversely less well experienced by older people: it is cited by 51% of 55-64 year olds as one of the causes of their procrastination, compared to 34% of 18-24 year olds.
Other reasons are mentioned: nearly 58% of managers who procrastinate in the professional context say they are discouraged by the burden of administrative processes. Still others talk about the difficulty of making strategic decisions, or even the fear of failure.
45% of executives would resign without teleworking
Many of them can no longer cope without teleworking. An Apec study, published at the beginning of March, tells us that 45% of executives would resign if access to teleworking was eliminated. In the post-Covid professional world, being happy at work now means… no longer being at work all the time. Now “well established in the organization of executive work”, teleworking allows more flexibility in schedules, which can be useful for juggling family life and domestic tasks at the same time as long working days, or to move to a region that is sometimes less expensive, and to save on the price of rent that can sometimes be very burdensome. Today, 67% of them telework at least one day per week, including a quarter at least two days per week.
The Apec survey reports that no “turning back is possible for executives” and adds that 69% would be unhappy if teleworking was reduced (82% if it were eliminated).