Feature by HR Dive: US workers report anxiety and stress over unprepared first-time managers

In many cases, the unpreparedness is due to lack of training and upskilling, a new report indicates.

By Carolyn Crist

About 40% of U.S. workers feel “stress or anxiety about going to work” because they have a first-time manager who seems unprepared to take on the leadership role, according to a July 18 report by Oji Life Lab, a leadership learning solutions company.

As a result, 36% of workers said they lack motivation at work and 21% had trouble sleeping at night. Ultimately, more than a third said they wanted to leave their company entirely.

For the most part, their concerns were linked to the new manager’s lack of leadership skills and training. Workers rated their first-time managers as being weak at reducing conflict, handling difficult situations, providing quality feedback, running a productive meeting and making decisions.

“We wouldn’t ask a surgeon or a pilot to learn on the job, but that’s what we do every time we promote someone to be a first-time manager with no training,” Matt Kursh, co-founder and CEO of Oji Life Lab, said in a statement.

In a survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults, the best managers were rated twice as favorably as new managers for skills such as reducing conflict, running productive meetings and making decisions. More than 80% of workers rated their...

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