Managers account for up to 70% of the variation in employee engagement, yet the conversation about fixing them rarely includes them. Here's what a manager can change without waiting for the company to change first.
By Abby Penick, Account Executive, meQ
I talk to a lot of leaders, and there are two stories about managers going around right now. Both of them leave the manager out.
The first story says cut them. By the end of 2026, one in five companies will eliminate more than half their middle managers, and AI gets the credit.
The second story says pity them. Managers are the shock absorbers, sandwiched between leadership and their teams, absorbing the grief of every reorg.
Both stories are loud. Both have a point. And both talk about managers as if managers had no move to make.
But they do. A manager in 2026 does not control the restructuring, the headcount math, or the return-to-office memo. A manager controls the team. That happens to be the part that matters the most.
Gallup found that managers account for up to 70% of the variation in employee engagement scores. They’re not a key factor... they’re THE key factor.
According to UKG’s Workforce Institute, managers have as powerful an impact on an employee’s mental health as a spouse, and a far greater impact than a doctor or therapist. The person who sets the tone for someone’s workday is not in the C-suite. It is the person they report to.
The elimination story has it backwards. You can’t automate manager influence. You can only decide whether to support it... or starve it.
meQ research shows that employees who feel strongly supported by their manager are measurably better off.
There is a performance dividend, too. Our 2026 State of the Workforce Report found that employees with supportive managers maintain drive without tipping into burnout. They work hard and stay well. That is the team every leader tells me they want.
The managers I talk to already feel this shift. Their value in 2026 comes less from overseeing tasks and more from judgment, from enabling a team rather than controlling it. AI can run the coordination. It can’t run the human part.
That human part is coachable. It’s the check-in that happens for the team and not just about the work. It is recognizing effort so people believe it counts. It really is that well-worn adage of putting your own oxygen mask on first, because a depleted manager has nothing left to give.
None of that requires overhauling the company. It requires showing up well inside the corner of it you own.
A manager who has steadied their own mind shows up steadier for everyone who reports to them. meQ gives you visibility on the progress; managers can see their own resilience scores rise alongside their team’s engagement. Leaders get a birds-eye view of teams across their organization.
It starts with a scientifically validated assessment that maps a manager across 18 dimensions of stress and resilience, the same factors that decide whether they stay sharp under pressure or come undone by it. From there, meQ’s AI builds them a personal path. Not the generic leadership course everyone sits through and forgets, but the specific thinking traps, skills, and blind spots that matter for this manager and this team right now.
And when a stressful situation arises, meQ is already there. A manager walking into a tough conversation gets a tool to prepare for and better handle that conversation. A team sliding toward burnout is served with learnings that will help them stop the slide.
Leadership gets the wide view: an aggregated, anonymized map of where support is needed across teams and regions, while every individual result stays private to the person. The manager gets a coach in their corner. The organization gets proof it is working.
Managers are your keystone. Helping them be at their best is a win for everyone. meQ can help. Schedule a conversation with a meQ specialist to learn how.
