Betterworks has published research suggesting managers' roles have expanded sharply over the past three years, while leaders remain divided on how those responsibilities should be prioritised.
The study of 521 HR and business leaders in the US and UK points to growing pressure on managers as companies ask them to improve business results, guide organisational change, develop staff, coach performance and oversee the use of AI tools.
More than 80% of respondents said the manager role has grown over the past three years. At the same time, 47% said managers now lead larger teams than they did three years ago, suggesting the role is broadening as headcount responsibilities increase.
The survey found broad agreement that several parts of the job have become more important. Some 86% said leading through change matters more now, while the same share said coaching employees has become more important. Another 85% pointed to employee development, while 82% cited AI-enabled work and talent planning.
AI pressure
The data suggests AI is being added to an already crowded remit rather than replacing management work. Betterworks found that 78% of respondents said their managers oversee people who use AI tools, AI agents or both.
Only 10% of those surveyed said AI would reduce the importance of managers. By contrast, 82% said managers would remain as important or become more important to business success.
This runs counter to the idea that automation will reduce the need for middle management. Instead, the survey suggests companies still expect managers to interpret strategy, support teams and maintain performance while also taking on new technology-related responsibilities.
Betterworks argued that AI planning and manager capacity planning should be considered together. If AI does not remove other tasks from managers' workloads, the research suggests, it risks becoming another source of pressure rather than a way to ease it.
Doug Dennerline, chief executive officer at Betterworks, said the scale of change is becoming harder to ignore.
"The findings make one thing clear above all else: the manager role is expanding on nearly every front at once," said Doug Dennerline, chief executive officer at Betterworks.
He added that the issue does not begin with individual managers alone but with the structures around them.
"While the barriers holding managers back rarely start with the manager, it's incumbent on them to figure out how to close the gaps to keep their teams aligned and performing at a high level. This ultimately impacts whether the business hits its goals," Dennerline said.
Role redesign
Betterworks set out six areas employers should examine if they want managers to be more effective. The first is to redesign the role itself by identifying what has been added to managers' workloads in recent years and what, if anything, has been removed.
Another recommendation is to treat AI as a capacity issue rather than only a technology programme, with priority given to uses that save managers time. The research also urged companies to audit internal friction points such as approvals, meetings and processes that create extra work.
The remaining suggestions focus on governance and measurement. Executive leadership, strategy, operations and HR should jointly define outcomes and scorecards for managers, while periodic training should give way to real-time coaching and support built into day-to-day work.
It also argued for a scorecard that tracks people measures alongside performance and execution measures so organisations can assess whether investment in manager support is producing business results.
Survey scope
The research covered 263 HR leaders and 258 business leaders, all at director level or above. It was designed to understand how the manager role is changing, what is hindering manager effectiveness and what distinguishes organisations where managers are coping better with the demands placed on them.
The findings add to the wider debate over whether AI will flatten corporate structures or increase the burden on supervisors who must implement new tools while maintaining morale and delivery. In this survey, respondents indicated that the managerial role remains central even as companies adopt AI more widely, with 82% expecting managers to stay as important or become more important to business success.