About the research

^{All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from} ^YouGov^{. Fieldwork was undertaken between 28 August - 9 September 2025. The survey was carried out online. The figures are unweighted results.

The sample comprised of 3,028 middle managers aged 18 years and older in Australia, the US, the UK and Ireland working in construction, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, transport and logistics, and (Australia only) energy and resources businesses (excluding sole traders).}

^{Feedback from the Field provides field feedback to give leaders a clearer view of what’s really happening in their workforce by capturing frontline perspectives.}

Unlock your $90 billion opportunity

Across frontline industries, middle management is becoming unsustainable: overloaded, unheard, and carrying the burden of invisible tasks.

What follows is lost productivity, disengaged staff and a weakened leadership pipeline.

But this isn’t a HR concern. It’s an operational one. And the cost of ignoring it compounds quickly.

Our fifth annual Feedback from the Field study reveals:

The hidden $90 billion productivity leak
Why traditional improvement programs stall
How leaders can equip managers to reduce business risk

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Empower your managers, unlock your next opportunity

Managers sit at the center of operational success, yet they’re overloaded with manual processes, blocked by disconnected tools, unclear visibility, and firefighting.

With the right systems in place, middle managers can stop fighting the same fires every day, build confident and capable teams, and start driving the next opportunity forward.

When improvement becomes part of the workflow organisations unlock faster execution, stronger leadership pipelines, and lasting operational resilience.

Warning signs for leaders

$90bn of time wasted

Managers lose 5.16 hours a week to low-priority work, adding up to an estimated USD $89.9bn a year in wasted time globally.

Improvement ideas left on the table

While 93% of managers have ideas for improvement, just over half (55%) are implemented, even when those ideas would save time, money, resources or drive revenue.

Management becomes an unwanted role

Most managers would prefer to avoid people management, and 58% say younger workers don't want leadership responsibility either.

CI programs seen as “out of touch”

Continuous improvement programs are considered “tick-box exercises” driven by people who don’t understand the realities of the frontline.

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Want industry insights?

Discover what managers in your industry revealed:

Manufacturing factsheet

Transport & Logistics factsheet

Hospitality factsheet

Retail factsheet

Construction factsheet

Action plan for leaders

Get proactive

Automate routine checks and enable frontline self-service to re-focus managers’ time on high-value work. Real-time dashboards help managers spot patterns and intervene early, reducing rework, incidents, and frustration.

Strengthen managers’ influence and impact

Show clear improvement outcomes and give managers visibility into how issues are resolved. This elevates the role from administrative to strategic.

Make leadership a shared effort

When frontline teams can participate in improvement, leadership becomes collaborative — reducing pressure on managers and changing how more younger workers perceive the role.