People Leaders Are Overloaded and Undersupported, McLean & Company Finds in Major New Study

The demands placed on people leaders have expanded beyond what organizations currently support, with rising complexity, shifting employee expectations, and continuous change pushing the role to an unsustainable point. Global HR research and advisory firm McLean & Company's latest research calls for a deliberate redesign of the people leader role to ensure leaders have the clarity, capacity, and support needed to strengthen and bolster organizational resilience.

TORONTO, Nov. 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ - According to new research from global HR research and advisory firm McLean & Company, the demands placed on people leaders have grown faster than organizations' ability to support them. The result is a role reaching its breaking point under constant change and expanding expectations. Workplace complexity, rapid technological change, and rising employee expectations continue to increase, pushing many leadership responsibilities beyond sustainable limits. The firm's latest report, Transforming the Role of People Leaders, underscores that many people leaders have effectively become organizational catchalls, tasked with delivering results, strategic alignment, improved company culture, and emotional support, often without the clarity or capacity required to be truly effective.

According to McLean & Company's HR Trends Report 2025, people leaders are 1.7 times more likely to experience high stress than individual contributors, while the firm's Engagement Survey (2022-2025) found that 40% report being unable to maintain work-life balance. The strain is driven not only by workload volume but also by the emotional labor required to support teams through continuous change and uncertainty. As these pressures intensify, the expectations placed on leaders continue to rise. The report found that 73% of respondents feel that leaders' skill sets will need to change completely or almost completely to adapt to the future of work in 2030 (McLean & Company Future of Work survey, 2024), while the increased use of AI, automation, and distributed teams continues to add new layers of complexity and demands for adaptability.

"People leaders are carrying a workload that has expanded far beyond what the role was ever designed to support," says Lexi Hambides, director, HR Research & Advisory Services, at McLean & Company. "They are expected to coach, inspire, drive strategy, and support wellbeing while navigating constant disruption. With the rapid rise of AI and shifting workforce expectations, leadership can't be defined the way it once was. Without clear expectations of the role and the capacity to focus on human-centric leadership, even the most capable leaders are being overwhelmed. Organizations that rethink the role now will be far better positioned to build resilient teams, strong cultures, and future-ready leaders."

Despite rising demands, many organizations struggle to prepare leaders for the realities they face. The firm's research highlights that 74% of organizations find it challenging to develop effective people leaders (HR Trends Report 2025), with workload pressure being the top barrier. This contributes to a growing pipeline risk: high-potential employees are increasingly opting out of leadership roles due to stress and limited reward. Those who do step into leadership roles often lack the human-centric competencies – such as empathy, emotional intelligence, and relationship-building – that the future of work will depend on. The firm's report also underscores that AI will heighten, not diminish, the need for strong human-centric leadership. As routine tasks become automated, the uniquely human capabilities of leaders become even more critical. As the research outlines, "AI takes the tasks; leaders take the lead."

Transforming the Role of People Leaders calls for a fundamental redesign of the role to enable leaders to focus on what drives the greatest impact: enabling people, fostering resilience, and translating strategy into meaningful action. This includes clarifying the purpose of the role, redesigning workloads to account for both visible and invisible responsibilities, aligning HR programs and processes with leadership expectations, and leveraging technology to free up leaders' time for higher-value work. Without a reimagined approach, organizations risk losing the very leaders they rely on to navigate the future.

McLean & Company's research outlines why the role must change and how organizations can reshape it for the future. Access the full report, Transforming the Role of People Leaders, to uncover how people leaders can be one of the most powerful levers organizations have to strengthen culture, performance, and long-term resilience. 

McLean & Company supports organizations in this work through leadership development coaching and its Leadership Strategy Workshop. Leadership development coaching provides a nondirective, confidential space for leaders to process increasing demands, develop healthier and more effective ways of leading, and operate from their strengths as powerful levers for organizational success. You can access leadership development coaching and the Leadership Development Workshop through linked pages.

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About McLean & Company

McLean & Company pairs evidence-based research and immediately applicable tools with deep HR expertise to position organizations to meet today's needs and prepare for the future. The global HR research and advisory firm's member organizations enjoy comprehensive resources, full-service diagnostics, workshops, action plans, and advisory services for all levels of HR professionals, from executive leadership and HR leaders to HR team members, that help shape workplaces where everyone thrives.

McLean & Company is a division of Info-Tech Research Group.

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SOURCE McLean & Company