BackA ship can start sinking if its middle crew goes missing
Technology and young talent have raised such questions over the importance of middle-level managers that pejorative terms like ‘the bulge’ or ‘flab’ can be heard in use for middle rungs.
PremiumIndia Inc is besotted with its young workforce and tries its best to validate them. India Inc also reveres its senior management, the north-star guides for businesses to follow. Sandwiched between the two groups is a large chunk of the workforce that has spent a decade-plus in the organization and is called ‘middle management’. Unfortunately, as far as I can make out, India Inc doesn’t seem to know what to do with these middle managers.
The middle manager is like that middle child who forms a bond between the younger and older children but gets neither the attention nor the responsibility. S/he is relegated to what I have often heard called a “comfortable position" and runs the risk of getting nudged out as the firm turns agile and flat.
However, every few years, when a hiring frenzy takes over corporate India, the middle manager who knows clients, can handle juniors and understands the company’s culture, becomes a prized commodity again.
India Inc is going through one such hiring frenzy and the middle manager is in demand. But where are these middle managers when companies need them the most?
“Today, the IT , manufacturing sectors are realizing that middle management is the key to success. But there is a dearth of talent since many of these middle managers have joined the e-commerce/startup sector in senior roles. Today, factory supervisors and project managers are much in demand but they aren’t available," according to Navnit Singh, chairman and regional managing director of Korn Ferry India.
The absence of the middle layer is specially gnawing as corporates trudge back to some semblance of normalcy. The workforce getting onboarded is disconnected and no amount of town-halls with speeches of encouragement from the top brass will forge a relationship between new employees and the firm. One needs to have the gentle nudge of a colleague who has been around and is not a cabin recluse. This is where the middle order can play a crucial role. “They become custodians of the culture of the organization. They’re not people who are at the extreme top, who become, in a way, auto-immune to certain things. They’re not newbies who will be exposed to varying degrees of initiatives to keep them happy." Zainab Patel, lead diversity and inclusion, Pernod Ricard India told me. “They know that ‘This organization is where I intend to be’, moving forward from a perks perspective or salary perspective, a work culture perspective. These people are the actual gatekeepers of the organization."
Constant changes in technology and pressure from lower rungs can lead to insecurities. Making way for the younger generation is a common practice, but there are not many companies that have focused programmes to upskill the middle layer.
There are awards to celebrate leaders and young talent, but none for the middle rung. I’ve often heard that in the effort to become a lean organization, the middle layer gets expunged. Pejorative terms are used for the middle order, like “the bulge" or “flab" that needs to be shed. The firm forgets that all ‘fat’ is not bad and it could help a business survive the bleakest of winters.
A senior investment banker told me that after any acquisition, there is a flurry to save the relationship managers whose departure could lead to the exit of important clients and customers. The middle layer can also provide crucial nuggets of information about the company, expose gaps and provide feedback on employees to top leadership teams.
The onus to stay relevant depends on the employee as much as the employer. Regular reskilling programmes need to be introduced in companies and expertise cultivated.
No less crucial is a real leadership pipeline. “It bothers most of us when the middle management is ignored to make way for the juniors. Experience should matter. All may not have leadership skills, but an opportunity to take on responsibilities must be given," said a senior analyst who had 15 years of work experience, eight of them in a single company.
A recruiter who looked into middle order hirings told me that companies are cagey about offering jobs to candidates with a long tenures in one company. “They prefer those who have a 3-5 years stint and have been changing organizations. They are afraid the person may not fit into their company culture or is not relevant enough," said the Bengaluru-based recruiter.
Long tenures, of course, need not be a sign of irrelevance, and this is where role changes within an organization and upskilling programmes come handy.
Work hierarchies being broken down has also squeezed the space for a middle order. Young employees often have access to senior leaders, skipping middle levels. But not always. In one of India’s top manufacturing companies, employees are bracketed into grades that are rigid and protocol-driven. “Experience and perspective are given their due in this firm. One cannot skip levels and gain access to seniors," said a former employee of this Mumbai-based company.
The balancing act that business leaders must perform isn’t easy. There is a vast invisible workforce in the middle that holds many companies together—and upright. It’s time to shine a spotlight on them.
Devina Sengupta writes on workplaces and education at Mint
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