For years, Peter Economy worked hard to climb the organizational ladder. But when he became a vice president, the ladder was restructured into more of a jungle gym. He had neither the authority nor the perks that once came with a top job.
Economy discovered that he didn’t like being a manager.
He isn’t alone. Many workers are jumping off the management track. Others are looking for ways to avoid management without scuttling their careers.
The dissatisfaction has a recurring theme: Managers today have more responsibility, less authority and minimal rewards for the extra work. They hate all the meetings. And they slump under the stress of being all things to all people: counselor, motivator, babysitter, financial consultant and, oh yes, boss.
“Being a manager in the ’90s ain’t what it used to be,” said Florence M. Stone, author of “The Manager’s Balancing Act” (Amacom, $24.95). “It’s no wonder so many people leave the managerial ranks to take the professional track.”
In the wake of downsizing, frustrated middle managers are becoming “doers” again, typically in sales and creative positions. Some of them are making as much money–or more–without the headaches.
In Southern California, the typical professional (engineer, lawyer, professor, etc.) earned $30.63 an hour last January, compared with $29.92 for executive and managerial positions, according to the Labor Department. The median weekly earnings of middle managers rose only about 5.1 percent from 1994 to 1996, while weekly earnings for production and craft workers increased 7.1 percent.
Economy–maybe he was influenced by his name–decided it didn’t pay to be a manager.
The San Diego resident worked in middle management jobs for the government and for software companies, evolving from an early ’80s manager who earned big bonuses for projects to a ’90s manager who became grateful for a job (with a drastic pay cut) during the recession.
Economy realized he was in trouble when he took a long lunch one day and it seemed like a vacation.
“I want to control my own life, and to have control over my own destiny,” said the man who now wears many hats more happily. He’s a business consultant, author and general manager for Nelson Motivation, a startup company headed by his friend Bob Nelson. They co-authored “Managing for Dummies,” a guidebook for managers who opt to stick it out.
“Lots of people are migrating back to their original job, being the sales manager or the writer, because that way they can control their work,” Economy said. “They can plan their day, call on 10 people and not worry about what 10 other people are doing. That can be a big relief.”
Bing Ng, an investment broker with Finance 500 in Irvine, Calif., was relieved when he quit as managing director of a brokerage firm in Singapore. The management demands in that country are complicated by the law, Ng said, because the individual manager is fully liable for the sins of the workers.
Ng, 70, now manages on the side, as head of the Singapore American Business Association. He has great respect for managers who can do their job: Inspire good work from others.
“I say to people, `Which is more difficult to find: brokers, secretaries or managers?’ It’s hard to find good brokers and good secretaries in times of low unemployment. But nine times out of 10, they still say it’s hardest to find good managers. Many people just don’t want the hassle.
“The ones who do, sometimes what they really want is power.”
Executive recruiter Ken Thompson, a partner at McCormack & Farrow, said the traditional itch to advance still runs strong. But it gets scratched the least by people who hit their 40s and feel like their work has robbed them of their family life. They trade in the 10- to 14-hour days for more control.
Some leave the corporate world altogether.
`What’s happening in Orange County is what I call a stealth economy,” said Thompson, whose company fills many of the openings for general manager and president here and in San Diego. “A number of management-level people are setting up their own businesses and they don’t come up on the radar screen again because they don’t want to be visible. You see a lot of this at the Spectrum (an Irvine business park with high-tech startups).”
Despite the early ’90s purge of managers and the retreat today, companies say they don’t have a severe shortage of managers. There’s less need for them as companies rely more on self-managed systems. Employees are expected to do more and take on more leadership roles.
That’s another change that today’s managers must learn to embrace.
“The new management structure is not about controlling people,” Economy said. “It’s coaching them, guiding them, and it’s very hard to do unless you have the right skills or charisma.”
If Economy could ever be talked back into a management job, he said he would challenge the system more. For starters, he’d work to eliminate worthless meetings.
“The new wave of managers–some of the younger ones–are used to bucking the system and speaking up for what’s best,” Economy said.
