Millennials have formally overtaken Era X as the most important cohort of managers within the American workforce in 2025. This generational handoff marks greater than a demographic curiosity—it’s doubtlessly a serious shift in how organizations are led, as millennials have a unique administration type than their predecessors.
In accordance with the semiannual Worklife Traits report by Glassdoor, millennials grew to become the most important share of the managerial workforce in late June 2025, overtaking Gen Xers, who dominated management throughout the previous 20 years. At present growing old tendencies, in keeping with projections from Glassdoor lead economist Daniel Zhao, Gen Z will present a larger share of managers than child boomers in late 2025 or 2026. Already, Gen Z makes up one in 10 managers.
Glassdoor
Since turning into essentially the most populous technology within the labor pressure within the mid-2010s, millennials have steadily risen by the ranks, propelled by demographic inevitability, retirements amongst child boomers, and new attitudes towards organizational management. This ascent caps years of warnings and hypothesis about how millennial values would form the office.
In an interview with Fortune, Zhao stated millennials are inheriting a tricky state of affairs, nevertheless it might be worse. Staff by and huge “don’t really feel like they’re in a fantastic state of affairs” proper now, however Zhao famous issues haven’t deteriorated for staff because the final version of the report in January 2025.
Though Zhao didn’t use this specific Gen Z slang, the state of the workforce that’s now majority managed by millennials is mid. “On the very least it doesn’t appear that staff are feeling worse,” Zhao stated. “I don’t know should you can name {that a} silver lining.”
Millennials managing by the continued ‘burnout disaster’
Millennials are broadly credited with pushing “empathy” and “well-being” to the forefront of administration tradition. They prioritize insurance policies resembling distant work, mental-health advantages, and boundary-setting—but there’s a motive millennials stress psychological well being a lot: They’re experiencing document ranges of burnout, stress, and job insecurity themselves, main some office specialists to warn of a looming “supervisor crash” in 2025. Zhao agreed this strains up with anecdotes in Glassdoor evaluations, however not the information in his analysis.
Zhao, for his half, writes that the mental-health challenges dealing with the present workforce present “no indicators of abating.” He writes of burnout as an “ongoing disaster,” with mentions in Glassdoor evaluations spiking 73% yr over yr as of Could 2025. “Critiques about burnout usually confer with the cumulative impact of a number of years of layoffs and understaffing sporting on staff who stay.”
After all, the time period “burnout” grew to become largely synonymous with the millennial technology in Anne Helen Petersen’s viral 2019 Buzzfeed article on the topic, which morphed right into a guide and a deep vein of reporting for years to come back. Talking to Petersen’s thesis, that millennials have been born right into a tradition and local weather of fixed work from a younger age, the typical variety of direct studies per supervisor has virtually doubled in recent times, piling burnout ranges of stress onto the burnout technology, simply as they develop into the vast majority of managers.
Zhao declined to touch upon Petersen’s thesis straight, however with reference to burnout extra usually famous that many millennial managers, particularly these of their forties and late thirties, are growing old into the “sandwich technology,” with tasks which were typical for Gen X: “Millennials proper now are in a spot the place their profession pressures is perhaps highest, however there are additionally these different private pressures which can be actually stressing millennials out.” Zhao added that “in a way, they’re caught between a rock and a tough place.”
Regardless of their ambitions, many millennial managers report receiving little to no formal management coaching, usually feeling unprepared for the complexities of managing groups throughout a number of generations and responding to fast organizational change. That is sure to worsen with double the studies of the historic common. And whereas they stress empathy, millennials are the technology that invented the time period “ghosting” for his or her avoidant behaviors on social media, and many battle with assertiveness and managing office battle head-on. Lastly, millennials are the “participation trophy” technology, and a few bruising TikTok movies have argued that millennial bosses have a poisonous tendency to attempt to befriend all their direct studies. “Wolves in sheep’s clothes,” they have been known as. Ouch.
The flip facet of emotional intelligence
Zhao instructed Fortune that the well-worn cliché about millennial managers being identified for his or her concentrate on empathy has a flip facet. Glassdoor has seen a change in how individuals speak about administration over the previous 5 years because the pandemic, he stated: “Critiques that debate administration more and more emphasize phrases associated to emotional intelligence, like ‘respecting boundaries,’ ‘being empathetic,’ ‘selling worker well-being,’ and ‘addressing burnout.’” Zhao famous it reveals that staff’ expectations have elevated: “The bar on what constitutes a superb supervisor has been raised.”
It doesn’t imply millennials are inherently gifted at emotional intelligence, Zhao stated, simply that it’s an expectation of their studies, be they fellow millennials, Gen Z, or even perhaps Gen X or boomers. Zhao referenced analysis that the phrase “emotional intelligence” actually began selecting up within the twenty first century. How ironic, then, that the inhabitants that mainstreamed emotional intelligence after they entered the workforce is now answerable for managing it.
Though millennials usually search to construct belief and supply recognition, generational divides persist: A notable minority of staff, particularly Gen Z, stay impartial or unsure in regards to the recognition they obtain. In accordance with a complete Deloitte survey, millennials themselves need extra suggestions, mentorship, and progress alternatives, each for his or her groups and for their very own careers.
This can be why millennials are getting saddled with a dreaded moniker: the so-called cool boss. Latest reporting and viral social-media content material have fueled criticism of millennial managers for blurring the road between supervisor and pal—typically to detrimental impact. Sketches and first-person accounts spotlight a stereotype of the millennial supervisor who is raring to be seen as hip, adopting a laid-back perspective, informal communication, and a pleasant rapport with direct studies. Critics argue this type could be poisonous in making a “false sense of heat” that masks underlying energy dynamics. By way of reaching outcomes, the cool boss act results in inconsistent or unclear expectations, fueling anxiousness amongst employees. And when damaging suggestions is critical, the cool boss dropping the masks can come as a shock to their subordinates.
Many millennial managers report difficulties in setting clear boundaries with their groups as they battle to code-switch from pleasant to authoritative as conditions demand. Setting boundaries is additional difficult by generational shifts: Youthful staff, significantly Gen Z, additionally favor fluid boundaries and a flat hierarchy, typically intensifying the paradox round roles and expectations.
Whereas Zhao didn’t remark straight on the so-called cool boss meme, he stated millennial managers are strolling an “extraordinarily powerful line proper now.” Millennials are alleged to be on the peak of their profession, however many are additionally caring for children, mother and father, even elder members of the family. “On the care side,” Zhao stated, “there’s been a whole lot of dialogue, particularly because the pandemic, on the gaps … within the American economic system right this moment.”
Are you a millennial who’s a supervisor, or do you could have a millennial for a supervisor? Fortune would love to listen to from you: get in contact at nick.lichtenberg@advisor.fortune.com.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to assist with an preliminary draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the data earlier than publishing.
