Dilemmas of mid-level career crisis among employees

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OPINION

By Dr Davis Malowa Ndanyi

What is mid-level career crisis? 

It is an employment/career period where an employee experiences career stagnation, self-doubt, low esteem and reduced job satisfaction. It prominently happens at the middle level of management. It is normally occasioned by a lack of career growth, a lack of motivation, a lack of recognition and worsened by increased personal responsibilities and organisation politics.

What causes mid-level career crisis

Armstrong 2019, argues that there are symptoms that can tell that an employee is undergoing mid-level crises as espoused below;

• Increased absenteeism or presentism, you will notice unexplained absence from work, even when present, productivity will be very minimal. This practice will go on for a while and hence signalling a mid-level crisis.
• Noticed resistance to change and innovation in the progression of the organisation as an employee.
• Marked withdrawal of the employee from the organisation's activities.
• Continuously applying for external job opportunities.
• Marked decline in employee motivation or engagement by the employee.

The following are the core causes of mid-level career crisis: One of them is a mismatch of expectations by the employee, it has been noted that early career aspirations or ambitions most time clash with the work space realities.

Work-life misbalance is another variable of mid-career crisis. Over time, employees get hooked up with routine work demands, putting in a lot of energy and other resources, not limited to time. This, in the long run, challenges a balanced work life experience, family engagement suffers, physical body exercises suffer and hence a vivid imbalance in an employee‘s work life.

Over time, employees start wondering whether they are adding value to the organisation, and also wonder whether the organisation has beneficial plans for them, save for statutory provisions such as salary and terminal benefits; these eventually demoralise the employee.

Stagnation and lack of career progression. Many times when employees do not see a clear career path, they tend to lose the zeal, the energy and the resilience to add value to the organisation, because even then they have stagnated and do not see any promotional opportunities, for instance.

Unexplained compensation distortions among different professionals. Many times, employees get demoralised when their pay is not commensurate with what they put in; it is worse when salary enhancement is done politically, not after undertaking job evaluation studies.  Such unscientific salary determination largely demoralises and causes unexpected employee exits.

Another of the arguments has been raised to eliminate mid-level crises as follows;

Deliberate introduction of flexible work policies. Work-life programs should be put in place for employees to utilise those opportunities for their well-being, in so doing, it becomes easy to keep employees in shape and engaged with their families.

Acknowledging employees in their areas of expertise with rewards is a highly motivating strategy to dampen mid-level crises. Employees need to be recognised publicly for all aspects of their contribution in the organisation, recognition can even be non-financial, but highly motivating.

Mentorship and coaching are very essential tools that support employee engagement and productivity. Mentoring can be traditional, that is, between a senior and a subordinate employee, or it can be reverse mentorship, that is to say, a junior employee supporting a supervisor in some highly new and trending innovations like IT, besides executive coaching experts can be hired to undertake mentorship programs for staff.

Deliberate career development programs are essential to support employees in their career paths. One may be motivated as he sees opportunities ahead in his/her career over time, as long as it is clear and structured.

Clear and intentional employee engagement and communication build employee confidence and motivation to work and produce more. Employee training, reskilling and development work wonders in promoting engagement, cohesion, consultation and above all, motivation.

By and large, employees need continuous mentorship, engagement, consultation and involvement; if this is done, it goes a long way in stimulating employee growth, retention and hence renewed focus.

The writer is an academic and a human resource practitioner