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How Strong Are Your Manager and Employee Relationships Really?

 

This topic has emerged as one of the top HR issues for 2024 and reflects the significant challenges organizations' leaders face today. The COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden shift to remote work disrupted the foundation on which manager-employee relationships were traditionally built. This abrupt upheaval forced leaders to adapt, find new ways to communicate (both formally and informally), collaborate, and sustain strong cultures built on trust.

According to Gartner’s research on managerial failure, managers today are accountable for 51% more responsibilities than they can effectively manage. They found that 48% of managers are at risk of failure. Not surprisingly:

  • 54% are suffering from work-induced stress and fatigue.

  • 44% are struggling to provide personalized support to their direct reports.

Gartner identified four factors that predicted the risk of manager failure. These include a lack of self-awareness and empathy, goal misalignment, and interaction style in the post-pandemic work environment.

The Business Case

The case for strong leader and team relationships cannot be overstated. Strong relationships are a cornerstone of every organization’s success, resulting in positive employee engagement, high job satisfaction and retention, and overall employee well-being. Importantly, the research underscores two compelling business outcomes:

  • Creativity. Researchers in this 2023 study found a significant link between manager-employee relations that were built on cooperation, open communication, and mutual learning and the quality and quantity of creative tasks performed.

  • Employee performance and productivity. Key findings in this 2022 study reveal that a positive relationship with a manager is closely linked to increased motivation and performance, while a negative relationship is linked with poor performance.

The Challenges

Managers today have to overcome numerous obstacles and demands that compete for their time and attention – managing up, across, and down.

Building strong employer-employee relationships requires an ongoing commitment to making their direct reports feel valued, supported, and motivated. They face many challenges, including:

  • Diverse Generational Expectations. With as many as five different generations working simultaneously in the workplace, managing different working styles, preferences, and expectations demands different approaches. For example, compared to prior generations, younger workers report higher levels of general stress and burnout at work, leading to job-hopping and disengagement.

  • Remote Working Practices. This is a double-edged sword. Many workers want the flexibility that WFH policies provide. Still, these policies demand different leadership strategies to ensure employees feel connected, making a strong employer-employee relationship harder to achieve, especially for managers who struggle to make the shift.

  • Slipping Employee Engagement. In Gallup’s first quarter 2024 engagement index, employee engagement dropped to its lowest point in 13 years. According to Gallup, U.S. employees are increasingly detached from their employers. Employees report less role clarity, lower satisfaction with their organizations, and less connection to their companies’ mission or purpose. Plus, they are less likely to feel that someone at work cares about them.

“Employee engagement trends are significant because they link to many important performance outcomes crucial to organizational leaders such as productivity, employee retention, customer service, safety incidents, quality of work and profitability.”
— Gallup

Measuring the Strength of the Employer-Employee Relationship

Measuring the success of the employer-employee relationship is crucial for HR to assess the effectiveness of its efforts in fostering a positive work environment and promoting employee engagement and satisfaction. Here are several methods HR can use to measure the success of the employer-employee relationship:

  1. Employee Surveys: Conduct regular employee surveys to gather feedback on the quality of the employer-employee relationship. Include questions that assess factors such as communication, trust, recognition, and support from managers. Analyze survey results to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.

  2. Exit Interviews: Conduct interviews with departing employees to understand their reasons for leaving and their perceptions of the employer-employee relationship. Identify common themes or issues raised by departing employees and use this feedback to make targeted improvements.

  3. Performance Reviews: Review employee performance evaluations to assess the quality of the relationship between employees and their managers. Look for indicators of effective communication, collaboration, and support in performance feedback and ratings.

  4. Employee Turnover Rates: Monitor employee turnover rates to measure the strength of the employer-employee relationship. High turnover rates may indicate employee dissatisfaction or disengagement, while low turnover rates may suggest positive relationships and job satisfaction.

  5. Retention Rates: Track employee retention rates to assess the organization's ability to retain talent over time. Analyze retention data by department, job level, and other relevant factors to identify areas of concern and implement targeted retention strategies.

  6. Employee Referral Rates: Measure the number of employee referrals for open positions within the organization. High employee referral rates can indicate strong employer-employee relationships, as satisfied employees are more likely to recommend their workplace to others.

  7. Attendance and Absenteeism: Monitor employee attendance and absenteeism rates as a proxy for employee engagement and satisfaction. High levels of absenteeism may signal dissatisfaction or disengagement, while consistent attendance may indicate a positive work environment.

  8. Grievance and Complaint Resolution: Track the number and nature of employee grievances and complaints filed within the organization. Monitor how quickly and effectively HR and management address these issues to gauge the organization's responsiveness to employee concerns.

  9. Employee Engagement Scores: Measure employee engagement levels using surveys or assessments designed to evaluate factors such as job satisfaction, motivation, commitment, and loyalty. Analyze engagement scores over time to assess trends and identify areas for improvement.

  10. Quality of Work, Productivity, & Manager Failure Risk: Assess the quality of work and productivity of employees as indicators of the strength of the employer-employee relationship. Monitor key performance metrics, project outcomes, and customer satisfaction ratings to evaluate the impact of employee engagement on business results. Include the risk of manager failure in an organization’s risk management portfolio.

Overall, research consistently highlights the importance of investing in manager-employee relationships as a key driver of organizational success, employee engagement, and well-being. Organizations that prioritize building strong relationships between managers and employees and proactively work to achieve and sustain them are more likely to achieve their goals and thrive in today's competitive business environment.

Reading & References

Research

Articles

Webinar

  • “Managers Are Failing; Here's How HR Can Help Them.” A complimentary HR Gartner webinar hosted by Brent Cassell, VP of Advisory. Learn how the best organizations enable managers to lead successful teams in rapidly evolving employee and business expectations.

 
Workplace, LeadershipPam GrosickiEmployee relationships, Employer-employee relationships, Culture