Senior managers need to work on their relationship with line staff

It’s not just line managers who need to improve their relationships with line staff, if research from CIPD is anything to go by. The organization partnered with HR software company Halogen to research employee engagement in the UK, and found for many companies the biggest problem is with senior managers.

While 64% of employees were satisfied with their relationships with their line managers, only half of employees trusted or had confidence in their senior managers. And most employees said senior managers did not consult employees about important decisions.

What makes the senior manager-employee relationship significant is that there is a link between perceptions of those managers and employees’ perception of exposure to excessive pressure at work. Those who strongly disagreed that they had confidence in senior managers, trusted them, and felt respected and consulted by them, were significantly more likely to respond that they experienced excessive pressure at work either daily or weekly.

“With employee perceptions of the job market improving organizations need to be proactive about their retention strategies if they want to prevent their best talent from jumping ship,” said Donna Ronayne, VP of Marketing at Halogen. She recommended implementing processes that allow senior managers to connect with employees. “And managers need to be given the tools and training to identify and highlight those employees that add the most value to the business for differential reward, and progression,” she said.