By Shannon Shaffer: Manager-employee relations directly impact employee engagement and satisfaction and are a significant factor in the workplace environment. Moreover, they can help improve companies’ agility, speed, and transparency, so it’s no surprise many businesses now spend more money on maintaining and enhancing these connections. In this article, we’ll discuss why they are so crucial for companies and their performance, and we’ll also cover some tips for maintaining a positive atmosphere within the company.
Why are these Relations so Important?
In addition to creating a positive work environment, good relationships between managers and employees streamline project management and bring many other benefits to a business, so it’s essential to keep such relations as smooth as possible. Here are some of the main advantages of having excellent manager-employee relations in your company.
Employee loyalty and retention
You’ve probably heard this before: “Employees don’t leave their jobs. They leave bad bosses.” Well, it turns out this saying is absolutely true. If they believe that the work culture is toxic, around 40% of employees will start looking for a new job long before they give their two-weeks notice. It comes as no surprise that this mainly occurs when company managers fail to improve relations with the workers. When communication is bad, which is often true given the popularity of remote work and the inability of companies to adapt, these relationships suffer at a much higher rate.
In a way, failing or declining to enhance manager-employee relationships costs companies. For starters, the costs of hiring and training a new employee are higher than the cost of retaining one. Moreover, an employee leaving your company due to bad manager-employee relations damages the company’s employee brand. For example, a disgruntled ex-employee is more likely to make a negative social media post about your company or leave a bad review on Glassdoor. Since no one wants to work in a toxic environment, this also makes it difficult to attract new talent.
Employee motivation
Positive working relationships inspire employees to put out their best effort. A recent study found that positive relationships with managers are strongly correlated with higher levels of employee motivation and productivity, whereas unfavorable relationships are associated with lower productivity.
Improving Manager-Employee Relations
With all this in mind, here are some viable tactics you may use to foster positive manager-employee relations in your company:
Regular manager-employee meetings
Employees need to feel as if they’re being heard. They also need to know what they’re doing right or wrong. Setting up frequent one-on-one meetings with workers is essential to improve relations since it provides a secure environment for employers and employees to discuss all kinds of issues. It’s also an excellent strategy to give and receive feedback about what works and needs improvement inside the company. Believe it or not, a strategy like this can help you retain staff and keep them motivated, even in a crisis.
Another aspect to consider in maintaining a positive workplace environment and employee satisfaction is the decision-making process regarding business operations, such as whether to opt for outsourcing or in-house shipping, for example. Evaluating the pros and cons of each approach can help your company make a strategic choice that impacts employee engagement and overall performance.
Reward Hard Work
While everyday feedback is essential, creating a rewards program and other incentives for those employees doing exceptionally well and achieving great results is also a good idea. Believe it or not, traditional employee bonuses and benefits work wonders even for younger generations. Some of them are extra vacation days, gym subscriptions, and regular cash bonuses. Of course, you do need to lower your expectations a bit if you’re not offering groundbreaking bonuses. You can’t expect your employees to feel motivated to go above and beyond.
As a manager, it’s your job to keep your employees motivated, or they might start to resent you. This isn’t always easy, especially when a company is experiencing changes, whether that’s personnel changes, or relocation. In the latter case, you can at least listen to the advice of professionals and hire movers to limit disruptions to the work process and finish the relocation process quickly and easily.
Final Thoughts
Overall, a positive work environment can only be produced when both employers and employees contribute to the organization’s progress. Positive manager-employee relations are crucial and can create an upbeat work atmosphere. As a result, employees are content and pleased at work. They’re also more motivated and less likely to seek a new job.
About the Author: Shannon Shaffer is an experienced HR professional specializing in employee motivation and retention. Whenever she’s not working, she loves sharing her experiences and providing guidelines to her struggling HR peers.
