Working relationships: managers and their teams

The relationships employees have with their colleagues and the types of working relationships they build undoubtedly impact their day-to-day life, and the workforce as a whole.

Some find best friends at the office, others “enemies”. What about the working relationships between managers and their reports? Previous research from Totaljobs delved into the intricacies of this workplace relationship to uncover what reports want from their managers, how these colleagues interact with one another, and how employers can support managers in being strong mentors and for junior staff. We found that good relationships can lead to a productive and happy working environment, while poor relationships can have the opposite effect.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at those findings, and go over ways to improve relationships between managers and their teams.

What do reports want from a manager?

While not everyone will want to share their personal life with their manager, knowing that the option is there is important to cementing relationships between managers and their reports.

We found that over half of employees never socialise with their manager – whether that’s during breaks, lunchtime, work hours, or at work events. This means that communication is reduced to emails and meetings, which can limit the success of the working relationship.

One result of this lack of communication is that only a third (34%) feel confident approaching their manager with a work-related problem. Even less – 20% – feel confident approaching their manager with a personal issue. Managers appear more at ease, with 81% saying they’re confident dealing with a direct report’s work problems. However, this drops to 61% in relation to handling personal problems.

With this, 57% of managers say they trust their report, yet only one in five (18%) reports feel the same way. This imbalance means that reports are less likely to be open with their manager, which could cause problems down the line.

Impact of good relationships between managers and employees

Managers fostering positive relationships with their direct reports can result in numerous benefits for employers. This includes:

• Increased productivity: If workers feel more comfortable asking for guidance and clarification on tasks, they are more likely to do better work and be more productive.
• Higher employee retention: With higher levels of workplace satisfaction and engagement, fewer employees are going to be looking to leave, helping to improve employee retention.
• Better collaboration: With open communication where managers and reports share experience, teams will improve their collaborative working.
• Boosting internal talent pools: Strong relationships between managers and employees are crucial for building internal talent pools. Future managers could be in your teams’ ranks, so they should form a key part of your succession planning.

Impact of poor relationships between managers and employees

On the flip side, poor working relationships can have a detrimental impact in the workplace, resulting in:

• High employee turnover: Nearly half of employees (49%) said they have quit a job due to poor manager relationships.
• Decreased mental wellbeing: We found that problems between managers and their reports lead to 26% of employees to seek mental health support.
• More instability: These poor relationships make teams less stable, with 19% of employees admitting they have requested team transfers to avoid difficult managers.
• Reduced productivity: Communication barriers will lead to a lack of trust, which will inevitably cause reduced engagement and productivity.
• Increased workplace stress: Having a poor relationship with a manager can add stress to an employee’s day-to-day life.

How to improve working relationships between managers and their teams

There are numerous ways employers can support managers in building effective relationships with employees and unlock some of the benefits outlined above. Let’s take a look some of the strategies you can start to implement.

Ensuring managers receive appropriate training

Many people are promoted or hired into manager positions due to their time in the company or industry, or because of their expertise in their area of work. While these are indicators of potential management material, there is a lot more to being a good manager, which often requires some level of specific managerial training to understand.

Our previous research shows that 39% of managers have never received formal management training, while 18% received their training over a year late. This should be a major cause of concern. Even of those who did receive training, only 69% reported feeling effectively prepared for their managerial responsibilities, leaving around 31% of managers unconfident and potentially unready. We found managers particularly need guidance on supporting team development, providing feedback, and maintaining productive relationships with their reports.

This demonstrates the importance of well-structured and targeted formal training, which significantly boosts management confidence and effectiveness.

Providing managers with specific training on interviews

Manager and employee relationships don’t just start on an employee’s first day, often they can begin during the recruitment process. However, according to our research, on top of day-to-day team management training, managers need support with recruitment.

With 62% of line managers conducting interviews without any interview training, there’s a clear need for improvement in hiring practices. Knowing how to conduct an interview effectively is vital for attracting top candidates. We found 37% of candidates have withdrawn job applications due to interviewer behaviour, highlighting how untrained managers can impact talent acquisition.

Incorporate essential management practices

There are several best practices uncovered previously in our research that managers can look to implement to better support their teams. These include:

• Conducting regular one-to-one meetings to discuss both personal relationship building and how to complete tasks effectively
• Implementing clear learning and development programmes
• Providing detailed job descriptions
• Offering specific, constructive feedback
• Establishing defined performance indicators