In today’s ever-more demanding work environment, wellbeing has moved from a perk to a core business imperative. Leaders are increasingly recognising the link between a healthy, happy and engaged workforce and improved productivity, innovation, and retention.
However, a critical piece of the puzzle is often overlooked: the profound impact of line managers on the mental health and overall wellbeing of their teams. And interestingly, it can go both ways.
While companies invest in wellbeing (or rather, ‘wellness’) programmes and resources, the daily interactions and support (or lack thereof) from a line manager can be the deciding factor in whether an employee thrives or struggles.
But does the investment pay off?
It’s mixed. Some studies do show increased health and wellbeing and productivity, but others have not. Harvard Business School ran an RCT with a warehouse retailer of 26,000 people which included a month-long movement program (and various others) but saw no effect on health, performance or absenteeism results.
My old mantra is, ‘wellbeing is engagement, and engagement is wellbeing’ (although it’s more about ‘experience’ these days). Ultimately, it’s how you feel at work.
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve’s recent book, ‘Why Workplace Wellbeing Matters’ reinforces this, emphasising that a supportive work environment, often cultivated by managers, is crucial for individual and organisational success. At least 70% of the variance in employee engagement comes from your line manager (Gallup). Yet, despite this clear link, organisations often fail to effectively equip managers for this responsibility.
A large-scale field experiment with 20 large businesses in Turkey found that a leadership programme called ‘Transforming the Relational Atmosphere in firms’ saw an increase in job satisfaction and reciprocity with a decrease in toxic competition. Employees saw their managers as more empathetic and supportive. But it wasn’t just what they taught, but how. Following the initial learning, they ran an 8-week program where leaders made suggestions to build better relationships into the day-to-day and were able to learn from each other’s experiences.
Why the Manager-Wellbeing Gap
One third of employees don’t feel their manager cares about their wellbeing and only half of managers check in with employees about how they’re doing (Deloitte Workplace Wellbeing 2023). There’s a growing need and expectation from employees for their managers to support their wellbeing, but there’s a disconnect with the actual knowledge, skills and resources they have to offer it.
This gap includes:
- Lack of training: Managers are often promoted based on technical skills or performance rather than their ability to lead with empathy. They can lack self-awareness, effectively communicate to build trust and aren’t able to recognise the cues to poor wellbeing.
- Lack of time: Managers are often overburdened with their own tasks and responsibilities, leaving them with little time or energy to focus on the wellbeing of their team.
- Fear of overstepping: Some managers are hesitant to engage in wellbeing conversations due to concerns about privacy, overstepping professional boundaries, being liked, or it simply being too awkward.
- Lower personal wellbeing: Managers themselves may be struggling with their own wellbeing making it difficult for them to effectively support others. Gallup’s ‘State of the Global Workplace’ found manager engagement fell from 30% to 27% (and even further for under 35s) whilst factors such as stress and sadness are increasing.
How to Close the Gap
Effective training and engaging resources are of course important (especially when we carefully consider how they are run), but we really need to intentionally create a culture of support too.
Let’s break down not just ‘what’ to do to close the gap but ‘how’:
- Develop more empathetic conversations: learning how to be curious, initiate and guide sensitive conversations about wellbeing and offering support without judgment.
- Build self-awareness: understanding ourselves better allows for us to realise how unintended cues and language can make or break trust. Understanding what determines great communication and leadership is one thing but knowing how to role model is another.
- Never a ‘one-and done’: True learning lives outside the classroom so ensure that you build in a follow-up session or programme so managers can learn from their own and their peers’ experiences, what works and what doesn’t.
- Support your manager’s wellbeing too: to put the oxygen mask on others, you need to put your own on first so show managers some love. Ensure your senior leaders understand what wellbeing at work really means and equip them with the ability to role model it through their own learning experiences and resources.
Offering one-to-one coaching is a great way to support those who struggle the most with the topic and to bring the learning into their day-to-day experiences in an empathic way that also builds accountability.
Managers who receive ‘best practice’ training see their team and their own engagement improve from 20% to 28% (Gallup 2024).With training, comes materials, so consider providing simple guides. Think about the lack of time managers have and provide simple, actionable manager guides that contain all the supplier details, contact details of HR and councillors, conversation starters, how to spot lower wellbeing, and even useful AI tools to support them further.
Consider onboarding managers at a time when they might be less busy to run-through the guide. Offer support to them, allow them to ask questions and check they understand.
And finally, create a culture of wellbeingor simplya more supportive organisation through some of these ways:
- Lead by example: Encourage the CEO to adopt more supportive, human language, with senior leadership role-modelling healthy behaviours and, where appropriate, sharing their own wellbeing challenges.
- Promote open communication: Foster a culture where employees feel comfortable discussing their wellbeing concerns with their managers who will actively listen and reassure them that it’s held in complete confidence.
- Recognise supportive behaviours: Acknowledge managers who actively support the wellbeing of their teams as well as look after their own wellbeing. Provide ways to share their stories and ideas with other teams.
And this is a big one:
- Align with operations: You can talk all day about wellbeing, but you must ensure you’re aligning your processes and ways or working that support your people to thrive. Be authentic, share progress being made and your plans to develop a healthier, more productive way of working.
The Bottom Line
Line managers are the linchpin of employees’ having a good experience at work and a successful wellbeing or EX strategy.
By addressing the manager-wellbeing gap through targeted, experiential learning, coupled with coaching and a supportive organisational culture, companies can create managers to become true advocates of employee wellbeing.
Ignoring this critical element is not only detrimental to employee wellbeing but also puts greater risk on the overall success of the organisation. And take it from us (and the overwhelming evidence behind it), the return on investment is worth it.
Chloe Foy
Chloe Foy is Senior Consultant at McCann Synergy, the specialist employee experience and engagement consultancy, where she has worked for the last six years. A strategic consultant, facilitator and certified coach (ICF), Chloe works with senior leaders and teams from some of the world's largest businesses to diagnose problems, define the strategy and deliver the solutions which tackle organisational culture, team challenges and behaviour change.