We all know the saying: people leave managers not organisations. And now we have the data to back it up.
Managers have more of an impact on employee engagement than anyone else in your organisation.
That means organisations can't afford to overlook how their leaders communicate, support, and develop employees.
According to a survey completed by InteractSoftware, managers account for 70 per cent of the change in employee engagement. Meaning 70 per cent of employees are disengaged because of their manager.
But because so many Gen Z employees are looking for mentorship and growth, it’s important that managers in your organisation take growing and developing employees seriously.
According to a LinkedIn study, over 90 per cent of employees would stay with their current organisation if they invested more in their development. And in today’s workplace, it takes collaborative effort across HR, managers, and leaders to raise a strong team.
Because it takes a village to raise a child.
But developing talent takes time. And this development can lead to an improved employee experience, help develop talent in your organisation, and give HR teams more time to focus on strategic HR. So it’s really a win-win for everyone in the organisation.
And there are more benefits than just improved employee development. A recent report from UKG found that managers have more influence on employees’ mental health than doctors or therapists.
In this blog, we’ll explore why managers affect employee engagement, how they can directly improve it by focusing on developing employees and helping them grow and why they have such an influence on their wellbeing.
A talent reality
An executive walks into your office and asks you to put together a new team to work on a new sales project. You know there are plenty of top performers in the sales team, but you realise you haven’t spent enough time working on their professional development.
Reality sets in: if HR’s not developing talent, then no one in your organisation is. Managers in your organisation might not have the time to develop talent. Executives are filling their plates with other projects and deliverables.
A great way to incentivise managers to focus on employee development and engagement is to make it part of their performance review.
You can take it one step further by asking employees to identify one area of development they would like to learn more about during the upcoming year. It could be a goal that managers and employees agree upon. Not only does this help the organisation develop talent, but it can start a conversation about where employees would like to be in the years to come.
Some managers are hesitant to develop employees because they think it will lead to their succession.
They're wrong about that. You don’t have to wait for plans when it comes to future staffing. Holding everyone accountable for development can keep efforts moving in a positive direction, even when formal plans aren’t being made.
Because effectively managing talent and developing future employees is key to future organisational growth.
Managers and employee wellbeing
Research shows that managers influence two things that affect employee wellbeing and, in turn, employee engagement.
Trust and change.
Managers need to remain transparent, real and vulnerable because these skills communicate to employees that they’re appreciated. And when it comes to change, managers have a habit of leaving things implied and not express them. Meaning they fail to communicate directly, and instead leave matters relating to change implied. So, make sure managers know that if they think they’ve communicated clearly, try saying it again!
Another tip is to make sure employees hear about changes directly from the manager rather than from the water bubbler. Even if managers aren’t able to share certain information with employees, it’s still important to be upfront about this and acknowledge employees’ concerns.
This shows employees that managers are trustworthy and ultimately helps keep employee engagement high, and employees are more receptive to being developed and trained by managers.
Make managers indispensable
Developing employees doesn’t make a manager dispensable.
Quite the opposite, if managers in your organisation have a reputation for developing employees and focusing on employee engagement, it will make the manager indispensable.
I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of LinkedIn posts and probably attended a few seminars and workshops that talk about the importance of managers developing employee engagement so they never want to leave.
Well, that’s not necessarily the point. You don’t want to keep employees in your organisation so they never leave.
So what’s the roadmap for helping managers build that kind of trust, engagement, and momentum? It starts with the right training and mindset. And how do you do it?
Train managers to develop employees
It’s important to recognise that managers are struggling with burdens of their own. They’re more stressed than employees and are feeling burned out.
So it’s important you listen to managers too. They have a keen sense of where employees need to upskill and are more likely to initiate training with managers than HR.
So when possible, find out from managers where their team members need to upskill so you can help facilitate. Once you’ve done that, you can work with managers to create structured targets for development. Because managers have more visibility and control over employees than HR, use them as a Trojan horse to develop talent.
For example, encourage managers to announce new development and training sessions directly with employees as opposed to it coming from HR. The burden of employee development and engagement doesn’t have to fall on HR. It takes a village to raise a child. And managers are in a unique position to drive employee engagement, they just need the tools to build it.
About us
Martian Logic helps HR teams build workplaces where great managers grow even greater people. Our HRIS makes it easier to turn every manager into a culture-shaping, development-driving force by giving HR the tools to track growth, embed feedback loops, and build engagement from the inside out. Whether you're coaching leaders to support Gen Z talent or redefining performance reviews to prioritise development, we help you turn good intentions into action. Ready to build a company where managers actually lead?
