Immediate Supervisors Are Key to Employee Engagement

Friday, March 22, 2013

In a recent study by Dale Carnegie Training, respondents reported that their immediate supervisor played an essential role in their engagement with organizational values, initiatives, and goals. The study conducted between February 2012 and April 2012 by MSW Research at the request of Dale Carnegie Training included 1,500 employed participants ages 18 and above.

The study’s significant finding was that an employee’s supervisor has a direct and determinate impact on the engagement level of the employee. A strong correlation was seen between an employee’s level of “satisfaction” and their level of disengagement. In summary, 80% of employees who were found to be Very Dissatisfied were also found to be disengaged; furthermore, employees attributed this lack of engagement to their relationship with their immediate supervisor.

     • 80% – Very Dissatisfied

     • 54% – Somewhat Dissatisfied

     • 52% – Neutral

     • 18% – Somewhat Satisfied

     • 13% – Very Satisfied

It is axiomatic; employees don’t leave organizations they leave people, i.e., immediate supervisors. A simple Internet search will find dozens of articles from the likes of Forbes, Robert Half, Wharton, and others, which cite the inter-relationship between the employee and their manager as pivotal to talent management and retention. All relationships, whether professional or intimate, are personal.

While many employees want to be employed by a well known and well respected employer, e.g., Apple, Google, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, IBM NY, Southwest, Berkshire Hathaway, Walt Disney or FedEx; an employee ultimately reports to an individual. Immediate supervisors are often gatekeepers, dolling out assignments, giving directions, rating performance, and evaluating future organizational potential. In such a role, immediate supervisors have the ability to motivate mid-level talent to be a top performer and de-motivate top talent to be an under-performer. Immediate supervisors can be a coach, mentor, and teacher or they can be a stumbling block, an impediment or obstruction to the employee.

Employee turnover costs both in monetary terms and customer goodwill are significant to source, recruit, hire, train, and retain the talent organizations need to be successful. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) have jointly worked to develop a standardized cost model for employee turnover. At an estimated turnover cost range of one to three times base salary, replacing even a small number of employees becomes burdensome to any organization. Furthermore, if that turnover is directly linked to supervisors and managers who lack employee management skills, the potential for litigation and its costs become unacceptable.

According to DruckerPhilosophy.com, “The role you have as a manager does define power within the corporation; however, it is not this power that manages people. It is the task of leading people.” As any new military officer will tell you, you lead through motivation and not intimidation. The talent in today’s workplace must be lead and the role of the immediate supervisor is to provide that leadership. Leadership is gained through the respect that others bestow; respect is given, not demanded from today’s talent.