A recent survey conducted by jobs.lu revealed that, for more than 20% of employees in Luxembourg, a bad relationship with a manager has caused them to suffer from nightmares. More worrying still is that nearly one in five say they have sought help out of fear for their mental health, due to a poor relationship with a superior.

Luxembourg,11th Febuary 2022 – During the second half of 2021, jobs.lu wanted to better understand the perception and expectations that employees and managers have of each other. With this in mind, jobs.lu, as the country’s main digital recruitment platform, conducted a survey of 470 employees and managers to find out their point of view.

The conclusions of this survey have shed light on the harmful consequences that relationship problems with a manager can have on an employee’s well-being.

Not just nightmares, but mental health risks as well

More than one in five employees (21.70%) say that their relationship with their manager has already given them nightmares. More worrying still is that nearly one in five say they have sought help because they were worried about their mental health, due to a poor relationship with a superior.

“These results have made us aware of the consequences that can result from harmful relationships between an employee and their manager, said Arthur Meulman, CEO of jobs.lu. To prevent possible psychosocial risks, it is important to ensure the quality of team management and to ensure that the support teams are appropriately trained. However, our survey revealed that a third of team leaders (31%) say they have never received training related to their management function.”

Employees rate their manager 6 out of 10

Beyond these findings, the survey also highlights the importance of a manager’s communication skills and the need to provide regular feedback in building good relationships. “It is essential that managers acquire specific skills to support teams and help employees on a daily basis, Arthur Meulman adds. Yet our survey shows that a third of team leaders (31%) say that they have never received any training related to their management role.”

The average rating given by employees to their manager was 5.9 out of 10. The managers themselves rated their skill level at 8.7/10. “This finding highlights in particular the importance of feedback from the manager to the employee, but also from the employee to the manager,” Arthur Meulman continued. “At the core of the relationship the manager has with the team, he or she has to show openness, an ability to submit their management style to constructive feedback and to self-evaluate.”

One in five employees try to avoid their superior outside the workplace

The survey sought to identify what employees considered to be inappropriate managerial behaviour. Respondents said they were mostly annoyed by:

• informal threats from a manager (58%);
• disrespectful behaviour towards other employees behind their backs (47%);
• criticism from colleagues in public (47%).

Finally, when asked about their social relations with their superior, 40% of respondents insisted on the importance of a strict separation between their professional and private lives. 19% of respondents would also actively try to avoid their boss outside of the workplace.

Methodology

As part of its “Employee-manager relationships” survey, jobs.lu submitted a questionnaire relating to working relations between employees and managers to a sample of employees and managers working in Luxembourg.

The questionnaire focused on: each participant’s expectations and experiences in terms of professional relations, and on how the way management handled the pandemic impacted these relations.

The questionnaire, available in English and French, was completed on Friday 13 August 2021 by 470 participants, of whom 313 were employees. The data collected is intended to reveal a snapshot of the situation experienced by employees and managers in Luxembourg. These data are sensitive to the time and the situation experienced at the time of the survey. Our analysts sifted through the results to ensure that the representation and validity of respondents’ responses was accurate.