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Improving line management

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Why line management matters

Line management is where a company’s policies, and the rhetoric of CEOs and senior leaders, are translated into actual day-to-day practices. A well-trained and supportive line manager can make all the difference, helping to improve the working lives of those they manage for the better. A poor or ineffective line manager, on the other hand, can have a negative impact on both workers and the organisation they work for. This is particularly true for those in insecure work, where your line manager has a lot of power over whether you get any work 5 .

The role of a line manager

Acas explains 6 that while the role (and title) of a line manager can vary, the duties usually involve:

  • Leading a team of staff in a way that means they’re engaged with work and support the aims of the organisation. This includes providing feedback and support when needed
  • Looking after those in their team, and taking all reasonable steps to ensure their health, safety and wellbeing
  • Ensuring that those in their team are aware of their employment rights, contractual terms, and the employer’s policies
  • Managing the work of their team so that tasks are correctly prioritised and completed on time
  • Developing those they manage
  • Dealing with any issues that might affect the performance of the team

Impact on workers

Plenty of the issues we see in the workplace often, at least partly, stem from poor line management. Poor line management can be a contributing factor towards:

  • Conflict in the workplace
  • Discriminatory performance management
  • Gender and racial inequality
  • A culture of sexual harassment
  • Poor staff health and wellbeing
  • Low take-up of flexible working

Conflict in the workplace

The most common form of interpersonal conflict in the workplace is with one’s own line manager 7 . This can be due to attempts to manage the performance of individual employees 8 . But it’s not just performance management. Some of the main causes of conflict at work include poor management, unfair treatment, poor communications, poor work environment, and bullying and harassment 9 . It’s easy to see the role a line manager can play in each of these.

Line managers also have a role in dealing with conflict. The most common response to conflict is an informal approach, and it’s important this works, because the second and third most common responses are the staff member looking for another job and formal procedures 10 . Line managers are best placed to nip problems in the bud early on. Early conflict resolution, however, requires managers with the necessary skills, confidence, and support from HR and senior management to resolve difficult issues with staff. Unfortunately, there’s qualitative evidence that line managers are struggling with informal approaches due to lack of skills, support or time 11 .

Discriminatory performance management

The Labour Research Department (LRD) views performance management as the key frontline issue in modern workplaces. It argues that its becoming increasingly punitive and individualistic, worsened by the type of micro-management that’s now possible due to technological change and vulnerable to all types of biases and discrimination 12 . Research by the CIPD shows that performance management systems are vulnerable to line manager bias. This includes racial and gender biases, as well as factors such as whether your manager personally likes you, or whether it was them who hired or recommended you 13 . Line manager biases can have an impact on workers’ pay if an employer uses performance-related pay. This can lead to pay inequalities. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), for example, calls performance-related pay a “risky practice that may lead to unequal pay” 14 .

An example of how performance management can be discriminatory has been highlighted by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS). PCS successfully campaigned 15  against a “forced distribution” performance management system introduced across all government departments. Research by PCS, as well as research it commissioned, found that the system was highly discriminatory, and led to “significant differences in outcomes based on gender, age, grade and working patterns, and particularly in relation to disability and ethnicity”. Dr Steve French, who carried out research for PCS, gave line manager bias as a reason for the discrimination 16 .

Gender and racial inequality

Line managers are vital in ensuring that an organisation’s attempts to increase equality and diversity in the workplace actually materialise and have a meaningful impact. The CMI has shown the importance of line managers in delivering both gender 17  and racial equality 18  in the workplace. Both reports talk about the need for line managers to act as role models; behaving and managing in a way that creates and promotes equality. Unfortunately, line managers don’t always live up to the role. For example, many of the women interviewed for the research on gender equality said they had “seen their line managers block, not champion, change”. This was backed up the CMI’s quantitative survey, which found that only a quarter of managers actively and visibly championed gender initiatives. Less than half of managers, for example, were ensuring that women and men received equal voice in meetings and when making decisions. 

A culture of sexual harassment

The CMI report on gender equality emphasises the importance of “fixing broken windows” – tackling seemingly small incidents, such as jokey comments that line managers let slide, that all contribute to a negative workplace culture. Some of what might be called “broken windows” behaviours, however, can constitute sexual harassment. Previous research by the TUC has shown the extent of sexual harassment in the workplace 19 . More than half (52 per cent) of the women we polled and surveyed had experienced some form of sexual harassment while at work, with the most common forms being hearing comments of a sexual nature about another woman (35 per cent) and unwelcome jokes of a sexual nature (32 per cent).

Of those who experienced sexual harassment at work, over half told us that the perpetrator was a colleague. 17 per cent told us that it was their direct manager or someone else with direct authority over them. Four-in-five women did not report the sexual harassment to their employer. Of the minority who did, very few saw a positive outcome. In anonymous survey responses, those who had experienced harassment told us about how managers were dismissive when complaints were made. This all points towards the fact that some line managers are not doing enough to counteract workplace cultures that allow sexual harassment to go unchecked, and, when it does happen, are failing to respond to complaints effectively or sympathetically. In some cases, they themselves are the perpetrators.

Poor staff health and wellbeing.

The CIPD argues that good line management and supportive relationships appear to be the key way to support healthy working lives and help to avoid situations that are unhealthy 20 . It’s therefore concerning that further research by the CIPD has shown that only half of organisations agree that line managers are bought in to the importance of well-being. As an added concern, “management style” is the second most common cause of stress at work, behind workloads.

Training is a clear issue here, with too many organisations simply not providing their line managers with the tools to support workers facing health issues. For example, a quarter of organisations that give line managers primary responsibility for managing short- or long-term absence haven’t actually trained them in managing absence, and a similar percentage of organisations don’t provide them with the support to do so.

Training for line managers on managing and supporting staff with mental ill health is particularly lacking. The percentage of organisations providing training to managers on supporting staff with mental ill health are rising but remain low (40 per cent). Given the lack of training, it’s unsurprising that only 30 per cent of organisations reported that managers are confident to have sensitive discussions and signpost staff to expert help if needed 21 . This training is vital, for both the worker and the line manager, as dealing with health and illness issues can be damaging to both the line manager and the worker if the line managers lacks the skills, confidence and time to deal with them effectively 22 .

Low take-up of flexible working.

All employees that have worked for the same employer for at least 26 weeks have the right to request flexible working 23 . Line managers are vital in ensuring that those they manage can work flexibly, and they need to be trained and supported on how to effectively manage those who choose to do so. Line managers are key to the successful implementation of flexible working 24 , and resistant line managers can act as a barrier 25 . Research into workers’ experience of flexible working reinforces the importance of line managers, especially for parents and carers, with a supportive line manager often being the difference between whether an employee works flexibly26 , 27 , 28 . Getting flexible working right is important, as it has plenty of benefits for both employees and employers, including increased job satisfaction, improved well-being, increased productivity, and as a means of improving the gender pay gap 29 .

It’s important that line managers are trained on managing flexible workers 30 , yet almost a quarter of organisations (23 per cent) have provided no training at all, and more than half of organisations have only provided training to a quarter (or less) of their managers .

Impact on productivity

In terms of the business impact of poor line management, there’s a growing amount of evidence that line management might be one of the solutions for solving the UK’s productivity problems. 

For the past decade, there’s been a problem with productivity in the UK. Productivity unsurprisingly slumped after the recession. Unlike after past recessions, however, it never recovered to its previous growth trend. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) refers to this long stagnation in productivity as the UK’s ‘productivity puzzle’ 32 .

This decade-long productivity problem isn’t something that’s affecting all countries. Between 2007 and 2016, the UK has lagged behind, and dragged down, the G7 average for productivity growth 33 . Our productivity performance is the second worse across the G7 countries during this period, with only Italy performing worse.

Productivity growth chart 2007
Sources: ONS,OECD

There’s been plenty of debate about why productivity in the UK is so weak 34 , with the TUC’s view being that austerity policies, low wages, a lack of worker voice, and low investment have all played a role. There’s clearly more than just one factor to blame, and an increasing amount of evidence points towards poor management practices being at least one of the other factors in the productivity slump.

Research conducted by the ONS “found a significant correlation between management practices and labour productivity” in both the services and production sectors. When management scores between 0 and 1 are given to firms, an increase in management score of 0.1 is associated with a 9.6 per cent increase in productivity. Put simply, improvements in management practices are associated with significant increases in productivity.

This is consistent with a broad literature on the link between management practices and productivity, such as the work of Bender 35 , Bloom 34 and Van Reenen. The ONS research, however, is unique in that it looks at a broader range of industries than other studies, and has a particular focus on the UK.

The ONS clarifies that, at the moment these findings are ‘not necessarily causal’. However, there’s a clear correlation between improving line management and improving productivity that suggests better line management may contribute to solving our productivity puzzle.

 
Contents
01
Summary
02
Why line management matters
03
The current state of line management
04
Why isn’t line management better?
05
What we want to see change
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