Almost four out of five (78 per cent) of employees have experienced poor management in the transport and distribution sector at least one in their career, according to research by YouGov on behalf of MHR.
The research, which surveyed more than 2,000 British employees, found that 71 per cent of employees in the sector who have experienced poor management or a poor manager have considered leaving a job and, among these, 51 per cent actually quit their job because of bad management.
“The survey highlights a widespread failure in the way organisations prepare and train people managers to take care of their staff effectively,” said Julie Lock, service development director at MHR. “While managers are commonly trained in company policy and may understand organisational processes and procedures like the back of their hand, most don’t possess the people skills required to handle the human aspect of management and receive no training for this, which, as the research illustrates, can have damaging and long-lasting repercussions when it comes to employee engagement, talent retention and wellbeing.
“Managers promoted from within often struggle to make the transition from being everyone’s friend to being the boss, while managers appointed from outside an organisation often arrive wanting to prove their managerial abilities, but find it difficult to balance demonstrating authority with wanting people to like them. Being a good people manager requires a very specific skillset, the right training and effective internal processes that drive employee engagement.”
