Last month, StepStone unveiled that professional relationships in Belgium had suffered since the start of the COVID crisis. Now, the Belgian jobsite shares further data on the impact on mental well-being. For instance, 1 in 3 of employees suffer from nightmares due to their boss, which is an increase versus 23% of the 2019 edition. An alarming 31% have already sought help for their mental health – almost doubled when compared to the 16% in 2019 – while the same number of employees has already quit their job due to a bad relationship.
With this study with over 2000 respondents, StepStone aims to provide fresh insights and raise awareness for the well-being of employees and managers in order to map out and understand the relationship between both.
3 in 4 of employees want a different manager
In January 2022, a study by StepStone unveiled that 40% of employees feel that the relationship with their manager has deteriorated since COVID, as well as the main reasons for this: a lack of support from their manager (according to 58%), a lack of rewards (52%) & increased stress due to their manager (46%).
When asked if they wanted a different manager, a staggering 74% of all surveyed employees now confirmed that they would want this. The three main reasons were:
- They don’t like his/her management style (according to 64%)
- They don’t trust their manager (according to 62%)
- They feel their manager doesn’t treat everyone equally (according to 58%)
- They don’t think their manager deserves to be a manager (according to 55%)
- They don’t have a good professional relationship with their manager (according to 49%). The reason of having a bad personal relationship was mentioned by 22%.
On the personal relationship, 47% of employees said they are “just colleagues” with their manager, while 6% would consider them friends and 17% dislikes their manager on a personal level. The remaining 30% said they did not have any clear relationship with their superior. Additionally, 45% of employees said they would actively try to avoid seeing their manager outside of the workplace. Only 6% of managers said the same.
Bad relationships have an impact on well-being: nightmares and seeking mental health help on the rise versus 2019
It should not come as a surprise that a bad professional or personal relationship between employees and managers can result in a negative impact on mental well-being:
- 33% of all surveyed employees said they regularly suffered from nightmares due to the relationship with their manager.
- 31% said that they have already sought help for their mental health and well-being, due to this relationship.
In comparison with the 2019 results, these numbers have increased significantly (with 23% suffering from nightmares & 16% having sought help for their mental health).
Potential reasons for this increase could be the related increase of the number of employees saying they have a worse relationship since COVID, as well as increased awareness on the topic since the health crisis, with employees being more outspoken, when compared to two years ago.
1 in 3 has already quit their job due to their manager
Unfortunately, having a bad relationship can impact further aspects of the personal and professional life:
- Almost one in five (17%) of the surveyed employees have already requested to change teams within their company, specifically due to a bad relationship with their manager.
- One in three (31%) said they have already quit their job due to the same reason.
When compared to the results of the 2019 study, this last number has improved from 40% having quit their job in 2019 to 31% in 2022.
A potential reason to explain this decrease of resignations can be found in the COVID crisis, with many employees preferring job security over the insecurity of starting a new career.
Methodology
StepStone completed this survey in November 2021. Our analysists have screened the data to ensure both the representation and the validity of respondents’ answers are accurate.
In total, there were 2,031 filled in surveys submitted in Dutch, French and English. Among them were 1,731 employees and 244 managers.