anna denton-jones september 15 th 2015 line managers: what everyone needs to know

Anna Denton-JonesSeptember 15th 2015

Line Managers: what everyone needs to know

navigating employment law

The line manager


Group work discussions


The performance conundrum• The UK has a productivity deficit. The most recent

ONS survey found that output per hour in the UK was 15 percentage points below the average for the rest of the G7 industrialised nations in 2011;

• On an output per worker basis, UK productivity was 20 percentage points lower than the rest of the G7 in 2011.

• This represents the widest productivity gap since 1995.


• Output per worker 2% lower than when recession started in 2008

• Survey after survey indicates that only around one third of UK workers say they are engaged – a figure which leaves the UK ranked 9th for engagement levels amongst the world’s twelfth largest economies as ranked by GDP (Kenexa 2009).


Employee engagement

• is a workplace approach designed to ensure that employees are committed to their organisation's goals and values, motivated to contribute to organisational success, and are able at the same time to enhance their own sense of well-being.

• “This is about how we create the conditions in which employees offer more of their capability and potential.” – David Macleod


The Towers Watson 2007–2008 Global Workforce study

• organisations with high employee engagement benefited from a 19% increase in operating income

• organisations with low levels of engagement saw a 32% drop

• organisations with highly engaged workforces experienced a 28% growth in earnings per share

• 11% decline in earnings per share in organisations with low levels of engagement.


Real opportunity for HR to make a difference?

• The culture is starting to change• Realisation that:– people and their willingness to expend

‘discretionary’ effort matters– organisation culture and environment critical

• Penny dropping about importance of selection, development and managing the performance of line managers


CIPD mega trends 2014

• Proportion of UK workforce that cite their line manager as a source of support is higher than European average

• 2/3 are satisfied with their manager• Managers are becoming better qualified but

major weaknesses are in coaching and in advising on training and development


CIPD mega trends 2014

• Biggest constraint for business = lack of management skill, leadership and vision

• Gap in trust in management – ‘them and us’ culture

• Benefits of adopting a ‘high performance working’ strategies on eg:- employee well-being


High performance working

• Three aspects– High levels of employee involvement– HR practices– Reward and commitment practices

• Tends to recognise importance of line management


Group discussion


Case study


Observations as a lawyer


Look at the documents

• Prepare before you take action– What does the contract say?– What do the policies and procedures say?– What has happened before?– What email correspondence has there been?– How has the organisation handled similar cases?


Think before you act

• How would I feel if I were in this person’s shoes?

• What process would I want to apply if it were me?

• What else might be going on in the background?

• Have I been fair to this person?• Apply a sense of ‘time perspective’


Regular risk reviews

• Identify those situations that are starting to go sour/become difficult and take some action

• Don’t leave things to fester• Ask another line manager what they would do

in the same situation: chances are someone’s been there.

• Speak to HR early/get support


Observations as a mediator


Common scenario 1

• Team loved their old manager who has since left.

• They have high hopes for their new manager• New manager has never worked at this level

before and lacks confidence• Higher management want the new manager

to make changes


Common scenario 2• A well established team has a new joiner• The new person has different values• Conflict emerges• The manager tries to deal with the conflict as best they

can• The new joiner raises a grievance against the manager• The manager takes it very personally and ends up sick• Other people in team ‘support’ the manager


Common scenario 3

• There has been a situation where people feel they should have had their manager’s/colleague’s support

• They feel that was lacking or that the line manager didn’t “have their backs” or the colleague undermined them

• They now feel they can never trust him or her again


Common scenario 4

• An individual feels that their job involves certain things and looks a certain way often because historically that’s been the case

• The [new] line manager expects the person to do the job completely differently

• There has never been any real discussion regarding this mismatch


Common scenario 5

• Manager’s management style is ‘control and command’, emails are very ‘direct’ and feels that it is perfectly legitimate to ask staff to do things

• Team reacts badly to that sort of management style – they would prefer a more consultative approach where they feel their views are shared – they view management style as if they are being ‘told off’ and disciplined


What things can organisations do to improve?

• Use consultation bodies/ICON/newsletters to cascade information

• Better training in giving continuous feedback positive and negative

• Training in how to have difficult conversations• Offer mediation under a mediation policy earlier• Coaching for managers who have an ‘unfortunate’

management style?



• Encourage less use of email?• Use personality profiling so manger’s can

anticipate the sources of conflict in teams?• Don’t belittle the issue• Train internal mediators to nip things in the

bud• Don’t allow people to get away with

behaviours that are problematic



• 1:1 supervision meetings – opportunity to reflect on performance and how perceived


Biggest thing we can do?

• Put a greater value on it?


Further reading

• ACAS Booklet Front line managers • How to engage line managers in people

management by S Dalziel and J Strange – People Management 20th September 2007 pages 56-57

• Whose job is it anyway? K Jacobs Human Resources February 2013 page 36-39

Contact us: [email protected]

Phone 02920 533393 or 077977 545480www.refreshinglawltd.co.uk

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.refreshinglawltd.co.uk/

anna denton-jones september 15 th 2015 line managers: what everyone needs to know

Documents

employment law responsible

uk productivity

uk workers

performance conundrumthe

perfect line manager

great line managers

rotasmonitoring work

day people