The government plans to give employees the right to request a four-day week, hoping to provide more flexibility and boost engagement and productivity.
While initial four-day week trials seemed optimistic, cracks are beginning to show. Asda, for instance, scrapped the four-day week as staff found it “physically demanding”, as did insurance company Domestic & General, because employees were “psychologically exhausted”.
Read more: Government plans right to request four-day work week
Rather than a proven solution, the desire for a shorter working week is a cry for help that points to a broader issue affecting organisations globally: people have a poor relationship with work. Leaders must tackle the root cause of this unrest, to make work worth it; for that, they must look to their managers.
Staff aren’t motivated and managers aren’t able to help
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, people want flexibility and a better work/life balance. They want more purpose and autonomy in their work, and to believe in their organisation's mission and see its positive impact.
Businesses have struggled to see improvement on this front. According to the CIPD’s Good Work Index 2024, nearly half of staff think that having a job is just about the money. Only 41% feel inspired by what they do. What’s more, Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2024 report found that employee engagement stagnated at a miserable 10% in the UK, while overall employee wellbeing declined.
Read more: Why the four-day week won't work
Given this parlous state of work, where do our managers fit in? According to Gallup’s research, managers account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement. Employees' sense of job satisfaction and the value and productivity they generate hinges on good management practices. However, only 27% of UK workers find their manager highly effective, according to the CMI’s Better Management report.
The rift between employees and their managers boils down to managers lacking the skills they need to support their teams. That’s because 82% of all managers who enter a management position have received no formal management and leadership training. These 'accidental managers' are often promoted because of their exceptional technical skills, not for their people management skills.
Suddenly tasked with leading a team, they haven’t been allowed to hone the skills needed to handle the 'people' side of leadership. Lacking confidence in how best to engage team members can leave staff feeling unsupported, unmotivated and stressed.
Moving the needle on management capability
If we can change the way we train and develop our managers, much of the current malaise in the workforce could be transformed very quickly. You might be surprised that the answer is to provide managers with the skill of asking more powerful questions. This means being less directive and instead learning to become an enabler of the thinking and capabilities of others, acknowledging and drawing on what they know by adopting an enquiry-led approach.
Read more: Help 'accidental managers' develop key people skills
When managers can learn to stop themselves from diving in to resolve every issue, potentially marginalising team members, and instead ask more powerful questions of their teams when problems arise, they invite the other person to contribute their ideas. A well-intentioned question can stimulate their thinking and engage their problem-solving abilities. The employee feels a stronger sense of ownership over the solution – it’s theirs, not the manager’s – which naturally boosts their confidence to solve issues independently. When staff feel more autonomy over their work in this way, they are more engaged and motivated.
Ultimately, by adopting this style of management, managers can help build an epic workplace culture where employees enjoy coming to work (rather than requesting to spend less time there) and are excited to be a part of a dynamic, supportive team.
By Dominic Ashley-Timms, CEO of performance consultancy Notion and co-author of The Answer is a Question
