14 Aug 2023
According to new research, 58 percent of employees are rarely or never inspired by the leader of the company they work for. This is quite poor as leadership is a quality that is usually regarded as being in high demand when it comes to being the boss of a company or organisation.
There are all manner of issues where employees will look to their bosses for leadership and some of these include things like how to manage work-life balance. If the boss is working all of the hours and doesn’t really seem to have a life outside work to speak of, others may feel that they should stay later as well, thus copying the bad example being set to them.
The research, carried out by YouGov online, questioned over 1,000 British employees about their views on their business leaders. Astonishingly, British employees felt that their leaders were setting a poor example around the issues that matter to them today, including managing stress and staying mentally healthy.
As more companies are looking to improve their approaches to mental health, this new research shows a bit of a crisis of leadership. It may come as no surprise, but flexible working played a huge part in the survey, with over half of the workers questioned (54 percent) reporting that they wanted to see their business focus on a better work / life balance for its employees.
Sadly, only 23 percent of participants said their business leader sets a good example for work-life balance, only 24 percent on flexible working, and only 17 percent and 11 percent respectively when it comes to mental health and stress.
On a more positive note, small business leaders got more positive feedback than larger firms. One in five people questioned from a small business said they felt their management inspired them often, or all the time. This is certainly better than with larger firms and it may just be down to the fact that more people in smaller businesses actually know their bosses and interact with them on a regular basis than in larger companies.
Employees should never be made to feel uninspired, demotivated or stressed at work, given they spend most of their week working. If you're in a position where staff look to you for inspiration, remember that the way you behave and the values you live at work can have a large impact on your colleagues, so do the right thing, and promote those positive behaviours they need to see from you!
As the boss, you are in a position of authority and are looked up to by many of the employees who work for you. If you implement activities that can help with their mental health, or even just start discussions that let people know it is alright to talk about such things at work, that can be an enormous contribution to changing the workplace culture. You would be moving it towards being a more open and positive one that recognises the struggles of employees.
