Only 2 in 10 middle-managers, junior workers say expectations are being met at work

A survey showed a disconnect between senior leaders and junior managers.

Senior and executive leaders have a “disconnect” with their junior workers and middle-managers, which could lead to difficulties in retaining and attracting talent amidst labour shortage, a Qualtrics study showed.

The Qualtrics 2023 Employee Experience Trends Report showed that half of senior and executive managers said their expectations are being met contrary to 28% of middle-managers and junior employees. 

The survey also found that “middle-managers and junior employees report lower levels of wellbeing, engagement, inclusion, and intent to stay than their leaders.” 

Aside from this, pay also varies between the two workplace groups, with 48% middle-managers and junior employees said they are paid fairly for their work compared to 65% of senior leaders.

The survey used 1,001 responses from employees in Hong Kong. This includes 660 junior- to manager-level employees, and 341 senior and executive leaders.

These are the advice from Qualtrics to impose wellness in the workplace:

1. Improving onboarding and enablement for new employees - Compared to other markets, in Hong Kong, well-being and meeting expectations is lowest among employees who have been with their current employer for less than 12 months, with this group also returning the second lowest intent to stay score. These findings demonstrate the challenges organisations face onboarding employees in rapidly changing environments, and the need to adapt systems and processes accordingly.
2. Having company values employees believe in and regularly see demonstrated - Employees’ belief in organisational values is in the top 5 drivers of nearly all the key EX metrics - including intent to stay, inclusion well-being, and engagement - reflecting a need to understand what employees care about most and acting accordingly.
3. Helping employees adapt to organisational changes - Two of the most pervasive drivers across all experience metrics - including the top drivers of engagement and meeting expectations - in Hong Kong are communicating changes behind important changes and helping employees understand how they will be impacted by them. This means regular and transparent employee communications is essential in Hong Kong.
4. Evolving workplace technologies, processes, and resources to improve employee well-being and productivity - Employee satisfaction with workplace technology and processes have dropped over the last 12 months, highlighting the critical need for employers to continue evolving and refreshing their approaches and tools for the new ways of working being adopted. This is of significant importance as working with inefficient systems is a significant driver of lower levels of wellbeing and burnout risk.