International Happiness At Work Week – UK managers doing a good job in spite of workload, with 67% of employees saying given the choice they would continue working with their direct manager

Less than six months since its last YouGov survey revealing that UK managers were in a state of overwhelm, Lattice, the AI-powered HR solution’s latest findings indicate that managers are performing well in spite of the pressures they are facing. 67% of employees say that given the choice they would continue to work with their existing line manager, and almost the same number (66%) say they would like to continue with the same company a year from now. Furthermore 67% of employees agree they are motivated to do their best work, with 86% saying they have a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities.

Significantly the survey reveals a ‘magic middle’ where there is a large cohort (70%) of ambivalence, and where respondents were either neutral, tended to agree or only slightly agree with the statement “I feel connected to the people in my company” and only 59% saying they feel recognised and appreciated in the workplace.

Commenting on the findings, Gianna Driver, Chief People Officer of Lattice said: “We’re seeing some great signs in this research, but now is not the time to pat ourselves on the back. What high-performance focused organisations do next is crucial. Against the backdrop of declining engagement in general over the last few years, we must ask: ‘What are we doing to unlock what’s next?’ What are organisations doing with their HR programmes to ensure we see movement from the middle where there is real potential to leverage influence, to move the needle and to boost engagement and success?

We want to take steps now that will move employees from ‘tend to agree’ to absolutely agree with statements around connection and feeling recognised and valued at work. 70% of employee engagement is rooted in the impact of managers. HR and leadership must ask themselves, ‘What are we doing to align employees with the right work, and how are we helping them get clear on what success looks like?’ Because the employees who are having meaningful conversations with their managers are the ones who are motivated to do their best work, every day.” 

With over one in five respondents (22%) across all industries and business sizes saying they don’t feel recognised and appreciated, and almost one in five (20%) saying they don’t feel connected to their colleagues there is clearly room for improvement. In spite of the positive takeaways the research also revealed a pervasive disconnect with only 30% of employees saying they would recommend their company as a place to work.

Gianna added, “We’re at an inflection point, and now is the time to work even harder and smarter. Looking ahead, AI will help us do exactly that. While AI will have a transformative impact across HR, I believe it will have a particular impact on the day-to-day work of managers – we are already seeing AI tools that parse feedback and reviews to streamline performance management processes from weeks to days, or surface engagement insights HR leaders can turn into immediate actions. There is so much potential for AI to enhance and amplify the human elements of HR.”

About Lattice

Lattice’s people platform provides 5,000+ businesses worldwide with AI-powered HR solutions designed to help them become operationally excellent. Combining performance management, employee engagement surveys, compensation management, career development tools, and more, Lattice’s platform reduces administrative work for HR teams allowing them to invest more time in building the right, data-informed strategies that accelerate business results. With offices in North America and the UK, Lattice serves with world’s most strategic HR teams including Slack, Gusto, Intercom, Ramp, Calm, NPR, Tide, and more.

About the research:

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1025 employees. Fieldwork was undertaken between 29th August - 9th September 2024. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of British business size and region.