It occurred to me as I was starting the topic of manager support that many people don’t understand why a manager would ever need support. Or put another way, people might have an idea why they need to support a manager, but they don’t really get it, the ‘it’ being the underlying reasons that they should take action.
Let me help you out there with just a few of the reasons.
The cost of NOT supporting them is huge. Almost anyone you talk to will tell you that the cost of a failed employee is three to five times their salary. I know of one study that says that 15 times their salary is not a stretch. What this means is you have a an employee that makes $14.50 an hour your potential cost to replace them is from $90,000 on up.
The basic costs are incurred are in the search for, hiring and training of a replacement. Add these into the mix in the case of a manager that for whatever reason did not perform well:
- Cost of lowered morale measured in
- More sick days
- Lower employee productivity
- Time spent fighting fires that the manager left smoldering include:
- Peers covering for them and not doing their jobs.
- Peer morale falling and stress rising.
- Your time, as the manager of the manger, setting things right again.
- Here’s a big one: The cost of replacing a client that left your company for greener, more effective pastures. What does it cost to replace a lost customer? Up to 10 times the cost it takes to keep one seems to be an industry figure.
So much for the financial side of things.
What about the semi-intangibles, er, human(?) side – the things you know happen but either have a difficult time measuring or just plain don’t look at:
- Stress – which then relates to health issues later and does become measurable.
- Motivation – that buzzword job fulfillment means more than you know when it comes to employee retention and loyalty.
- A word about respect. One of my clients that came in from the field to become a manager had a rough first year. His first annual review said “The employee has met none of the growth in areas the company deems important.” And yet two weeks later he received an annual bonus equal to the median annual wage in Arkansas. Confused? An understatement. After we talked for a bit he finally said this in a sort of dejected tone, “The money is good and everything, but what I really want is their respect.” He wants to know he is working at or above the standards that make sense to him
Bottom line – NOT supporting your managers costs you BIG TIME and in more ways than you know.
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