A new study shows effective leadership communication can boost the success of flexible work arrangements.
One lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the shift toward flexible work arrangements. Today, more than half of US employees whose jobs can be performed remotely are blending remote work with time in the office.
However, for some employees, the more they work outside the office, the less engaged, valued, and supported they feel.
The new study found that although more remote work is associated with slight reductions in employee engagement and well-being, effective and consistent communication from managers can help reverse these negative effects.
“Flexible work arrangements may provide benefits to employees, such as cutting commute times, increasing ability to manage work-life balance, and reducing stress, but simply offering flexible work isn’t enough,” says Justin F. Willett, program director at the Novak Leadership Institute at the University of Missouri and lead author of the study.
“Managers play a crucial role in making flexible work successful, and organizations should train managers on how to effectively communicate with their remote and hybrid workers.”
Willett says effective manager communication includes:
- Understanding and supporting employees’ needs for flexibility in where and when they work.
- Setting clear expectations about performance and communication.
- Providing regular updates about policies that might affect flexible work arrangements.
- Seeking and sharing feedback.
- Ensuring smooth implementation of flexible work arrangements.
The research team—which included experts from the Novak Leadership Institute, the Mizzou Department of Communication and Kansas State University—surveyed 1,258 full-time US workers with flexible work arrangements. The participants, who were split almost evenly between men and women, completed an online survey examining their managers’ communication behaviors and how those interactions influenced their engagement on the job and overall well-being at work.
The findings revealed a strong correlation between employee engagement and well-being and the quality of leadership communication. Employees who were the happiest and most engaged reported having managers who demonstrated high-quality communication practices. Managers who actively engaged with employees—by sharing and seeking feedback, involving their teams in decision-making, and being perceived as open and supportive—helped mitigate the negative effects of feeling disconnected or unsupported, which can result from working in different places or at different times than supervisors or coworkers.
“While flexible work arrangements may provide benefits to employees,” Willett says, “those benefits may not be enough to generate positive employee outcomes if supervisors fail to use communicative behaviors to intentionally address employee challenges with flexible work.”
Previous studies have shown managers spend up to 90% of their time communicating. Thus, leadership communication plays a critical role in influencing the culture of the workplace.
The study appears in the International Journal of Business Communication.
Additional coauthors are from Kansas State University and the University of Missouri.
Source: University of Missouri
