Improving Your Relationship With Your Employees

If you want to make sure that you are able to keep your employees on board, it is often worth taking a look at the relationship you have with them. This is about the fundamental way in which your business and your colleagues interact, and if you can make this as strong as possible, it’s going to be mutually beneficial. In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the main ways to improve your relationship with your employees. Any of these might be well worth thinking about if you are keen on improving this as well as possible.

Start With Trust And Respect

You can’t often go far wrong if there is a good deal of trust and respect between you and your employees. Trust is the foundation of any productive workplace relationship, in fact. Employees need to believe that their manager is fair, honest and dependable, which means you need to follow through on your commitments, be as transparent as possible about decisions, and admit mistakes when they happen. Respect is equally critical, and is all about testing employees as capable professionals, rather than simply resources for your business to use. This sets the tone for mutual accountability.

Resolve Matters Fairly

There might sometimes be issues between you and your employees that need looking at. This is very common and normal, and it’s something that you are going to want to think about if you are keen on trying to keep everyone as happy as possible. That means doing your utmost to try and resolve matters as fairly as possible, whether through a good approach to a senior executive settlement agreement or by improving the communication, as above. However it is done, this is going to help build mutual respect and keep the quality of the relationship much stronger.

Recognise Both Effort And Achievement

Everyone appreciates it when they are recognised. But as well as recognising achievement itself when that is relevant, you might also want to think about making a point of recognising effort. In that way, you should be able to ensure that you are strengthening your relationships as well as you can. Employees who feel their efforts are noticed are going to be more motivated and satisfied, and recognition doesn’t always have to be formal or monetary either. Just a sincere thank you, deeply felt, can go a long way here.

Recognising effort can also be supported through small, meaningful gestures. For example, custom tote bags from vivipins can be used as simple appreciation gifts to help employees feel valued for both their effort and achievements, while keeping recognition personal and sincere.

Communicate Clearly

Poor communication is one of the fastest ways to damage workplace relationships. Employees want clarity around expectations, priorities, and changes that affect their work. Regular check-ins, team meetings, and open-door policies help to prevent confusion and frustration, and this is something you will certainly want to bear in mind. Just as important is listening. Giving employees space to share ideas, concerns and feedback builds confidence and loyalty. If you can get this right, you’ll find that much else falls into place, and it really helps a great deal.

Additional Tips for Strengthening Relationships With Your Employees

• Invest in Employee Development
  Showing employees that you care about their growth builds long-term trust. Offer training opportunities, mentorship, skill-building workshops, or pathways for career progression. Even small development initiatives show you’re invested in their future—not just their output.

• Encourage Autonomy
  Micromanagement is one of the fastest ways to damage morale. Giving employees ownership over their tasks shows you trust their judgment and expertise. Autonomy boosts confidence, creativity, and job satisfaction.

• Create a Positive Daily Work Environment
  Small things—like acknowledging people when you arrive, being approachable, or fostering a supportive team culture—add up. A positive atmosphere encourages collaboration, reduces stress, and makes your employees feel more valued.

• Be Consistent With Your Leadership Style
  Consistency builds stability. If your expectations or reactions change from day to day, employees feel uncertain or anxious. Being steady, predictable, and fair helps build confidence in your leadership.

• Act Quickly on Issues Employees Raise
  If an employee shares a concern or makes a suggestion, take action—or at least update them on progress. When concerns disappear into a void, trust erodes. When you respond swiftly, people feel heard and respected.

• Promote Work–Life Balance
  Encouraging reasonable workloads, offering flexible working arrangements where possible, and respecting personal time goes a long way. When employees feel supported as people—not just workers—they’re more engaged and loyal.

• Celebrate Team Wins, Not Just Individual Ones
  Team-based recognition strengthens collaboration and unity. Whether it’s finishing a big project, meeting a quarterly target, or simply surviving a busy week—celebrating together boosts morale and connection.

• Check In Regularly—Not Just When There’s a Problem
  Routine check-ins create open dialogue. They show that you care about wellbeing and progress, not just performance metrics. This helps catch issues early and build an ongoing rapport.

• Lead by Example
  Employees observe your behaviour more than you realise. Demonstrating integrity, kindness, humility, and a strong work ethic encourages them to do the same. Good leadership inspires good teams.

Why This Matters More Than Most Managers Realise

The gap between knowing that employee relationships matter and understanding quite how much they matter is significant. Research consistently shows that only around 10% of UK workers are actively engaged at work, with the UK ranking among the lowest in Europe for engagement levels. Disengaged employees cost businesses through reduced productivity, higher absenteeism, and increased turnover, and the cumulative cost to the UK economy runs into hundreds of billions annually.

The flip side is equally compelling. Organisations with high employee engagement see improvements in profitability of as much as 21%. Positive workplace relationships increase engagement by 21% on their own, meaning the actions described in this post aren’t soft or peripheral to business performance. They’re central to it. Nearly 30% of workers haven’t received recognition for strong work in over a year, which means something as simple as consistent, genuine acknowledgement already puts you ahead of the majority of managers.

The relationship between manager and employee is one of the most researched variables in organisational psychology, and the finding is consistent: people don’t leave bad companies, they leave bad managers. Investing in that relationship is one of the highest-return actions any business leader can take.

Relationship-Building Approaches by Workplace Type

Not every strategy works equally well in every environment. The right approach depends on how and where your team works. The table below maps the most effective relationship-building actions across four common workplace setups.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do manager-employee relationships have such a big impact on business performance?

Because the manager is the primary point of contact between an employee and the organisation. How a manager communicates, recognises, supports, and challenges their team directly shapes whether employees feel engaged, valued, and committed or detached, overlooked, and ready to leave. Research from Gallup describes the manager as either an engagement-creating coach or an engagement-destroying boss, with both roles having a significant measurable effect on team behaviour and output. The relationship isn’t incidental to performance; it’s one of its main drivers.

What is the most common reason employees lose trust in their manager?

Inconsistency is consistently cited as one of the leading causes. When a manager’s behaviour, expectations, or decisions change unpredictably, employees feel uncertain and anxious, which erodes the psychological safety that good working relationships depend on. Failing to follow through on commitments, taking credit for others’ work, and handling conflict unfairly or visibly differently between team members are also frequently mentioned. Trust is built slowly through consistent behaviour and lost quickly through single incidents of perceived unfairness or dishonesty.

How often should managers have one-to-one meetings with their employees?

The right frequency depends on the individual, the nature of the work, and whether anything significant is in progress, but a fortnightly 1-to-1 is a reasonable baseline for most teams. More frequent check-ins may be appropriate for newer employees, those going through a difficult period, or during periods of significant change. Less frequent meetings risk employees feeling that the relationship only activates when there’s a problem. The key is that 1-to-1s should feel like a genuine conversation rather than a performance review, which means making space for the employee to lead the agenda at least some of the time.

Does recognition have to cost money to be effective?

No, and in many cases non-monetary recognition is more meaningful than financial rewards. A specific, timely, and sincere acknowledgement of someone’s effort or contribution, delivered in front of their peers or privately depending on the individual’s preference, consistently rates highly in employee surveys. What makes recognition land is specificity and sincerity: saying what the person did, why it mattered, and that you noticed. Generic praise and impersonal rewards tend to have less impact, regardless of the cost. That said, tangible gestures of appreciation, however small, can reinforce the verbal recognition in a lasting way.

How should a manager handle a situation where an employee raises a concern but no immediate action is possible?

Acknowledging the concern quickly, being honest about the constraints, and committing to a specific update by a defined date goes a long way. Employees are generally more tolerant of a slow process than they are of silence or vague reassurances. What damages trust is when concerns appear to disappear without acknowledgement. Even if the outcome isn’t what the employee hoped for, explaining the reasoning behind a decision and demonstrating that their input was genuinely considered maintains respect and keeps the line of communication open for future conversations.

What is a settlement agreement and when might it be relevant in an employment relationship?

A settlement agreement is a legally binding contract between an employer and an employee that resolves a workplace dispute or ends an employment relationship, typically in exchange for a financial payment. The employee agrees not to bring certain legal claims against the employer. They are commonly used when an employment relationship has broken down irreparably, during redundancy processes, or to resolve a grievance or disciplinary matter without going to an employment tribunal. Both parties are required to take independent legal advice before signing. While a settlement agreement represents the end of a working relationship, handling the process fairly and respectfully still matters for team morale, employer reputation, and the dignity of the departing employee.

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Becky

Meet the award-nominated UK lifestyle blogger behind Spirited Puddle Jumper – a mum of three living in South East London! Becky shares the real ups and downs of family life, parenting tips, and lifestyle inspiration, proving that being a mum doesn’t mean you stop being fun or having other interests! Follow along for honest insights into UK family life and opinions on a whole range of topics, from travel and food, to beauty reviews, home and DIY, business and health and wellness.