Being overworked has detrimental consequences for any employee. It can lead to poor morale, sloppy or inefficient work, and, ultimately, high turnover. But, when it comes to managers, the effects of being overworked are multiplied by the impact their own sense of overwhelm can have on the employees farther downstream.
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Too Busy to Be Fair?
According to researchers Elad N. Sherf, Ravi S. Gajendran, and Vijaya Venkataraman, when managers are overworked, they have a greater tendency to treat employees unfairly. They presented their findings in a recent paper published by the Academy of Management Journal. Managers, they write, “are often expected to juggle multiple responsibilities under intense time and work pressures, and so treating employees fairly may take a backseat to other pressing priorities.”
The authors go on to say that there are four aspects of fairness that bosses need to exhibit to be judged as fair by employees. As managers become increasingly busy, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to focus on achieving fairness across these four factors. But doing so can help boost employees’ sense that they are being treated fairly.
Distributive fairness: ensuring that employees are equitably rewarded for their contributions. It’s natural for employees to compare how they are treated with how others are treated.
If one employee is rewarded for doing something, other employees expect to be similarly rewarded. Busy managers are more prone to overlooking these opportunities.
Transparent and clear procedures: ensuring decisions are consistently applied across people and situations and based on accurate information. Equity and consistency are important elements that impact employees’ perceptions of fairness.
Again, though, busy managers may overlook opportunities to demonstrate fairness simply because their attention is being pulled in different directions.
Informational fairness: explaining the logic behind their decisions in a timely manner. It takes time to take the time to explain the “why” behind managers’ actions, but it’s time well spent!
Interpersonal fairness: treating employees with dignity and respect. This seems obvious enough and simple enough at face value. We can all relate to the stress that overwork can cause and the potential for that stress to make us less patient, respectful, and courteous toward others.
These days, it’s likely that most managers are busy. It’s a fact of life in our fast-paced and always-changing work environments. Being alert to the potential for busyness to lead to perceptions of being treated unfairly by employees can go a long way toward building a strong and motivated team.
The perception of fairness is one of many factors that contribute to employee satisfaction, and in a tight job market where employees have a lot of discretion in where to work, employers can’t afford to let employees feel that they are being treated unfairly.