What traits are contemporary managers in Africa lacking the most?
18 October 2017
The Paylab.com salary portal completed an employee survey on the characteristics that contemporary managers lack the most. The survey is part of PAYLAB COMPENSATION MONITOR which observes on regular basis trends related to remuneration. Paylab asked employees over the world and also in Africa to evaluate their direct supervisor. How do employees view present-day leaders in Africa? What kind of relationship do they have with their direct superiors?
Up to four in ten employees characterise their relationship with their boss as neutral to negative. Specifically, 30 per cent of respondents have a reserved relationship with their boss with a distinct feeling of mutual distance. Another 4 per cent of employees report that their relationship with their direct supervisor is cold to unfriendly in nature.
66 per cent of respondents report a friendly relationship with their boss. An interesting finding of the international survey is that people who earn above the national average often have more friendly relationship with the direct supervisor compared to those who earn below the national average.
The survey was conducted on the Paylab.com portal in August to September 2017. In Africa was a sample of 777 employees working in Africa on different positions and levels of management.
Employees in Africa agree that modern leaders suffer from an acute lack of fairness, creativity, sense of humour, communicativeness and sincerity. These are traits and behaviours that employees rarely see in their bosses and mention most often.
People who have a friendly relationship with their supervisors most often complain that their boss lacks humility, deliberation, expertise and experience.
Employees with a reserved to cold relationship with their boss most often complain of a lack of appreciation and respect from their boss as well as a lack of trust. They also doubt their competencies and report that they have poor level of fairness, communicativeness and courage and decisiveness.
Men most often occupy the boss's chair
The survey also confirmed the long-term trend of the lack of engagement of women in senior management positions. Having a man for a boss is four as likely as having female boss. Women have only 21 per cent share in managerial positions compared to men in Africa. Share of women in leadership positions are lower also in Europe (LINK). Employees managed by women provide very similar assessments to those managed by men, both in terms of their relationships and the traits they are lacking.
About the survey
The Paylab.com salary portal conducted the employee survey titled "My boss" in July to September 2017 over the sample 777 employees in Africa as part of Paylab Compensation Monitor which observes on regular basis trends related to remuneration.
Paylab is an international salary survey platform that collects information on the incomes and bonuses of employees for more than 500 job positions. Paylab uses a unique methodology for collecting data with a three-phase control and over eight years' experience. Visitors to the Paylab website or partner sites in their country can easily and anonymously complete an online questionnaire on their salary, and compare their income with the national average for that position. Paylab runs two local salary portals in Nigeria (Followthesalary.com) and Kenya (Salarydata.co.ke).
