Do HR and Senior Managers really know what’s going on in the trenches? There’s a lot at stake if they don’t — a lack of understanding of the employee experience creates serious risks like reduced productivity and heightened turnover.

Praisidio ran a survey to reveal whether employees and HR / Senior Managers in large companies are aligned on core issues. We found extreme and serious disconnects around topics that are crucial to employee productivity and retention.

WFH to increase more than employees expect

HR and senior managers believe employees will be working more from home in two years. Employees are expecting the opposite.

Only 30.8% of employees believe they will work more from home in two years, however, 60.83% of HR and senior managers believe WFH will increase.

On the flip side, 40% of employees believe they’ll be in the office more often in two years, but only 20.8% of HR and senior managers believe the same.

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According to Dr. Liz Kofman-Burns of DEIB consultancy, Peoplism, "Flexible WFH policies have a number of advantages for employees and employers, however, getting WFH right is hard. Based on this study, it appears that employees are potentially worried that HR and senior managers won't invest enough in work from home to make it a success."

Employees work harder than leadership thinks

HR and senior managers believe they’re getting less out of employees than they want. Employees don’t agree.

41.7% of employees believe their company is getting more out of them than they should, however, only 21.6% of HR and senior managers believe the same.

39.2% of HR and senior managers state they are getting far less than they should from their employees, while only 12.5% of employees believe that to be the case.

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Employees are more burnt out than HR knows

Burnout is felt more acutely by employees than by HR and senior managers.

33% of employees feel somewhat or seriously burned out, but only 23.3% of HR and senior managers recognize their employees to be burned out. No HR and senior managers believe their employees are seriously burned out.

53.3% of HR and senior managers believe employees are not burned out, while only 39.16% of employees don’t feel burned out.

Employees rank burnout as their number 3 reason to change jobs, whereas HR and senior managers rank it last in position 8.

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DEIB consultant, Dr. Liz Kofman-Burns commented, "If HR and managers underestimate burnout, they'll likely fail to provide the resources and interventions that could save employees from burnout. HR and senior managers may under-appreciate burnout risks because they don't have the training to spot the signs."

People are quitting to earn more

Employees see compensation as a critical factor when deciding to change jobs. HR and senior managers take compensation less seriously.

59.2% of HR and senior managers believe compensation is not the primary reason employees leave some or all the time, whereas only 32.5% of employees feel the same.

On the flip side, 34.2% of employees see compensation as a primary reason to change jobs some or all the time. Only 25% of HR and senior managers believe compensation is the primary reason employees leave some or all the time.

Employees rank poor compensation / pay inequality as their number 1 reason to change jobs, whereas HR and senior managers rank it in position 4 of 8 factors.

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In the expert opinion of Dr. Liz Kofman-Burns, "If employees feel that they are not being compensated fairly, they will interpret that as broadly not being valued fairly and leave or be looking for another job. We often hear concerns about compensation, but when we dig deeper it turns out that employees are more concerned about being fairly paid compared to other people at the company doing similar roles."

Management overestimates improvements made in HR since the pandemic

HR and senior managers feel more positive about their HR departments since the pandemic, but employees don’t.

57.5% of HR and senior managers feel more positive about their HR department post-pandemic as compared to only 31.6% of employees.

27.5% of employees feel less positive about their HR department post-pandemic, whereas only 17.5% of HR and Senior managers feel the same way.

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Dr. Liz Kofman-Burns, HR consultant, commented, "HR has had a lot on their plate in the last few years, and many HR leaders have done a great job meeting the new needs of employees during the pandemic. When you're doing the work, sometimes you forget to talk about what you've done and why. A lot of recent HR improvements have been made in a reactive way, which is understandable given the circumstances. Now it's time to connect all these changes to a broader HR and DEI strategy. And if HR doesn't have a strategy, then this is something employees are probably picking up."

How bad is the disconnect?

Based on our research, there appear to be some extreme disconnects between the workplace experience of employees and HR/senior managers. Given the rapid changes in the workplace over the last three years, this is to be expected. The concern, however, lies in the consequences.

While companies are downsizing at the moment, retaining high-performing employees is as valuable as ever. When extreme disconnects occur, or when workers are increasingly overloaded, the risk of losing your most valuable employees rises dramatically.

If you'd like help analyzing the risks that drive turnover in your organization, Praisidio can help you do that at scale. Book a demo to see how.

Methodology

Praisidio surveyed 240 people in late February 2023; half were 18 years or older and employed in the US by a company of more than 5000 people; half were 25 years or older, and employed as an HR manager or senior manager in the US by a company of more than 5000 people.

For each topic, we applied statistical analysis to determine if the level of disconnect was non-existent, serious, or extreme.

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