Happy managers make for happier teams, data shows

Managers play a critical role in company culture, and if they’re happy, their teams tend to be happy as well, according to an Oct. 1 report from Glassdoor.

In fact, manager satisfaction appears to be associated with higher worker ratings of work-life balance; culture and values; and diversity, equity and inclusion, the report found.

“The lesson for leaders is clear: you cannot create a winning workplace culture without bringing your managers along,” Chris Martin, a lead researcher on Glassdoor’s economic research team, wrote in the report.

In 2025, a growing prevalence of manager burnout has affected productivity, employee satisfaction and business success, according to a report from Top Workplaces. Two-thirds of managers said they struggle with heavy workloads, in part because they spend most of their day in meetings and don’t have time for deep work or team engagement.

In an analysis of more than 2 million Glassdoor reviews for more than 1,500 companies between 2022-2025, leaders and managers tend to have similar levels of satisfaction. In addition, worker ratings are highest when both managers and leaders are satisfied and lowest when both are dissatisfied.

However, at companies where leaders and managers have a disconnect, worker ratings align more closely with managers. This can vary substantially by industry, with food service and restaurants having the highest rates of satisfied leaders but dissatisfied managers. Other sectors also showed signs of leaders “leaving managers behind,” such as transportation and logistics, real estate, healthcare, and hotels and travel accommodation.

“It makes sense that managers and individual contributors are so closely aligned on these measurements reflecting the culture of a workplace,” Martin wrote. “Managers work alongside their teams, so they both set the tone for their immediate teams and share in the daily culture of those teams.”

Managers have reported the steepest decline in engagement among workers, especially women and managers under age 35, according to a Gallup report. To fix disengagement, Gallup recommended training and development for managers.