US-based company fires all managers to make employees happy | Here's what happened

As is often said, people don’t leave companies, they leave bad bosses and toxic work cultures. From bad managers to toxic bosses, employees are always at the receiving end of the wrath of their seniors. In the past and present, most people have resigned and switched to other companies to find a better workplace environment.

To make the workplace a bit more friendly for its employees, a US-based virtual assistant company has taken an unusual path as an alternative to ‘make their employees happy’.

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Time Etc, a virtual assistant platform, has replaced its managers with coaches to empower its employees. The company discerned that it needed to make changes in its management style.

Instead of traditional managers, they decided to espouse the concept of coaching. And to nobody's disbelief, the results have been remarkable, reported Fortune magazine.

Coaches over Managers

The process of changing its management style began when Time Etc asked its new hires about their aspirations and requirements from their managers. To this, the new hires replied with goal-setting, feedback, personal and professional development opportunities, and autonomy. The company deduced that these requirements seemed more like the KRA of a coach, than of a manager.

"We started asking the people we were hiring what they needed from a manager," shares the team at Time Etc. "What stood out was how the list they gave us – goal-setting, feedback, personal and professional development opportunities, autonomy – sounded much more like they needed a coach, rather than a manager," the company was quoted by Fortune magazine.

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Time Etc considered its employees’ requirements seriously and took a bold step. The company decided to replace managers with coaches, who were each responsible for a team of six employees. These coaches have one primary focus, to help employees maximize productivity and reach their full potential.

How will these coacheshelp employees?

They will track employees’ workday closely and monitor when they are the most productive and what kind of environment works best for them. They will provide close mentorships, regular feedback and personalised guidance based on individual strengths.

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The team at Time Etc explains that their coaches are there to support employees when challenges arise. Instead of giving orders from above, the coaches focus on empowering and assisting employees to find solutions.

Modern problems, modern solutions

This drastic step taken by Time Etc comes at a time when there is a very low manager-employee engagement mechanism. As a result, employees often find themselves to be the least prioritised in a company. Gallup’s annual survey of 2022 showed that only one-third of workers reportedfeeling engaged at work.

The declining employee engagement is also indicative of the fact that it came with declining long-term productivity and employee satisfaction as a consequence.

(With inputs from agencies)

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