In this video, Employment Partner Dipti Shah examines a real-life breakdown in the employee-manager relationship, through a WhatsApp thread. With over 25 years of experience advising both businesses and individuals, Dipti has seen how common oversights such as insufficient training and inadequate support for managers, can escalate into avoidable conflict. In this case study, she dissects what went wrong at each stage of a workplace conversation and outlines what should have happened to preserve a productive and respectful working relationship.
The Retention Crisis
In the UK, nearly one in four workers is planning to quit in 2025. Staff retention is becoming an increasingly urgent issue, with workplace trends like “Revenge Quitting” and “Quiet Quitting” taking their toll on morale and continuity. The financial impact is significant: the average cost of turnover for an employee earning £25,000 or more £30,614, according to Oxford Economics. Poor management plays a central role in this trend. When employees have both a great manager and a great leader, their commitment to stay rises to 94%. But that figure drops sharply, to 35%, with a good manager and poor leader, and to just 19% when both leadership and management are lacking.
Case Study: What Went Wrong?
In the featured case study, a manager asked an employee to reschedule their annual leave at the last minute to attend a client meeting. The employee offered a compromise by suggesting they dial in remotely during their holiday, but the manager deemed this insufficient. What followed was a prolonged back-and-forth, culminating in the manager threatening repercussions for the employee’s career. This situation underscores the pressures that managers themselves face, but also highlights the importance of managing client expectations and ensuring clear communication throughout all levels of the business. Without proper guidance, even well-meaning managers can make decisions that damage trust and morale.
Key Takeaways
Managers need just as much support as the teams they lead. To prevent breakdowns like this one, it is essential that newly promoted managers receive thorough training, both on the responsibilities of their new role and on how company policies should inform their management style. Employees are entitled to disconnect during their annual leave, and penalising them for exercising this right is unacceptable. Ultimately, a well-supported manager is far more likely to foster a positive, engaged, and committed team.
