The Role of Line Managers in Promoting and Protecting Employee Well-Being

A Framework for Protecting and Promoting Employee Mental Health through Supervisor Supportive Behaviors

“…Given the amount of time most adults spend working, enhancing workplace social connections through increased social support can promote positive mental health. Furthermore, given the significant impact of the supervisory-employee relationship on well-being, targeting supervisor social support is an important point of intervention (e.g., Arnold, 2017 ; Hammer et al, 2007 ; Hancock et al, 2023 ). This is because the short- and long-term consequences of loneliness are profound and impact not only the employee’s own mental health, but also spills over to co-workers and the larger organization.…”

“…This is because the short- and long-term consequences of loneliness are profound and impact not only the employee’s own mental health, but also spills over to co-workers and the larger organization. The workplace also affords valuable opportunities through organizational perceived support (POS; Eisenberger) and specifically through direct supervisors and managers in bolstering social connection and social relationships ( Hammer et al, 2022 ; Hancock et al, 2023 ). The essential elements for building social connection, i.e., a stable and enriching set of regular and ongoing social interactions, can be found in the workplace through supervisor and co-worker interactions ( Reich & Hershcovis, 2011 ), which can be the key to improving belongingness need satisfaction by building more positive social relationships ( Allen & Eby, 2007 ; Baumeister & Leary, 2017 ).…”

“…Thus, supervisors, managers, and leaders play a significant role in contributing to employee mental health ( Arnold, 2017 ; Hancock et al, 2023 ; Inceoglu et al, 2018 ; Kelloway & Barling, 2010 ), partially due to their discretion to enact policies and distribute resources ( Hammer et al, 2023a ), and partially due to their constructive or destructive social relationships with employees ( Hancock et al, 2023 ). This is also consistent with a recent systematic review of social support in the management sciences that points to the role of social support as a positive catalyst that can facilitate employee mental health ( Bavik et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Given clear evidence on the role of supervisors in employee mental health (e.g., Arnold, 2017 ; Hancock et al, 2023 ; Kelloway et al, 2023 ; Lesener et al, 2019 ), our framework centers social support from supervisors and managers as an important target for promoting and protecting mental health. Drawing on social support theory ( Cohen & Wills, 1985 ), job strain theory ( Karasek, 1979 ), JD-R ( Demerouti et al, 2001 ) and COR ( Hobfoll, 1989 ) theories, as well as the accumulated evidence on the importance of social connections to psychological health and well-being (e.g., Holt-Lunstad et al, 2021 ), we describe here the proposed mental health supportive supervisor behavior (MHSSB) framework.…”

“…Leaders and supervisors can impact on employees’ mental health in both positive and negative ways (e.g., Arnold, 2017 ; Hammer et al, 2023a ; Hancock et al, 2023 ; Inceoglu, et al, 2018 ). Here we focus on the role of the supervisor and manager in promoting mental health of employees because training leaders to increase their social support for employees has been one of the only evidence-based interventions to demonstrate promise in this area (see Kossek et al, 2019 ; Mohr et al, 2023 ), as well as demonstrating impact on more general daily well-being ( Mohr et al, 2021 ).…”