Managers who lead with empathy and show concern for workers’ well-being are more likely to increase their team’s performance and productivity than others, according to March 5 research from researchers at Durham University and Athens University.

Leaders with a vision who can share their long-term goals also appear to be more likely to boost employee effectiveness, the researchers found.

“Remote working spiked during the COVID pandemic, and a steady balance has now been found in office roles, with estimates of around 44% of workers in the UK working in some form of remote work role,” researchers Olga Epitropaki and Anders Friis Marstand said in a statement.

“But with a growing trend of managers asking workers to return to the office to boost performance, it could be the case that it is not home working that has reduced performance, but manager’s poor leadership skills instead,” they added.

The researchers analyzed data to better understand the psychological distance that can develop between remote workers and their managers. In particular, they focused on three leadership behaviors that may close the gap: how managers create employee structure, show consideration and communicate their vision. The research team looked at how these behaviors can affect workers’ efficiency with tasks, emotional coping and performance outcomes.

The data stemmed from two studies — a four-wave online study of 300 remote workers and a four-wave study of 200 hybrid workers. Both studies asked workers to discuss their interactions with their managers and their manager-employee relationship, including leadership behaviors, psychological distance and task performance.

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