Dear HR Executive,
How much time do the supervisors in your company spend actually supervising? If we can believe a new study from McKinsey & Co., maybe not as much time as they should.
McKinsey found that supervisors of a single business unit spent on average just 25-30% of their time working with, coaching and training line employees. (For some it was as little as 10%.) The rest of the time was spent on administration, meetings, special projects, breaks and the like.
The study covered a range of industries, including retail, manufacturing, B2B sales and transportation.
Get your own numbers
You might want to work up your own numbers by quizzing some of your front-line supervisors.
If you don’t like the results, you could start by reviewing – and perhaps modifying – supervisors’ job descriptions. Are they expected to float a boatload of admin stuff? Also, do they have too many employees to effectively watch over? McKinsey suggests a supervisor have no more than about a dozen direct reports.
Sure, the structure of departments and teams isn't exclusively HR's call. But you have a clear interest in ensuring that supervisors aren't so overwhelmed they neglect important stuff like progressive discipline and documentation of behavioral or performance issues.
Dave Clemens
Editor-in-Chief
HR Rapid Learning Center
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What is the ideal % (or hours) of time a supervisor should actually supervise a group of 12 employees maximum in a 40 hour week?
Posted by: Scott Schneeloch | December 12, 2009 at 03:28 PM