Research from Professor Hans Frankort finds link between the quality of bosses and the intensity at which employees are required to work.
As many as 148 million workdays were lost to sickness in the UK alone in 2025, according to government statistics.
Mental health accounts for nearly half of all long-term sign-offs from the workplace, with stress, depression and anxiety marked as reasons for 22 million lost days.
Workplace intensity, the amount of effort required of an employee per unit of their working time, is believed to be a key contributor to this with sustained intensity leading to burnout and fatigue. The resulting loss of productivity has serious and direct implications for the economy, but how could mental health deterioration at work be mitigated by better bosses?
New research from Hans Frankort, Professor of Strategy at Bayes Business School, shows clear and distinctive links between the quality of a line manager and the work intensity of their team members with better bosses able to protect workers’ stressors and recognise over-exertion before it takes its toll.
Using employee survey data on perceptions of managers from across 35 European countries and the United States, Professor Frankort and his co-author, Professor Argyro Avgoustaki of ESCP Business School, discovered clear connections between those who did not highly rate their boss and the intensity at which they were working.
The results were most strongly observed in small or private organisations and those with lower employee representation (including trade unions). Findings could provide valuable insights for the UK Government’s ‘Get Britain Working’ initiative as it seeks to stimulate productivity and economic growth.
“The UK is currently tackling large-scale productivity challenges and rising levels of long-term sickness among the working-age population,” said Professor Frankort.
“Rather than duration or exertion of work, work intensity refers to the amount of effort required of an employee per unit of their working time. It can be a key determinant of both job satisfaction and occupational health.”
“Our research implies that the best line managers are those capable of helping subordinates manage stressful situations and deadlines to reduce risk of poor mental health and burnout.”
Data for the research were captured from the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey as well as 2015 and 2018 American Working Conditions Surveys. Information was specifically selected from seven-point scale responses to questions “Does your job involve working at very high speed?” and “Does your job involve working to tight deadlines?” with possible responses ranging from ‘never’ to ‘all of the time’, along with a five-point response to the statement “You have enough time to get the job done”, from ‘always’ to ‘never’.
Line manager quality, meanwhile, was measured using a total of worker evaluation scores of boss characteristics, including responses to seven statements for European data and seven for American data about respect for team members, praise and recognition, getting people to work together, helpfulness in getting the job done, feedback and encouragement – generating an overall score of boss quality.
Professor Frankort acknowledged that some occupations naturally come with more strain and hard work than others. However, findings of the research were evident across many personality types, levels of competence and job roles themselves.
“While some occupations inevitably require more frequent bursts of high intensity than others, managers must recognise risks to mental health and provide additional resourcing, encourage regular breaks and ensure adequate holiday allowance.”
With all this in mind, what can be done to improve manager competencies and therefore reduce work intensity and risk of burnout?
“Better awareness training could improve managers’ recognition of work intensity,” added Professor Frankort.
“The UK’s workforce productivity issues require practical steps for reducing the number of people with long-term sickness. Based on findings of the research, this could include incentives for organisations to make managers aware of their impact on individual and team wellbeing and performance. In turn, organisations should be continuously refreshing managers’ knowledge about their organisation and best practices in their profession to be able to lead with calmness, clarity and authority.”