What is a People Manager?

People managers encourage candid conversations about performance, growth opportunities, and workplace challenges. They go beyond traditional managerial tasks by focusing on the human side of leadership—building trust, nurturing growth, and ensuring open communication. 

In today’s workplace, where engagement and retention are key priorities, the role of a people manager is more critical than ever. According to Gallup, 70% of employee engagement is influenced by the manager, underscoring the importance of effective leadership in building thriving teams.

Are people managers the same as HR managers?

While people managers and HR managers play crucial roles in managing an organization’s workforce, their responsibilities and focus areas differ.

People managers are leaders who directly oversee teams, focusing on day-to-day people management tasks like setting goals, providing feedback, resolving conflicts, and supporting employee development. Their approach is often more empathetic, emphasizing strong relationships and open communication to enhance employee satisfaction and productivity.

In contrast, HR managers handle broader administrative functions related to human resources, such as compliance with labor laws, compensation structures, and organizational policies. While people management is more about interpersonal relationships and team dynamics, HR management encompasses strategic planning and policy implementation that supports the overall human resource framework. 

Together, these roles ensure that both individual employee needs and organizational goals are met effectively.

What is people management?

People management (as its name suggests) is about managing people in the workplace, ensuring employees have the resources, support, and guidance they need to perform their tasks effectively. 

People management includes a range of formal and procedural responsibilities, including hiring, training, evaluating, and addressing employee performance issues. However, these tasks are just the tip of the iceberg. 

Here is a snapshot of the care-based responsibilities that often get overlooked when we think about people management:

• Ensures that employees receive fair and competitive compensation
• Making sure each employee and the team has the resources they need to do what is expected of them
• Offers wellness resources that promote a safe and happy work environment
• Proactively addresses conflicts between employees or within teams
• Helps employees gain the confidence and enthusiasm they need to realize their potential
• Supports employees to overcome roadblocks that hinder their job performance

Skills for a people manager

A people manager requires a unique set of skills. Each of these skills helps them interact with their employees and perform organizational tasks. 

Let’s look at the top ten essential skills that people managers require:

• Good communication: Being able to convey ideas clearly and listen actively ensures that expectations are understood and feedback is welcomed.
• Ability to listen: Active listening fosters trust and respect, encouraging open communication. By truly hearing what team members say, a people manager can address issues more effectively and create a supportive work environment.
• Empathy: Understanding and relating to employees’ feelings and perspectives creates a supportive atmosphere. 

67% of employees with highly empathetic managers report higher engagement levels

• Patience: Handling diverse personalities and differing opinions requires a calm demeanor. With patience, you can mediate and resolve conflicts while nurturing team members’ growth.
• Adaptability: Adaptability in a people manager is the ability to adjust strategies and approaches in response to changing environments or team dynamics. A successful people manager is flexible, embracing change and encouraging their team to innovate.
• Coaching and mentorship: Harvard Business Review explained that an effective manager-as-coach asks questions instead of providing answers, supports employees instead of judging them, and facilitates their development instead of dictating what has to be done.
• Powerful decision-making: The ability to make informed, timely, and thoughtful decisions drives team success and organizational progress. A good people manager must weigh various factors, anticipate outcomes, and choose the best course of action to help teams remain focused.
• Accountability: A manager who owns their decisions and actions sets a precedent for the team to follow. This leadership quality fosters a culture of trust and responsibility. 
• Problem-solving skills: Effective problem-solvers anticipate challenges, develop strategic solutions, and implement efficient resolutions. This ability ensures smooth operations, minimizes disruptions, and fosters a proactive and competent team environment.

What is the importance of a good people manager?

Good people managers are vital to the success of any organization, as they significantly influence employee engagement, productivity, and overall workplace culture. Their role extends beyond mere supervision; they act as catalysts for motivation, trust, and inclusivity within teams, creating an environment where individuals feel valued and empowered.

According to Gallup, employees led by top-tier managers are 6x more likely to be engaged in their roles and 3x more likely to report an excellent quality of life. 

However, companies fail to select the candidate with the right managerial talent 82% of the time, leading to bad leadership. Poor managerial decisions often result in higher turnover rates, increased costs, and diminished employee well-being. Therefore, organizations must prioritize developing robust processes to identify and nurture managerial talent. 

How to be a good people manager? 

It requires a combination of emotional intelligence, clear communication, empathy, and a genuine commitment to helping your team succeed. Fortunately, there are several practical strategies that people managers can implement to improve their effectiveness: 

Be approachable

Being approachable as a people manager means creating an environment where employees feel comfortable reaching out with questions, ideas, or concerns. This involves maintaining an open-door policy, being friendly, inviting, and demonstrating empathy and understanding. When team members see you as relatable and accessible, internal communication strengthens, and a culture of trust is built. 

Related: Best ChatGPT prompts for team communications

Adopt the SMART model for goal-setting

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals.  This approach provides clarity and direction, ensuring that team objectives are clear and reachable. 

Set up one-on-ones

Host regular 1:1 meetings and video calls to provide a dedicated space for team members to share their thoughts, concerns, and feedback, fostering stronger relationships. This interaction directly leads to a strong organizational culture and increases employee engagement across the company.

With Simpplr’s native video capabilities, you can replace emails with engaging video messages, transforming your intranet into a dynamic, media-rich platform that enhances employee communication and the employee experience.

Welcome feedback

Actively inviting feedback from team members not only shows that you value their opinions but also helps identify areas for growth and development. In fact, 65% of leaders admit that receiving feedback from their team members can improve their employee experience. 

Practice active listening

It means withholding judgment, asking clarifying questions, and providing feedback to ensure messages are understood. By practicing active listening, managers show respect and value for their team’s input, which strengthens communication, builds trust, and promotes a collaborative work environment.

Prioritize employee well-being

Good people managers believe in work-life balance. This can include offering flexible work arrangements, providing access to wellness resources, and cultivating a culture of support and respect, which can reduce burnout and stress in the workplace.

Related: Read our blog on 5 strategies to curb employee stress and burnout

Celebrate the wins

Celebrating wins, both big and small, is essential for a people manager to boost morale and motivation. According to Gallup’s State of the American Workforce report, doubling weekly employee recognition leads to a 24% improvement in quality, 27% less absenteeism, and 10% reduction in shrinkage. 

Thus, providing a platform to easily recognize employee achievements can be critical to your organization’s success.

Encourage learning and development

A majority of employees want to experience significant growth and development at work. After all, how else employees are going to grow in their careers if they not learning new skills? A good people manager will constantly encourage learning and development opportunities, that could be in the form of:

• Regular lunch-and-learn sessions
• Mentorship programs that match employee’s role and growth plan
• Bringing in outside experts

Lead by example

Employees constantly look to leadership to lead by example, bring clarity and focus, and reinforce the company’s higher purpose. Demonstrate the values, attitudes, and behaviors you wish to see in your team.

Potential challenges faced by people managers

While managing people can be easy with the right tools and strategies, people managers face some potential challenges. Here are a few challenges that you should be aware of:

Providing constructive feedback
One of the potential challenges is giving feedback that is both constructive and motivational. This requires striking a balance between being honest about areas needing improvement and encouraging employees to grow. 

Transparent communication and using the sandwich method — balancing negative feedback with positive comments can help in addressing this challenge. This approach fosters a culture of continuous learning, allowing employees to view feedback as an opportunity for growth rather than criticism.

Managing remote and distributed teams
As remote work becomes more common, people managers may find it difficult to maintain team cohesion. The lack of face-to-face interactions can also lead to misunderstandings. Additionally, coordinating schedules across different time zones complicates collaborating remotely and makes it challenging to find suitable times for meetings. 

To overcome this challenge, you can: 

• Use effective communication and collaboration tools 
• Understand that remote work affects individuals differently. Be flexible and supportive
• Do virtual celebrations and shout-outs for achievements 
• Take virtual coffee breaks

Read our case study: Multinational Automotive Service Provider connects 18,000 distributed employees with Simpplr.

Addressing diversity and inclusion

Balancing diverse needs can be challenging. Differences in cultural backgrounds, communication styles, and personal experiences can sometimes lead to misunderstandings or feelings of exclusion among team members. Additionally, unconscious biases may unintentionally influence decision-making or team dynamics

You can address this challenge by: 

• Provide diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training and support 
• Recognize and honor important cultural events or milestones
• Promote equal opportunities so that all employees have fair access to growth, promotions, and leadership roles.
• Supporting employee resource groups (ERGs)

How to best support a people manager?

Managers have a blurred view of how to effectively manage people, especially when balancing the demands of their team, organizational goals, and their own responsibilities. To help people managers thrive and lead effectively, organizations and leaders can provide support in the following ways:

Provide leadership training

Likewise new managers feel hesitant to seek out help from the leadership executives in fear that they might be seen as incompetent. Therefore, support your managers by offering them training programs that equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge.

Related: Explore the power of employee leadership development 

Encourage open communication

Foster an environment where managers feel comfortable seeking help and discussing their challenges without fear of judgment. This can be achieved by promoting a culture of transparency and support, where sharing struggles is seen as a strength rather than a weakness. 

Invest in their professional development

Great managers take the time to prioritize their direct report’s professional development but often overlook their own development. Show that your organization is invested in their professional growth by encouraging them to take certification courses, leadership-based classes, learn a new skill or grow their network. If the organization offers an employee development stipend, remind your leaders to utilize that as well. 

Create clear, defined HR processes

One common issue that managers run into, especially around performance reviews, is how to kick off promotion or compensation reviews. Make your managers aware of the established HR processes that guide these evaluations to ensure consistency and fairness. Additionally, provide clear guidelines and timelines to alleviate misunderstanding or any last-minute rushes.

Adopt technology that matters

Choosing the right tools to simplify people management processes is essential. Use tools like cloud-based solutions, project management software, communication software or even a robust intranet and employee experience platform to ensure a seamless workflow. Modern intranets equipped with AI capabilities empower employees and senior leadership to interact in a more meaningful and individualized way.

How intranet supports people managers in improving employee experience

The success of an organization hinges on the leadership qualities exemplified by a good people manager and a well-designed intranet platform like Simpplr. 
Simpplr’s AI-powered employee experience platform takes intranet functionality to the next level.

Here are a few features that can help people managers to improve employee experience: 

Acts as a single source of truth

An intranet serves as a centralized repository for all company information, ensuring that employees have easy access to essential resources, policies, and updates. This clarity helps reduce confusion and miscommunication, allowing people managers to streamline their communication efforts.

Managers can also create a knowledge base with their own information and integrate it with the rest of the digital workplace to quickly access resources that aren’t directly uploaded to the intranet. These intranets use APIs to sync with other databases, like SharePoint, DropBox, Google Drive, Box, Office 365, ServiceNow and Confluence.

Enhance engagement and motivation

According to a 2021 Gallup study, engaged teams are 17% more productive than their disengaged counterparts and generate 21% more profit for the company. By utilizing an intranet, people managers can foster engagement by facilitating employee-generated content, conducting surveys and polls, analyzing employee sentiments, and much more. 

Related: Read our blog on how to ‘use a digital workplace to motivate disengaged employees smartly

Better internal communication

Effective internal communication is a hallmark of successful managers. However, based on the State of Internal Communications Report 2024, a recent survey revealed that 6% of respondents rate their internal communications as “poor” (1%) or “below average” (5%). To resolve this issue, using the best internal communication tool is crucial.

However, using multiple communication channels can significantly increase IT burden and complicate information management for managers as well as the team. To address this challenge, organizations can bundle their communication channels through a single modern intranet like Simpplr. 

My team dashboard

My team dashboard empowers managers with a view into their team’s engagement levels along with recommended actions they can take to boost employee satisfaction and productivity. A well-designed team dashboard equips managers with AI-driven analytics to support decision-making and strategic planning. It helps them gauge how engaged employees are by surfacing quantifiable indicators, such as adoption, responses to surveys, recognition awards (given and received), task completion and more. 

Feel free to watch this video at 1.5x speed!

Creates a culture of employee feedback

In any organization, employee feedback is the backbone of a productive workplace and understanding how it works is important for individual contributors and senior leadership. 

Use an employee listening tool to unearth hidden employee sentiment that traditional surveys often miss — in real-time. With Simpplr, get an ongoing stream of insights by analyzing a broad range of signals that reveal trends, patterns and themes to help you improve EX.

Reward and recognize contributions

Even with access to the best tools, all of the necessary information, and a collaborative team, employees can still feel disengaged. This can be due to a lack of reward and recognition. In fact, Select Software Reviews reported that 66% of employees said they would quit if they didn’t feel appreciated.

Therefore, creating a robust recognition program — whether through peer-to-peer acknowledgments, manager shout-outs, or formal awards — can make all the difference. 

Related: Check out 12 examples of employee recognition 

You can also read our ebook, next-gen employee recognition: the modern talent retention playbook to get actionable insights.

Improved employee retention

Globally, 93% of organizations worry about employee retention, according to a LinkedIn survey. Leveraging AI-powered EX technology puts managers and HR in a stronger position to deliver a seamless and inclusive employee experience — ultimately increasing job satisfaction and productivity.

Ready to see these features in action? Watch a quick demo to learn how Simpplr can support your managers and employees in transforming people management.