3 pieces of unfiltered feedback for managers you need to hear

You may have spent the last few years pouring money into leadership development, and your employees have noticed exactly none of it. Mentions of "disconnect" climbed 24%, "miscommunication" rose 25%, "distrust" jumped 26%, and "misalignment" surged 149% in Glassdoor reviews from 2024 to 2025.¹ The gap between what managers think they are delivering and what employees actually experience is not shrinking — it is widening at a measurable rate.

The truth is, the feedback employees are leaving is not new. Glassdoor has analyzed millions of "Advice to Management" review entries over the past decade, and the three most persistent themes have barely changed. Employees keep asking for the same things because they keep not getting them. These are the three pieces of feedback for managers that show up in review after review, along with the example phrases and practical steps you need to act on them.

Key takeaways

1. Recognition: Why it still tops the list of feedback for managers

A request to ask workers to "keep up the good work" is the single most common piece of advice employees leave for management on Glassdoor. That might sound like a compliment, but read it again. Employees are modeling the behavior they want to see because they are not getting it. They are starved for acknowledgment and telling managers exactly what they need.

The business case is hard to ignore. Longitudinal research from Gallup and Workhuman tracked more than 3,400 employees from 2022 to 2024 and found that those who received high-quality recognition were 45% less likely to have left their job within two years. Recognition is a retention strategy with a measurable return, not a perk, and employers who pair it with supporting professional development see compounding benefits.

Yet most managers default to silence when things are going well and speak up only when something goes wrong. Employees notice. Here are illustrative examples of the kinds of feedback for managers that reflect this theme:

Recognition is the lowest-cost, highest-impact lever managers have. It does not require a budget line, a new platform, or an HR initiative. It requires attention and consistency.

2. Communication: The gap employees keep flagging

"Listen to staff" is the second most persistent theme in Glassdoor's Advice to Management data. And the problem is getting worse, not better. Glassdoor's Worklife Trends 2026 report found that senior leadership ratings have declined steadily since 2023, with mentions of "miscommunication" up 25% and "disconnect" up 24% in employee reviews from 2024 to 2025.¹

Employees are not asking for open-door policies or more town halls. They want evidence that their input changed something. As Jim Harter, Gallup's chief scientist of workplace management, reported in his midyear 2025 analysis, only 28% of employees strongly agree that their opinions count at work. The silence after feedback is what erodes trust. When employees share suggestions and hear nothing back, the message they receive is that their perspective does not matter.

These are illustrative manager feedback examples that reflect what employees leave on this topic:

Meanwhile, global employee engagement fell to 21% in 2024, the first decline in a decade, according to Gallup. Manager engagement itself has dropped nine percentage points since 2020. That is not a coincidence. When managers are disengaged, the communication gaps compound, and Glassdoor's burnout research shows the downstream effects on entire teams. The cost is not just dissatisfaction. It is disengagement that spreads through entire teams.

3. Fairness: Why respect is non-negotiable

The third piece of consistent feedback is some version of "treat staff better," "be fair," or "show respect." Before the defensive reflex kicks in, most managers do not intend to be unfair. The gap is almost always between policy and perception, between what a manager believes they are doing and what employees experience.

That perception gap matters. McKinsey's research on psychological safety found that when employees feel comfortable sharing suggestions without fear of negative consequences, organizations innovate faster, unlock the benefits of diversity, and adapt better to change. The inverse is also true: when employees perceive unfairness, they stop contributing beyond the minimum. This connects directly to the five core employee needs that drive engagement and retention.

Glassdoor review data reinforces this. Mentions of "distrust" rose 26% from 2024 to 2025,¹ connecting fairness concerns to the broader erosion of trust between employees and leadership. Here are illustrative examples of what this feedback from managers looks like in practice:

Most fairness issues stem from inconsistency, not malice. You can coach managers to audit their own patterns: who gets the high-visibility projects, who gets schedule flexibility, and who gets the benefit of the doubt. The patterns are often invisible to the person in charge.

How to act on feedback for managers: Practical steps

Knowing what employees are saying is only useful if you do something with it. Here is how to turn these three themes into management coaching action:

The feedback for managers that will define the next decade

As AI reshapes workflows and remote and hybrid models become permanent fixtures, the manager-employee relationship is becoming harder to maintain and more consequential when it breaks down. The challenge for you is not a lack of leadership programs — it is closing the gap between what those programs teach and what employees actually experience day to day.

When you build structured channels for upward feedback alongside your leadership investments, you are better positioned to close that gap, and the data on engagement and retention shows the difference. Upward feedback does not replace leadership development. It pressure-tests whether leadership development is actually landing.

Frequently asked questions

How do you give constructive feedback to a manager without it backfiring?

Focus on specific behaviors and their impact rather than character judgments. Use "I" statements ("I noticed that..." rather than "You always...") and choose a private, low-pressure setting. Frame your feedback around outcomes the manager cares about, like team performance or retention, so it lands as a contribution rather than a complaint.

How do you give positive feedback to a remote or hybrid manager?

The same principles apply, but the delivery channel matters more. Written feedback in Slack, email, or a shared document has staying power that a hallway compliment does not. Be specific about the behavior and its impact: "Your decision to move the standup to async updates freed up 90 minutes a week for the team" lands better than "great job with meetings." Written positive feedback also creates a record that managers can reference in their own performance conversations.

How do you give feedback to a manager when there is no formal upward feedback channel?

Start with one-on-one meetings. Frame your input as a question ("Would it help if I flagged when priorities shift mid-sprint?") rather than unsolicited advice. If one-on-ones do not exist, request one with a clear agenda. Alternatively, ask HR whether anonymous survey tools or engagement check-ins are available, and advocate for structured channels if they are not.

How is 360 feedback for managers different from a regular performance review?

A regular performance review flows downward: a manager evaluates a direct report. 360 feedback adds the upward and lateral perspective, collecting input from direct reports, peers, and sometimes cross-functional partners. This multi-source structure captures the blind spots that top-down reviews miss, particularly around how a manager communicates, recognizes contributions, and distributes opportunities.

What should you avoid when giving feedback to your boss?

Avoid vague complaints ("things need to change"), public criticism in group settings, personal attacks on character rather than behavior, and feedback without concrete examples. Delivering criticism without a specific observation to anchor it puts the manager on the defensive and rarely produces change.

How do you give negative feedback to a manager professionally?

Use the Situation-Behavior-Impact framework: describe the specific situation, the behavior you observed, and the impact it had. For example: "In yesterday's team meeting [situation], when the new timeline was announced without prior discussion [behavior], several team members felt blindsided and disengaged for the rest of the day [impact]." Keep it behavioral, not personal.

How do you encourage employees to give honest upward feedback when they fear retaliation?

Start by separating the feedback channel from the power dynamic. Anonymous survey tools, skip-level meetings, and third-party 360 platforms reduce the perceived risk. Then close the loop visibly: when leadership acts on anonymous input, say so publicly. Gallup's research shows managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement, so making upward feedback safe is not optional.

How often should managers receive feedback from employees?

Research consistently favors continuous or weekly feedback over annual or quarterly cycles. Gallup data shows that employees who receive feedback at least weekly are 3.6 times more likely to be highly engaged. The same principle applies in reverse: managers who hear from their teams regularly can course-correct before small issues become systemic.

Next step

Join the Glassdoor Community to share your own management feedback stories or see what other employers are doing differently.

Methodology

¹ Glassdoor Economic Research, "Worklife Trends 2026," published November 12, 2025. Analysis of 3.3 million Glassdoor reviews submitted between January 2019 and October 2025. Metrics cited reflect year-over-year change in keyword mentions ("disconnect," "miscommunication," "distrust," "misalignment") in employee reviews, 2024 vs. 2025. Source: https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/worklife-trends-2026/