Manager satisfaction matters more than leadership contentment when it comes to how rank-and-file workers rate their workplace, according to new research analyzing more than two million employee reviews.
The study examined 2.02 million Glassdoor reviews from 1,571 companies collected between January 2022 and July 2025. Researchers found that when managers were satisfied but leaders were not, individual contributors gave their companies an average rating of 3.82 out of five. When leaders were satisfied but managers were dissatisfied, worker ratings dropped to 3.43.
“You cannot create a winning workplace culture without bringing your managers along,” said Chris Martin, lead researcher at Glassdoor who conducted the analysis.
Ratings align across levels in most cases
In most companies, leaders and managers reported similar satisfaction levels. When both groups were satisfied, individual contributors gave the highest ratings at 3.91. When both were dissatisfied, worker ratings fell to 3.28.
But in about 12 per cent of companies analyzed, managers and leaders disagreed meaningfully about their workplace experience. In these cases, worker ratings aligned more closely with how managers felt than with leadership sentiment.
Culture factors show strongest manager influence
The gap was particularly pronounced for work-life balance, culture and values, and diversity, equity and inclusion ratings. For work-life balance, individual contributor ratings jumped from 3.33 to 3.76 when managers were satisfied, even if leaders remained dissatisfied. Leadership satisfaction alone barely moved the needle, increasing ratings from 3.28 to just 3.33.
Similar patterns emerged for culture and values, and diversity and inclusion metrics.
Industry variations
Restaurants and food service showed the highest rate of misalignment, with 21 per cent of companies having satisfied leaders but dissatisfied managers. No companies in that sector showed the reverse pattern.
Education showed the opposite trend, with 13 per cent of companies having satisfied managers but dissatisfied leaders. The sector had the lowest rate of dissatisfied managers at 11 per cent.
Transportation and logistics, real estate, healthcare, and hotels and travel accommodation also showed relatively high rates of satisfied leaders paired with dissatisfied managers.
The research included only companies with at least 30 reviews from individual contributors, 30 from managers, and 10 from leaders defined as director-level and above. Companies were categorized as having satisfied or dissatisfied groups if their average ratings were more than one-third of a standard deviation above or below the median.
Martin is lead researcher on Glassdoor’s Economic Research team. He previously worked at Syndio, PayScale and Starbucks.
