Questions to Ask Employees About Their Manager
For an HR partner, a manager's own boss or anyone building an upward-feedback survey who needs questions to ask employees about their manager, whether in a survey, a 360 review or a private conversation. The list runs from the safest ground to the most sensitive: clarity and communication, feedback and recognition, support and workload, then fairness and trust, followed by statements to rate and open-ended questions to close on. Each has a note on what a good or a worrying answer sounds like and what to do with it.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Clarity
Do you know what your manager expects of you right now?
Why ask it
A good answer is two or three things the person can list without checking. If they describe tasks but cannot say which matters most, ask where their sense of the job comes from. When it comes from a colleague or an old job description, the manager has left a gap.
When priorities change, how do you find out?
Why ask it
The healthy version is from the manager, early, with the reason attached. Worrying versions are a calendar invite, a colleague's passing remark, or learning it after the old work was finished. Ask for the most recent change and how many days of effort it cost.
How well does your manager explain the reasons behind decisions?
Why ask it
A decision people dislike is easier to live with when they know why it was made. 'We just get told' points at a manager who passes orders along without understanding them, or who understands and does not share. In a survey this works as a rating with a comment box under it.
How often do you and your manager meet one-on-one, and how often does it get moved or canceled?
Why ask it
Ask for a count from the last two months, not the official schedule. An occasional move is ordinary. A meeting that is canceled more often than it is held tells the employee where they rank, whatever the manager intends.
Does your manager ask for your view before making a decision that affects your work?
Why ask it
Listen for an example where the employee's input changed something, even slightly. Being consulted and then ignored every time can sting more than never being asked, so follow up with what became of the last suggestion they made.
What is your team trying to get done over the next few months, and how did you find that out?
Why ask it
Put this to several people and compare. The same two or three goals in different words means the manager has got the direction across. Five people with five answers are each working to their own guess, and the second half shows whether the manager ever said it or left it in a slide nobody opened.
If two pieces of work collide, does your manager tell you which comes first?
Why ask it
'Both are urgent' is the answer to listen for, because it means the choice is being pushed down to the person with the least information. A manager who makes the call, even an unpopular one, is doing the job. Ask when it last happened.
What do you hear from your manager about what is happening in the rest of the company?
Why ask it
This shows whether news travels through the manager or around them. If the team learns of changes from other teams first, check whether the manager was told in time before you count it against them: the blockage may sit a level up, possibly with you.
What are team meetings like when your manager runs them?
Why ask it
Meetings are the one part of a manager's work the whole team watches at once. Find out what the last one settled: a meeting where each person reports to the manager in turn serves the manager, and one that ends with a decision serves the team. If the same two voices fill the hour, put this question to the quieter people first.
Feedback
When did your manager last give you feedback that changed how you do something?
Why ask it
A date and an example mean feedback is a working habit. If the person has to reach back to their last formal review, the manager is saving comments up. Note what kind of feedback they remember, since that is the kind that lands with them.
Do you hear about a problem with your work when it happens, or at review time?
Why ask it
The worrying answers are 'at review time' and 'from someone else'. Feedback that late is hard to act on and can feel like a file being built. If several people say it, the manager probably finds hard conversations uncomfortable, and that is something you can coach.
How does your manager tell you when something was not good enough?
Why ask it
Good sounds like: in private, about the work, with what to do differently. Worrying sounds like: in front of others, by going quiet, or by redoing the work without a word. That last one often goes with a manager who was promoted for their own output.
When you do good work, how do you know your manager noticed?
Why ask it
Listen for something specific the manager said or did, not 'they are generally positive'. People differ on whether they want praise in public or in private, so a useful follow-up is whether the recognition came in a form they liked.
When your manager talks about the team's work to other people, who gets the credit?
Why ask it
Employees usually know, because it gets back to them. A manager who names the person who did the work earns a lot of loyalty cheaply. If the answer is 'it becomes their project', you have a finding to check against how that manager reports upward to you.
At your last review, did your manager's account of your work match your own?
Why ask it
A match means the manager sees the work and the review summed up conversations already had. Where it did not, find out which part was off: the rating, the reasons, or a year described by someone who plainly had not watched it. Review systems differ by employer, so if yours has no formal one, ask about the last talk on pay or progress.
Does your manager ever ask you how they are doing as a manager?
Why ask it
If yes, ask what happened after the employee answered. Where nothing ever changed, the asking was a ritual, and people stop being honest with rituals. A manager who asks and then acts needs far less watching from you.
Support
When you are stuck, what does your manager do?
Why ask it
Three common answers: helps the person think it through, takes the work over, or cannot be found. Only the first one builds anyone. Taking over looks like support and is often reported as support, so ask whether they could do it alone next time.
When you need a decision from your manager, how long does it usually take?
Why ask it
What counts as slow depends on the work, so ask for the last decision they waited on and what the wait held up. Once people have stopped asking and started guessing, the manager has become the bottleneck. Count the manager's direct reports and standing meetings before you hold it against them: a calendar that full may be yours to fix.
How much say do you have over how you do your work?
Why ask it
This is the micromanagement question asked without the word, which people hesitate to use about a boss. A new hire left entirely alone and a senior person who needs every email approved are both badly served, so listen for a match between freedom and experience. Then ask what they would need to show to be given more room.
Does your manager know enough about the work itself to help you with it?
Why ask it
A manager does not have to be the best at the job, but should know enough to judge good work and spot a bad plan. If the answer is no, ask who fills the gap. A team with a second, unofficial manager for the real questions is worth knowing about.
Has your manager talked with you about where you want your career to go?
Why ask it
Ask when, and whether anything followed. One conversation at hiring does not count. What you hope to hear is something the manager did afterward, such as a project, an introduction or an honest word about what is not available on this team.
When you tell your manager you have too much on your plate, what happens next?
Why ask it
The answer you want has something being moved, delayed or dropped. 'I do not bother telling them' is the one to write down word for word. People stop reporting overload once they learn it earns sympathy and nothing else.
How does your manager respond when you ask for time off or need to change your hours?
Why ask it
Keep this to how the manager behaves: whether the answer is quick, consistent across the team and free of guilt. What someone is entitled to depends on the employer's policy and where they work, so check that with whoever owns it before you judge the manager against it.
Does your manager stand up for the team when other departments or senior leaders ask for more?
Why ask it
Employees watch this closely and remember it. The strongest evidence is a time the manager said no upward or negotiated a later date. If you are the manager's boss, expect to hear about requests that came from you, and take it without flinching.
Do you have what you need to do the job, and what does your manager do when you do not?
Why ask it
Missing equipment, access or staff may not be the manager's fault, so the second half matters more. A manager who asked and was refused has done their part. One who never passed the request up has not, and you can check which it was.
Does your manager show an interest in you as a person, not only in what you produce?
Why ask it
Nobody is asking for friendship. The test is small: does the manager know what is going on in the person's life to the degree the person wants them to? An answer like 'they only notice me when something is late' says plenty.
Trust
Does your manager hold everyone on the team to the same standards?
Why ask it
Ask for what they have seen, not what they suspect. 'One person is always late and nothing happens' is an observation you can check. Avoid asking who the favorite is: you want the behavior, and names turn the conversation into a complaint about a colleague.
How are the interesting assignments handed out on your team?
Why ask it
Favoritism often shows less in how people are spoken to than in who gets the work that leads somewhere. If the same one or two names always come up, look at whether there is a reason the team would accept, such as a skill, and whether anyone has said it aloud.
Does your manager do what they say they will do?
Why ask it
You want one promise kept and one that slipped. Everybody drops something now and then. The pattern to worry about is the promise that matters to the employee, such as a pay conversation or a schedule change, going quiet with no explanation.
If you made a serious mistake, would you tell your manager right away?
Why ask it
The speed of the answer tells you nearly as much as the answer. A fast yes usually means the manager has handled bad news well before. Hesitation tends to have a story behind it, about this person or a teammate, and that story is what you ask for next.
Can you disagree with your manager without it costing you?
Why ask it
The useful detail is the last disagreement and what the following weeks were like. The cost people fear is usually quiet: a cooler tone, a project given to someone else. If nobody on the team can remember disagreeing, that is the worrying result, not the reassuring one.
When you tell your manager something in confidence, does it stay there?
Why ask it
One leak can be enough to end honest conversation on a team, and the manager may not know it happened. If the answer is no, do not ask for the details of what was shared. Ask only how they found out it had traveled.
How does your manager behave when the pressure is on?
Why ask it
Most managers are fine in a calm week, so the bad week is the real sample. The hope is a manager who gets clearer and shields the team. Snapping, vanishing or passing the panic straight down are the answers to write down, with the week they happened in.
How does your manager handle conflict between people on the team?
Why ask it
The telling detail is timing. A manager who steps in while it is still a disagreement spares everyone the version where it becomes a feud. Ask about one real case, and whether both people felt heard or one felt the manager had picked a side.
Does your manager admit it when they get something wrong?
Why ask it
An example is easy to produce if it has ever happened, so ask for one. Teams forgive a lot from a manager who says 'that was my call and it was the wrong one'. Where the blame instead finds its way to someone junior, you have one of the more serious findings this list can turn up.
Have you seen or experienced anything from your manager that you felt crossed a line?
Why ask it
Before asking, find out from your HR or legal team what you would be required to do with a yes, because some reports cannot stay private however the conversation was framed. Tell the employee that before they answer. If something serious comes up, stop collecting feedback and follow your organization's process.
Rating items
My manager makes clear what is expected of me.
Why ask it
A statement to rate from strongly disagree to strongly agree, and the natural first item on an upward-feedback survey. Look at the spread as well as the average: a team split between high and low scores often means the manager is clear with some people and not others.
My manager keeps me informed about decisions and changes that affect my work.
Why ask it
Covers communication in one line. If it scores low while the item on expectations scores high, the manager is good with the individual job and poor at passing on the wider picture, which narrows the coaching to one habit.
My manager gives me feedback that helps me improve.
Why ask it
The wording asks about usefulness, which is harder to score well on than frequency. If you want both, add a second item about how often. Folding two ideas into one statement leaves nobody able to tell which half a low score refers to.
My manager notices and acknowledges good work.
Why ask it
A low score here is one a manager can turn around quickly, which makes it a kind place to start the debrief. Pair it with a comment box asking for a recent example, or the manager is left guessing what sort of recognition people meant.
My manager supports my growth and development.
Why ask it
When this comes back low, find out first whether a career conversation has happened at all. If it has not, the fix is a scheduled conversation, not a training budget. The open-ended answers will show whether people want a path or simply want to be asked.
My manager trusts me to do my work without checking every step.
Why ask it
The survey's check on micromanagement. Where the groups are large enough to report, split it by length of service: low scores from experienced people beside high ones from newcomers suggest a manager who supervises everyone like a beginner. The reverse can mean new people are being left to sink.
My manager helps me keep my workload manageable.
Why ask it
Worded around what the manager does, because the amount of work may be set above them. Read it beside whatever you know about headcount: a low score on a team that is two people short says more about your staffing than about their manager.
My manager treats the people on our team fairly.
Why ask it
A middling average can hide one or two people who feel badly treated, and averaging them away is the mistake. Check how your survey tool reports small groups before you promise anything about anonymity, since the minimum group size varies by provider and setup.
I can raise a concern with my manager without worrying about what happens afterward.
Why ask it
The most sensitive score on the survey and the one to read first. Where it is low, treat every other high score with caution, since people who fear consequences may also rate generously. Never ask the manager to work out who answered low.
I would recommend my manager to a colleague looking for a team to join.
Why ask it
The summary item: one number that takes in everything else. It is useful for tracking change from one survey to the next and close to useless alone, since it says nothing about why. Put it last so the earlier items have already made people think.
Open-ended
What does your manager do that you would not want them to change?
Why ask it
Start the open questions here. It gives the manager something to protect when the results come back, and people who have just said something generous are more willing to be exact about what is not working.
What is one thing your manager should start doing?
Why ask it
Asking for one makes people choose, and the choice is the information. In a survey, read these side by side: three people asking for the same new habit is an instruction. A single unusual request may be one person's preference.
What should your manager stop doing?
Why ask it
The hardest of the three to answer honestly, so expect blanks in a survey and a pause in a conversation. Answers are often small and specific, like messaging late at night or changing the plan in front of customers, and small things are the ones a manager can drop by Monday.
What would you tell a new hire about working for your manager?
Why ask it
Advice to a newcomer comes out more balanced than a verdict: people give the good news and the workaround together. 'Great, just get everything in writing' is a compliment with a finding inside it, and the second half is what to follow up.
If you could change one thing about how your team is managed, what would it be?
Why ask it
Worded about the team so that people can answer without it feeling like an attack on a person. Sort the answers into things the manager controls and things they do not. The second pile is feedback for you, and the manager should hear that you saw it that way.
What would you add if you were certain it could not be traced back to you?
Why ask it
Only ask this if you can describe truthfully what happens to the answer: who reads it, whether comments are shown word for word, and how small a group gets reported. If you cannot say, find out from whoever runs the survey first. An answer here is a sign the earlier ones were softened.
What would you like to see happen after this?
Why ask it
Some people want a change, some want the manager coached, and some only wanted it heard and would be alarmed by any visible action. Knowing which keeps you from fixing something in a way that points straight back at the person who spoke.
What have I not asked about your manager that I should have?
Why ask it
The last question in a conversation, or the last box on a form. Whatever shows up here was important enough to say unprompted, so it goes to the top of your notes. Repeated answers also tell you which question to add next time.
How to ask employees about their manager
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you ask
Pick the setting for what you need
A survey suits a pattern across a whole team and lets people answer without facing anyone. A 360 review adds the manager's peers and boss, so what the team says sits beside other views. A private conversation gets the story behind a score, and suits a small team where a survey could not hide anyone. A workable order is a short survey first, then conversations to understand what it showed.
Tell the manager before the team
A manager who learns from their own team that questions are being asked about them will assume the worst. Say what you are asking, why, and what they will be shown afterward. If it is routine for every manager, say so to everyone: people answer more calmly when nobody has been singled out.
Decide what happens to the answers first
Know who will read them, whether the manager sees comments word for word or as themes, and what you will do if something serious comes up. Employees will ask, and 'I am not sure' ends the honesty there. How anonymity and reporting work depends on your employer and your survey provider, so ask them before you make a promise.
Choose a few from each group
Nobody answers the whole list well. For a conversation, take two or three each from Clarity, Feedback, Support and Trust, then one or two from Open-ended. The groups run from the safest ground to the most sensitive, so keep that order. For a survey, eight to ten rating items and two or three open questions is plenty, and a short form gets more thought per answer than a long one.
Rating statements or open-ended questions
What a rating statement gives you
A number you can compare: between this survey and the next, or between one part of the manager's job and another. The entries under Rating items are statements to mark from strongly disagree to strongly agree. They are quick to answer and feel safe to the person answering. They do not tell you why.
What an open-ended question gives you
The why, in the employee's words, and often something you did not think to ask. The cost is that a written comment can identify its writer through a turn of phrase or a detail only one person would know. Say plainly whether comments are passed on as written, and let people skip them.
One idea per statement
'My manager is clear and fair' cannot be answered by someone whose manager is one and not the other, and a low score on it cannot be read. Split it in two. Be wary of 'always' and 'never' as well: few managers always do anything, so honest people drift to the middle of the scale.
Turn a question into a statement, and back
Most questions in the first four groups can be recast for a survey. 'When priorities change, how do you find out?' becomes 'My manager tells me promptly when priorities change.' Going the other way, any rating item becomes a conversation when you ask for the last time it was true.
Keep one scale and one direction
Use the same five points throughout, with agree meaning good every time. A reversed item slipped in to catch careless answers also trips careful people who misread it, and the results get harder to explain to the manager.
Asking so people answer honestly
Describe the protection you can deliver
Confidential and anonymous are different promises. Anonymous means nobody can tell who said it. Confidential means you know and will not say. On a team of four, a survey may not be anonymous in practice whatever the form claims. Tell people which one they are getting, and offer no more than your tool and your own obligations allow.
Ask about what the manager does
'Is your manager a good communicator?' asks for a verdict, and people soften verdicts. 'What do you hear from your manager about the rest of the company?' asks for a fact. Behavior is easier to report, harder to argue with and more useful to the manager who has to change it.
Ask for the last time
General answers drift toward polite. A recent example brings dates and details with it. When no example comes, that is information too: the thing may not be happening.
Stay neutral while they talk
Do not defend the manager, explain their side or look alarmed. Each of those teaches the employee what you want to hear. 'Thank you, tell me more about that' is enough. Explanations can come later, and from the manager.
Think about who is asking
People judge the safety of a question by the person putting it. A boss known to be close to the manager, or an HR partner seen at lunch with them every day, will get careful answers. If that is you, a survey or a different interviewer may get closer to the truth.
What to do with the answers
Look for the pattern
One sharp comment may be one bad day or one difficult relationship. The same point from three people is a pattern. Weigh feedback that way, with one exception: a report about safety, harassment or discrimination does not wait for a second voice. Take it to whoever handles those where you work and follow that process.
Sort what the manager controls from what they do not
Workload, tools, pay and headcount are often decided above the manager. If the team's complaints are about those, the feedback belongs to you or to the company. Handing it to the manager as theirs is unfair, and the team will see it that way too.
Give the manager themes, not quotes
Summarize in your own words, combine similar points and leave out any detail that points at one person. Begin with what the team wants kept. Then agree on one or two things to work on: a manager handed twelve criticisms at once changes none of them.
Never help trace an answer
The manager's first question is often 'who said that?' The answer is that it does not matter. One traced comment, or one cold shoulder afterward, and the next round of feedback will be polite and empty. Say this to the manager before they see the results, not after.
Go back to the team
Tell the people who answered what you heard in broad terms and what will change, even if the change is small. Asking and then going silent teaches a team that speaking up is pointless, and it makes the next request harder for whoever makes it.