One trait that makes women better bosses than men, according to study

It's all about engagement

(Getty Images)

In findings that will come as no surprise to women (and probably plenty of men) everywhere: female bosses are better managers than males.

Shock horror.

Despite the fact that women have the potential to grow a human inside them and then eject said human from their vaginas, and thus may put their jobs on hold briefly, we’re still better bosses.

But there’s one main reason for this: women are better at engagement than their male counterparts, according to a 2015 report based on over forty years of research.

The study analysed responses from 27 million employees and reached the conclusion that female bosses outperform men when it comes to encouraging employee engagement.

Workers whose managers were women were much more likely to answer ‘yes’ to the following statements:

• “There is someone at work who encourages my development”
• “In the last six months, someone has talked to me about my progress”
• “In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work”

And whilst many people may think such phrases are unnecessary (and of course, it's those ghastly ‘snowflake’ millennials needing encouragement and praise), the fact of the matter is that 87 per cent of employees worldwide report feeling disengaged at work, according to Gallup.

What’s more, companies with highly engaged workers outperform their competitors by 147 per cent in earnings per share.

And having more women in management positions can help a company do that.

Let’s all try not to think about the gender pay gap lest we explode. And the fact that there are twice as many men called John as there are women leading FTSE100 companies.

According to the report, these are the areas in which female managers “eclipse” their male counterparts: setting basic expectations for their employees, building relationships with their subordinates, encouraging a positive team environment and providing employees with opportunities to develop within their careers.

This all means that workers who report to a woman are more likely to feel engaged at work and thus perform better.

One day women might even be paid the same as men. Can you imagine?