Horrible Bosses (Not the Movie!)

Survey finds almost half of employees have worked for unreasonable managers

A new movie is being released this month, a dark comedy called “Horrible Bosses,”  in which three workers plot to kill their employers.

In real life,  a new survey  shows that almost half (46 percent)  of employees say they have worked for an unreasonable manager and it’s no laughing matter. Thirty-eight percent of the workers said they ended up quitting their jobs.

The survey results were announced on July 5, 2011 by OfficeTeam, which specializes in the placement of highly skilled office and administrative support professionals. OfficeTeam states in a press release that the survey was conducted by an independent research firm and is based on telephone interviews with 441 workers 18 years of age or older and employed in an office environment.

Workers were asked, “Have you ever worked for an unreasonable boss?”  Their responses:

Yes	46%
No	54%
	100%

Workers who have had an unreasonable boss also were asked, “How did you respond?” They said:

Stayed put but tried to deal with the issue	35%
Quit my job eventually once I had another job lined up	27%
Stayed put and suffered through the torment	24%
Quit my job immediately without having another job lined up	11%
Don’t know/no answer	3%
	100%

OfficeTeam identified five types of “challenging bosses”: the micromanager, poor communicator, bully, saboteur and the “mixed bag” who has unpredictable moods.

Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam, said individuals are often promoted because they excel in a given job but “that doesn’t mean they have the skills to be effective leaders.”