They lie, they cry, they yell a lot. They’re bad bosses, and 43% of workers reported they have quit a job to get away from them, according to a survey of more than 8,000 workers by CareerBuilder.com.
CareerBuilder.com’s survey found women (48%) are more likely to quit because of a bad boss than men (39%). Age also plays a role in who stays and who goes. Approximately 48% of workers ages 35-44 left their jobs because of a bad boss, while 40% of younger workers, ages 18 to 24, and 41% of older workers, ages 45 to 54, said they quit.
Some survey respondents shared real life examples of bad boss behavior that borders on the bizarre, including:
- Hid in weird places in order to spy on employees;
- Took a bite of someone’s doughnut while they were away from their desk;
- Held a meeting while locked inside the bathroom;
- Brought a gun to work and cleaned it in an area behind employees;
- Tap danced on employee’s desk;
- Showed everyone a kidney stone he had passed;
- Broke down and cried during a meeting, “Why don’t you like me?”;
- Kept his lunch in a freezer intended for human organ storage;
- Used a taser gun on a subordinate;
- Declared “Talk like a pirate day” (ummmmm, no comment); and
- Rode a child’s scooter through the office.
Workers who are dealing with problem supervisors will be happy to hear that help is on the way. CareerBuilder.com just launched a new online Anonymous Tip Giver tool that enables employees to provide “constructive” criticism or fun advice for bosses or co-workers without revealing their identity.
Users can select from one of four outlandish characters and choose a unique voice to deliver a tip for the recipient. It is possible to write up specific advice or select from a list of pre-made tips such as “One out of 10 people think your barking dog ring tone is funny, that one person is you.” It is even possible to record a message over the phone. Without revealing the sender’s identity, the fully animated tip is delivered right to the recipient’s e-mail box. Voilá! Bad boss problem solved. Annoying co-worker situation addressed.
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 8,038 U.S. employees (employed full-time; not self-employed; non government) ages 18 and over between November 12 and December 1, 2008 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset U.S. employees, based on their responses to certain questions). With a pure probability sample of 8,038, one could say with a 95% probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 1.09 percentage points. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.
