{"id":1840,"date":"2017-10-12T14:00:27","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T14:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/?p=1840"},"modified":"2018-10-10T18:01:03","modified_gmt":"2018-10-10T18:01:03","slug":"study-national-boss-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/study-national-boss-day\/","title":{"rendered":"STUDY: How People Really Feel About Their Bosses"},"content":{"rendered":"

The relationship workers have with their managers is one of the most important factors in employee retention. The role that managers play in shaping company culture is just as important.<\/b><\/p>\n

Ahead of National Boss\u2019s Day on Oct. 16, Comparably<\/a><\/b> took an in-depth look at how employees across the technology sector view their bosses. The data, which comes from thousands of employees at small, mid-size, and large public and private tech companies, was collected between March 2016 and September 2017.<\/p>\n

Respondents were asked the following:<\/p>\n

— Does your boss hurt your company culture?<\/p>\n

— What does your direct manager most need to improve?<\/p>\n

— Do you think you can do your boss\u2019s job better than he or she can?<\/p>\n

— Does your boss expect you to work while you\u2019re on vacation?<\/p>\n

— If you were the boss, what\u2019s the first thing you would change?<\/p>\n

— Do you feel comfortable giving your boss negative feedback?<\/p>\n

The results show bosses have plenty of room for improvement.<\/p>\n

\n

About a third of people say their boss has a negative impact on company culture.<\/b><\/p>\n

BY GENDER:<\/u> Women were more likely<\/b> than men to say their bosses hurt company culture (39% women vs. 31% men).<\/p>\n

\"1\"<\/p>\n

BY DEPARTMENT:<\/u> Workers in business development<\/b> and administrative roles<\/b> were most likely to say their bosses hurt company culture. Workers in HR <\/b>and engineering<\/b> were least likely.<\/p>\n

\"2\"<\/p>\n

BY AGE:<\/u> The youngest workers<\/b> (aged 18 to 25) had the most positive<\/b> view: 27% said their boss was bad for culture. From there, the percentage rose, peaking at 38% among workers aged 56 to 60<\/b>. (Note: Data for ages 61 and up was eliminated due to small sample size.)<\/em><\/b><\/p>\n

\"3\"<\/p>\n

\n

Communication is the No. 1 thing people say they want their bosses to improve (50%).<\/b><\/p>\n

The second most popular response was \u201caccountability\u201d (20%), followed by \u201cpositivity\u201d (14%), \u201chonesty\u201d (9%), and \u201cwork ethic\u201d (7%).<\/p>\n

<\/b>BY GENDER:<\/u> Women and men were almost identical<\/b> in their responses.<\/p>\n

\"1\"<\/p>\n

BY AGE:<\/u> Workers in their older years<\/b> were more likely<\/b> to choose \u201ccommunication\u201d than workers in their younger years<\/b>. For example, 44% of workers aged 18 to 25 chose \u201ccommunication\u201d as their top priority vs. 59% of workers aged 56 to 60.<\/p>\n

<\/u>Workers aged 18 to 25:<\/p>\n

\"2\"<\/p>\n

Workers aged 56 to 60:<\/p>\n

\"3\"<\/p>\n

\n

About a third of people think they could do a better job if they were in their manager\u2019s shoes.<\/b><\/p>\n

BY GENDER: <\/u>Men and women were about even<\/b> in their responses (36% men vs. 34% women said they would do a better job than their boss).<\/p>\n

\"1\"<\/p>\n

BY DEPARTMENT:<\/u> Workers in business development<\/b> and legal <\/b>were more likely than any other group to feel this way (53% and 45%, respectively). HR<\/b> workers were least likely, at only 24%.<\/p>\n

\"2\"<\/p>\n

BY AGE:<\/u> Confidence in one\u2019s ability to better do their boss\u2019s job generally strengthened with age<\/b>, though dipped slightly for the 56 to 60 age group (31%). Those aged 41 to 45 were most confident<\/b>: 35% of them were sure they could their boss\u2019s job better. (Note: Data for ages 61 and up was eliminated due to small sample size.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"3\"<\/p>\n

BY EDUCATION LEVEL:<\/u> 53% of employees with a high-school education level<\/b> selected \u201cyes\u201d when asked whether they would do a better job in their boss\u2019s shoes. Only 32% of employees with a Bachelor\u2019s degree<\/b> responded the same.\"4\"<\/b><\/p>\n

\n

33% of women say their bosses expect them to work when they\u2019re on vacation<\/b><\/p>\n

BY GENDER:<\/u> 33% of women and 26% of men say their bosses expect them to work while they\u2019re on vacation. The rates are the same out of the tech industry.<\/p>\n

BY DEPARTMENT:<\/u> Workers in executive roles were most likely to say they\u2019re expected by their boss to work on vacation, followed next by workers in communications and business development. Workers in engineering were least likely to feel expected to work on vacation, followed next by HR and sales workers.<\/p>\n

\"OOO\"<\/b><\/p>\n

BY EXPERIENCE<\/u>: It doesn\u2019t matter how experienced you are. <\/b>Workers with more than 10 years of experience at a company are almost as likely as those with any other level of experience to say they have a boss who expects them to work on vacation.<\/p>\n

\"PPP\"<\/p>\n

BY AGE:<\/u> The older you are, the more likely you are to report having a boss who expects you work on vacation. <\/b>Forty-one percent of workers aged 56 to 60 said their bosses expect them to work on vacation compared to 25% of workers aged 36 to 40.<\/p>\n

\"QQQ\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

The first thing people would improve if they were the boss is \u201cvision and strategy\u201d (33%).<\/b><\/p>\n

The next most popular response was \u201cimprove office culture\u201d (23%), followed by and \u201cincrease employee pay\u201d (22%). The lowest priorities were \u201cmake a better product\u201d (16%), and \u201ccut expenses\u201d (6%).<\/p>\n

\"1\"<\/p>\n

BY DEPARTMENT:<\/u> Workers in administrative roles<\/b> and customer support<\/b> were the only people who ranked \u201cincrease employee pay\u201d above<\/b> improving strategy and vision. Workers in finance<\/b> were unique in that they ranked \u201cvision and strategy\u201d just as importantly <\/b>as \u201cincrease employee pay\u201d and \u201cimprove office culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Administrative:<\/p>\n

\"2\"<\/p>\n

Customer Support:<\/p>\n

\"3\"<\/p>\n

Finance:<\/p>\n

\"4\"BY DEPARTMENT:<\/u> The only age group that didn\u2019t<\/b> rank vision and strategy as No. 1 was the 18 to 25 set \u2014 the youngest workers surveyed. Twenty-seven percent of them chose \u201cincrease employee pay,\u201d slightly more than the 24% who chose \u201cvision and strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"5\"<\/p>\n

BY CITY:<\/u> At 37%, the city of Portland, Ore.,<\/b> had the highest percentage of respondents who chose \u201cvision and strategy.\u201d Boston<\/b> and Chicago<\/b> were close behind, each with 35% of the vote.<\/p>\n

Portland:<\/p>\n

\"6\"<\/p>\n

Boston:<\/p>\n

\"7\"<\/p>\n

Chicago:<\/p>\n

\"8\"<\/b><\/p>\n

\n

Just over 60% of people are comfortable giving their bosses negative feedback.<\/b><\/p>\n

BY GENDER<\/u>: Women are less comfortable<\/b> giving their bosses negative feedback than men.<\/p>\n

\"1\"<\/p>\n

BY DEPARTMENT AND GENDER<\/u>: W<\/b>omen in executive roles, engineering, and customer support <\/b>were the most comfortable with giving their boss negative feedback, while women in business development and legal<\/b> were the least comfortable.<\/p>\n

On the flipside, men in HR and customer support<\/b> were the most comfortable with giving their boss negative feedback while men in legal<\/b> were overwhelmingly the least comfortable. (Less than 40% of men and women in legal were comfortable giving their boss negative feedback.)<\/p>\n

\"2\"\"2.3\"<\/p>\n

BY AGE<\/u>: Sixty-six percent of workers aged 36 to 40 said they were comfortable<\/b> giving feedback to the boss \u2014 the highest percentage of any age group. Workers younger and older than that were generally less comfortable<\/b>, particularly those aged 18 to 25 and 41 to 45.<\/p>\n

\"AGE\"<\/p>\n

BY EDUCATION LEVEL<\/u>: Sixty-nine percent of employees with a high school education level<\/b> said they were comfortable giving their boss feedback. The rate incrementally declined <\/b>among those with a higher education, bottoming out at 55% among those with an Associate\u2019s degree<\/b>.<\/p>\n

\"4\"<\/p>\n

Methodology<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n