Terrible bosses are everywhere, and they’re causing employees to not only mentally check out at work, but lose trust in their superiors, too. It’s an epidemic that Office Space poked fun at with its horrible boss, Bill Lumbergh, but the reality is, the Lumberghs of the world are causing employees to hate their jobs … a lot.
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Social media-based recruitment agency Staffbay.com conducted a survey on 15,000 job seekers and found that an astonishing 87.2 percent of the participants “said they wanted to leave their current role” within the next 12 months, with 52.6 percent indicating it’s because “they didn’t trust their boss,” according to The Sacramento Bee. Why are so many employees doubtful of their managers?
Forbes suggests it has something to do with the fact that “leaders are challenged between informing their employees of the entire truth and holding back certain realities so as not to unnecessarily scare people or lose top talent.” Employees want to be informed and kept in the loop of what their time and energy is contributing to, so if companies are constantly trying to pull the wool over their employees’ eyes, then it’s obvious where and why the break in trust occurs.
Data from a recent Gallup study also supports this unfortunate dilemma afflicting the workplace known as “terrible bosses.” The study concluded that “52 percent of workers are not engaged, and worse, another 18 percent are actively disengaged in their work.” As it turns out, the study found that employee disengagement was predominantly due to managers focusing on their employees’ weaknesses, or ignoring their workers altogether. So, all that negative reinforcement and disregard didn’t motivate employees at all? Not even a little? Oh, maybe because that’s not how human beings thrive.
Employees have lost trust in their bosses because of poor communication, lack of perceived caring, inconsistent behavior, and perceptions of favoritism. The recession caused many companies to cut down their staff to the bare bones and cut costs where possible, which forced the surviving employees to take on more responsibility, and often for much less money. Now that the economy is recovering somewhat and more job opportunities are reemerging, Americans are looking for companies that are more transparent, honest, and employee-centered. Studies show that professionals nowadays value flexibility and purpose in their careers, and they are willing to forgo higher salaries to achieve them.
The reality is a sad one when you consider that 87 percent of employees don’t trust their bosses – the people they entrust their career advancement and report to everyday, only to be let down and deceived. However, many employers are jumping on the transparency bandwagon and creating cultures that cater to the needs and wants of all of their employees – entry-level to senior executives. The corporate landscape is definitely shifting drastically, and those employers that choose to ignore the changing tides will, inevitably, be left in the dust while their employees happily accept jobs with competitors.
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Is it 87% or 52%? The article says 87% wanted to leave their job, and 52% was because of distrust.