Office workers reveal their biggest bugbears

Tough times call for everyone to dig deep at work, but a new survey reveals that tensions between office workers and bosses might be at an all-time high. We’re all guilty of an occasional work grumble, but it seems this is on the increase in the current climate.

More than half of UK office workers have had a falling out or disagreement with their boss in the past 12 months and the majority feels that their boss fails to manage them and their team well, according to a survey conducted by Avery Rewards.

After wages, respondents said that the worst thing about their current job was a lack of appreciation, with long working hours unsurprisingly coming third in the list of common complaints. Other issues frequently cited on the list of boss bugbears include those who storm up and down the office, managers who change their minds after a task has been completed, bosses who insist you run personal errands, execs who never make their own tea and those who don’t listen to staff.

It also emerged that just three in 10 office workers say their current job is rewarding and when things get tough in the office, more than 90% of employees admit to needing a treat to cheer themselves up.

Here is the list of the top 20 boss grumbles highlighted by the survey:

1) Stomping around the office
2) Telling employees to do something then changing their mind after it’s been done
3) Not being supportive
4) Having office favourites
5) Telling off staff for not doing a task that they weren’t actually asked to do in the first place
6) Asking their direct report to run personal errands
7) Not listening to staff
8) Barely talking to the team
9) Refusing to take phone calls that their assistants have tried to put through
10) Trying too hard to seem powerful
11) Shouting at staff
12) Trying to show off
13) Not wanting junior staff to progress in their career
14) Refusing to pay for team-bonding sessions
15) Making employees lie to other people, such as saying they are in a meeting when they’re not
16) Never making their own tea, coffee, or drinks
17) Asking staff to make excuses for them on the phone
18) Making team members stay late when they have left early
19) Questioning employees’ ability out loud
20) Being sexist

Avery Rewards runs a campaign to remind office workers to treat themselves for all their efforts. It provides them with instantly redeemable e-vouchers for some of the nation’s favourite brands when they purchase Avery products from their stationery provider. To find out more, visit averyrewards.co.uk.