Few bosses need worry that their employees want their jobs as most workers are just happy to be employed, and one fifth would even have a fling with their boss if it helped their career, according to a U.S. survey.
The U.S. recession has driven bosses and their employees closer together and only 30 percent of employees want their boss’s stressful job, recruitment firm Adecco Staffing U.S. found in a poll tied to National Boss Day in mid-October.
But the survey found that some people are willing to go to greater lengths to keep their jobs in a tough market.
Almost one in five said they would have a fling with their boss if it would help their career, and a similar number share connections with their boss through social networking sites like Facebook or LinkedIn.
Striving for the boss’s job is not a top priority, though.
Employees with children aged 18 or under at home are more likely (39 percent vs. 23 percent) to want their boss’s job to help pay for education and other costs.
With unemployment brushing up against 10 percent, those still working “feel like they were the chosen ones, like they got a vote of confidence from their boss that they’re good enough to be retained,” said David Adams, Adecco Group North America vice president of learning and development in Seattle.
That, and the smaller number of employees in many departments, strengthened ties between employees and bosses.
“Recession tested people’s values and many realize that it’s not all about work,” said Adams, adding that workers saw peers climb the corporate ladder only to be laid off.
More than three-quarters of bosses said they felt stronger bonds to their employees than three years ago, and 61 percent of the employees agreed.
This may not change any time soon, even though the private-sector National Bureau of Economic Research last month called the recession over as of June 2009.
“Although it’s technically over, nobody feels that it is over,” said Adams.
Employees still expect more from their bosses, however, and employers should pay close attention so they can keep their best talent when the economy and job market recover.
While employees want bosses who coach and guide with clear goals and tools for career growth, many bosses are seen falling short by simply giving orders.
Still, 91 percent of employees think they have a mutual respect with their boss and 86 percent trust their boss.
The degree of respect tends to fade the larger the age gap, though.
Even though a majority of employees would consider their boss a friend, less than a quarter of them enjoy spending time with their boss outside of the office.
A third of employees who are connected to their boss through social networking web sites now wish they were not, and 45 percent have adjusted their privacy settings.
As for the dream boss? Oprah Winfrey tops the list, with President Barack Obama a close second. Least desirable are former BP Plc Chief Executive Tony Hayward and former American Idol judge Simon Cowell.
I tend to disagree. The boss/management tend to feel that since everyone needs their jobs they can get them to do anything. I feel my employer has taken away a lot of the benefits that use to give us, because they know our backs are up against the wall. My employer even doesn’t follow some of their policies that are posted to make it seem that they are all about work and life. When you attempt to use the benefits they just make up excuses to not provide them.
In my view, these stats are based upon the fact that during rounds of layoffs at a company the *** kissers are far more likely to retain their jobs than the people who try to get by on quality of work. I can clearly see this at my firm.
Respect? Trust? Where is Reuters getting it’s information? I don’t know anyone who is NOT itching to leave their current employer because of the way they are being treated during these tough economic times. And trust me, none of us expects any extras because we know we are fortunate to have our jobs, but the blatent disregard for people in general just because they know they need their jobs is rampent and disgusting. From the potential employee during the interviewing process to the long term employee during review time, corporate is just plain arrogant. It’s telling of why the country is in this economic mess in the first place – corporate doesn’t get it, and they continue to make the same poor choices we’ve come to expect. Once the job market opens up (and eventually, it will) and the employee has some leverage, expect a mass exodus by many in the work force — a happy time for many indeed!
Sorry, I don’t buy into this. I am a manager for a mid size company that has steadily reduced benefits, cut out pay increases and keeps cutting labor in their stores. People are happy to just have a job, and therein lies the problem. They are so afraid of losing their jobs that some are ready to “have a fling” with their employer! When has that ever been OK? This will eventually come back to bite the employers in the behind though. Everything goes in cycles. I agree with Suzanne, when the economy picks up, even if that is years from now, there will be a mass exodus of employees seeking better work enviornments.
To have a fling with your boss to enhance your employment makes you a whore…whether it’s for cash or benefits, you are phlocking your boss and selling your bod.
The first phrase of this story is very telling: “Few bosses need worry that their employees want their jobs…”
So….managers who are insecure seem to feel that they can relax a bit? If they are that insecure, they have no business being in a management position where one of their functions is to nurture and develop talent.
I see insecure managers at every level in the company I work with. These insecure bosses do everything from misrepresent job functions to take credit for subordinates’ ideas. Even in this bad economy we’ve had two people quit — without jobs — because they finally said they weren’t going to take it anymore. (Both of these people were in the HR department–the department that sets policies and allegedly has the employee’s best interest at heart. Ha! What a joke!) And, both of these people found other, better paying, more interesting full time jobs within a couple of months. There IS work out there for talented workers. Employees need to stop using the scare tactics they have been.
The only people I know who aren’t itching to leave their jobs are the ones who have a vested 401K plan and who are near retirement age. They are just biding their time, waiting to retire.