bad managers

You’ve gotta feel sorry for managers: Everybody’s always blaming them for turnover rates, low morale, and the rest of the ills that plague today’s workplace. But just how many bad managers are really out there? And just what is it that people do to earn the title of Bad Manager?

First, the numbers.

A surprisingly small percentage of managers would qualify as really bad, according to new research from CareerBuilder.com: Only 5% of workers surveyed would give their boss an “F”. Most employees think their supervisor’s doing pretty well — 63% would give the manager an “A” or “B.”

Here’s the full grade breakdown:  

  • A: 24%
  • B: 39%
  • C: 23%
  • D: 9%
  • F: 5%

Grades appear to be aligned with bosses’ communication and management styles, the researchers said. Workers who interact more frequently with their bosses tend to rate their performance better than those who keep their distance. Thirty-one percent of workers who interact several times a day in person with their boss assign them an “A” compared to just 17% of workers who interact with their boss once a day or less.

The study also showed a correlation between positive ratings of bosses and open communication even if that communication doesn’t take place in person. Twenty-five percent of workers say their boss typically communicates with them via text or instant message. Of those employees, 30% assign an “A” to their boss’s performance.

‘Go on the roof and check for birds’

The research may well explain why that 5% gets a failing grade: Asking employees to do things that are way above the call of duty.

Here’s CareerBuilder’s Top 10 list of some of the strangest tasks managers have asked of their people:

  1. Asked employee to coach other employees on how to pass a drug test
  2. Asked employee to fire a colleague and then drive them home
  3. Asked for employee’s opinions of Tinder profiles
  4. Asked employee to order items on personal Amazon account so boss’s spouse wouldn’t know about it
  5. Asked employee to pluck a client’s unibrow for a photo shoot
  6. Asked that employees “Like” his Facebook videos
  7. Asked if employee would be better friends with him
  8. Asked employee to find out how to obtain death certificate for her deceased ex-husband
  9. Asked employee to commiserate with daughter-in-law about the death of her cat, and
  10. Asked employee to climb on roof to see if there were any dead birds.

 

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