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The big thumbs down

Oct 14 2008 by
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Given the economic climate, are workers happy just to have a job? Or are they still as critical of their bosses as they have been in the past? If a recent survey by the company Randstad USA discussed in this article on CityNews is anything to go by, the answer is a resounding "yes."

The company polled 2,300 workers to find out what they thought of their supervisors, their current job, their economic situation and how it was affecting their work. According to their data, over half of the workers feel that their bosses are "incompetent."

In fact, it seems that the litany of blunders on Wall Street and beyond have increased the feeling that those at the top are just not up to the job. Moreover, many workers felt that as companies now turn toward trying to improve their bottom line that they "are feeling ignored or worse, fearing that the decisions being made at the top could threaten their livelihoods."

Only 43% said they felt their managers were open to new ideas and only 47% of the workers said they would even consider working overtime in order to impress their managers. Fewer than 30% of those questioned felt that their managers were doing an adequate job of motivating them to do their job well.

So, even though their jobs may be at risk, employees still feel that their managers are unable to manage them properly. The company who ran the survey even suggest that, as the economy worsens, these feelings may grow, rather than diminish.

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