Bad attitude tops workers' gripes about colleagues
The No 1 bugbear of employees is colleagues with a poor attitude to their work. That is closely followed by those who are unable to control their emotions, and those who lack passion for their job.
These are the findings of a survey of 502 full-time workers carried out last month by a branch of the Christian Family Service Centre.
The participants were asked by the Vital Employee Service Consultancy to nominate the three characteristics they most disliked in colleagues. More than 60 per cent said working with colleagues who displayed a poor attitude to their job.
Forty per cent disliked having to work with staff who were unable to control their emotions. About one-third did not like to work with people who lacked passion for their job.
Most interviewees said they did not like colleagues with these characteristics because it was difficult to communicate with them or to get along with them. They said such colleagues would not offer help, and even retarded progress.
Just 8.8 per cent of respondents nominated a poor level of professional knowledge or skill as a factor that made them dislike working with a colleague. Comments from colleagues that most irritated included 'the boss has not yet said anything and it's not your place to voice your opinion', 'why don't you do it since you are so smart' and 'you can't ask me to do more on such low pay'.
When forced to work with colleagues with unpopular characteristics, many interviewees said they would respond passively, such as by treating them as invisible, tolerating them, or themselves doing the work that was suffering, while some would choose to show concern for the colleague. More than one-third of the interviewees complained that less competent, poorly performing staff rarely suffered any sanctions. One-fifth said management did not notice the poor performance of such staff.
The consultancy, which has been advising employees for more than 17 years, said many workers were affected by colleagues performing below par. 'They feel frustrated and want to leave the company if the management does not handle the problem in time,' it said.
Nearly 60 per cent of interviewees said they would consider quitting if their firm did not fix the problem.
'Companies and organisations should enhance team building and communication, and review and improve their performance-monitoring and reward-giving systems to increase staff job satisfaction and loyalty,' the consultancy said.
Dissatisfaction rating
502 full-time employees were interviewed last month
The proportion who most disliked colleagues with a bad attitude to their work: 60%
The proportion who disliked working with people who were unable to control their emotions: 40%
The proportion who nominated lack of profession knowledge or skills as their main bugbear with colleagues: 8.8%
