Employers and office workers rarely tend to be the best of friends.
By nature, bosses are concerned with extracting every last ounce of effort out of their employees, often working them to the bone.
Employees often feel as if the people paying their wages expect too much, and create unnecessary obstacles to effective work.
The two parties usually arrive at some form of a mutually beneficial truce, where employees do the work asked of them, receive a salary, and are left to their own devices.
But it seems that some employers just can’t keep help but irritate and frustrate their employees, as US News’ Alison Green explains.
She has highlighted a number of common frustrations felt by office workers – and bosses could do worse than to take notice.
The first major bugbear is holding endless meetings, which drag on and ultimately have no real value.
“There’s nothing worse than knowing you have a looming deadline but being forced to sit in a long and needless meeting – but it’s also incredibly common,” Ms Green stated.
“Most employees report that they waste far too many hours a week in meetings without clear agendas or purposes.”
Another complaint is calling workers who are on holiday – rather than allowing them to relax and forget all about work for a while.
“Too many employers act as if employees are on-call day and night, even when they’re on holiday,” Ms Green stated.
She warned that companies which operate this way will have trouble retaining their best employees over time.
Other familiar concerns include pressuring employees to donate to charity, and making social events unofficially ‘mandatory’.
“Employers frequently assume that employees will view office social events as a treat – and then get offended when employees don’t want to go,” Ms Green stated.
In terms of general office management, avoiding making difficult decisions, micro-managing and hinting, rather than speaking straightforwardly, are three ways to really annoy office workers, she added.
