Work/life balance and pay are usually rated as key workplace issues but a new Australian-based study of 2,400 people has found other issues that really get employees riled.
The results of the study are featured in a new book titled 'Employee Enragement: Why people hate working for you' by management consultant, James Adonis.
The study asked employees what gets them angry, upset, and frustrated at work. Work/life balance didn't make it into the Top 50, while Pay & Rewards came in at number 32.
"To get Pay & Rewards to reach the number 32 spot, I had to combine all responses that were even remotely related to any kind of monetary or tangible incentive," said Mr Adonis.
"This means that even though pay is important, it's not as important as most would believe since there are 28 other factors that enrage employees more than their level of pay."
"What was even more shocking was that work/life balance barely rated a mention, which implies that there's too great a focus on it at the moment. Employees are screaming out that there are far more important work aspects they'd like their managers to focus on instead."
So, what is it that employees hate the most at work? Their colleagues! In fact, "colleagues" appeared three times in the top 10.
The top ten factors employees hate at work are:
- Lazy and under-performing co-workers
- Being unappreciated and unrecognised
- Communication issues
- Lack of accountability and responsibility
- Negativity in the workplace
- Customers
- Annoying and inconsiderate co-workers
- Lack of teamwork
- Gossip and backstabbing
- Unrealistic deadlines and time restrictions
