|
One-third have quit jobs to escape co-workers, poll finds <br /><br />Misty Harris, CanWest News Service<br />Published: Saturday, August 19, 2006 Article tools<br /> <br />The good news is, most of your workmates enjoy -- or, at the very least, tolerate -- your company.<br /><br />The bad news is, nearly a quarter of them hate you so much they may be considering quitting just to avoid speaking with you.<br /><br />So suggests a new online poll of 2,000 adults, fully 22% of whom confess to despising their colleagues. One-third of respondents say they have, at one point or another, resorted to changing jobs just to escape obnoxious co-workers.<br /><br />Stapler stealers, users of hip catchphrases and those fond of making "finger pistols" should consider themselves warned.<br /><br />"The office is a lot like a family," says Franke James, editor and founder of the Canadian Web site Office-Politics.com. "And nobody knows how to push our buttons like a brother or sister."<br /><br />The poll was conducted by 72 Point, a division of the United Kingdom's largest independent news agency, on behalf of an office stationery firm. Although British adults comprised the sample, Mr. James says assimilation trends within office culture have no borders.<br /><br />"If you wanted to join the Hells Angels motorcycle group, you pretty much know what you have to do to fit in -- wear leather, get tattoos, have a certain lifestyle," she says. "In corporate politics, it's not necessarily as obvious as that, but it's there."<br /><br />Mr. James, who is based in Toronto, notes that those who try too hard to fit into an environment that doesn't suit them will likely have their behaviour interpreted as "false window dressing" and won't be accepted by their peers.<br /><br />Indeed, nearly three-quarters of survey respondents say they regularly gossip about colleagues behind their backs at the office, while 25% take their trash talk elsewhere. A full third of workers can't bring themselves to socialize with colleagues after hours at all.<br /><br />Others express themselves through technology, with about one in 10 having conducted "sneaky chats" with workmates on instant messaging or e-mail. Not surprisingly, half of those people (5% of total respondents) have sent an inappropriate message to the wrong person at least once.<br /><br />"It's so dangerous to gripe via e-mail," Mr. James says. "Never put in writing what you wouldn't say to the person. Of course, some people would say terrible things. So perhaps the better advice is, 'Never put in writing something slanderous that you might get sued for!' "<br /><br />Keeping quiet about the person signing one's paycheque may be hardest of all. Twenty per cent of respondents named their boss as the chief cause of tension in the workplace, while senior management emerged as the least-liked group in the office.<br /><br />WORKPLACE<br /><br />THE 11 MOST DESPISED OFFICE CHARACTERS:<br /><br />THE BROWN NOSER (28.6%): Spends most of the time sitting next to the boss.<br /><br />THE NO. 1 (17.7%): Has always done something better, faster, sooner, cheaper.<br /><br />THE CORPORATE SPEAKER (15.3%): Knows all the lingo to impress, but is usually more mouth than action.<br /><br />THE MALINGERER (13.5%): A serial sick-day taker, showing up solely to blind boss with charm -- irritatingly manages to get first in line for promotion.<br /><br />THE CLOCK WATCHER (8.1%): Arrives on the dot at 9 a.m. and has never been seen in the office past 5 p.m. -- takes a full hour for lunch even if really busy.<br /><br />THE SOCIAL SECRETARY (5.7%): Organizes the office party, collections, after-hours outings and lunches -- is rarely seen doing any work.<br /><br />THE LETCH (3%): Spends the majority of the time e-mailing women in the office.<br /><br />THE TOILET WEEPER (2.6%): Spends a lot of time locked in the washroom sobbing over a personal crisis.<br /><br />THE MUM (2.3%): Makes coffee, knows where the first aid kit is and always has a hanky handy in case anyone gets upset.<br /><br />THE DIETER (2.1%): Always trying irritating fad diets -- low GI, Atkins, Weightwatchers ...<br /><br />THE LOVE FLOP (1%): Always single, constantly annoying colleagues with news of new man/woman, then moaning days later when dumped.
|
Forum 
Favoured: 0
