A nation of bad managers

• 30% of employees can’t approach their manager
• 2 in 5 say their manager is temperamental
• 10% describe their boss as scary
• 1 in 3 are left feeling uncomfortable

Three in 10 employees have unapproachable managers, according to research conducted on behalf of Citation*.

Employees aged between 18 and 24 are least likely to feel comfortable approaching their manager, and those aged 65+ are most likely.

Geographically, it looks like Londoners are faced with the least forthcoming bosses, with Northern Ireland a close second.

Worryingly, the top terms used to describe bad managers are:

Temperamental	41%
Unreasonable	39%
They make me feel uncomfortable	33%
Inexperienced	30%
Scary	10%

Interestingly, employees aged 65+ were significantly more likely to label their manager as unreasonable than any other age group.
Men are 10% more likely to describe their manager as unreasonable than women. On the other hand, women were 10% more likely to be left feeling uncomfortable as a result of their boss.

Those in the West Midlands were almost twice as likely to view their manager in a scary light, and 50% of employees in the North East described their boss as unreasonable – 11% more than the national average.

Furthermore, people in Northern Ireland and Yorkshire are markedly more likely to claim their managers lack experience.

Citation’s HR Business Partner, Jenny Ware, commented: “Having good managers in your business is essential as they’re a vital link between the business and your employees. A bad manager drives poor performance, higher absence, more disruption and is more likely to result in a higher employee turnover.”

*3gem questioned a nationally representative sample of 2,000 working adults aged 18 and over between 11th and 14th July 2017.