Why do Employees Hate their Managers? (Part 1)
Working in a corporate setting can be fulfilling at first. High rise buildings, well-dressed people walking by, and the traffic noise make any office worker feel that he or she has made it. However, as deadlines draw near and the responsibilities pile up, employees start to lose their focus and they begin caving in to the pressure. What's worse-- while deadlines do not kill people, the lack of motivation especially from their bosses will surely drive any employee nuts. More often than not, this is where the destruction of the employee-employer relationship begins.
Early reports by organizational behavior experts have placed the fault towards the employee. Recently, however, the blame is shifting towards how the managers treat their employees. Employees are dispensable due to the ever growing number of the working class, but science experts have concluded that ineffective and inefficient management does cost the company more than a dozen of office slackers combined.
In 2007, an American Industrial and Organizational Psychologist named Dr. Bruce L. Katcher published a book detailing the interesting relationship between employers and employees. In the book "30 Reasons Employees Hate their Managers", Dr. Katcher divided the 30 reasons into five main parts. For this article, let us take a look at three of the five parts.
1. Employees are treated like children.
For a person who is in power, it takes strong will to set his mind that he is working with adults who can think and act on their own. Poor managers often treat their employees as children, expecting them to be at his every beck and call. They also do not know how to appreciate the efforts exerted by their subordinates. Worse, employees rarely speak up because the environment doesn't allow them to do so. Dr. Katcher suggests that flexibility, fostering an open environment, and positive reinforcements will go a long way.
2. Employees aren't receiving what they need.
Recruitment process takes an awful amount of time screening an employee, but once the employee goes on board, they are left by themselves to figure out how to do their work. Employees either get stuck in a rut for doing the same thing, or they don't get more training for the new tasks that they need to accomplish. Along the way, managements also provide poor decisions, leaving the work environment with too much red tape, understaffed departments, and employees losing their confidence with the management. To solve this, managements must learn how to identify the root causes of the concerns, communicate directly to manage its effects, and initiate dynamics in the process (i.e. internships among departments, removing the red tape, conducting surveys, among others).
3. Employees feel unappreciated.
These are the most common reasons why employees hate their managers, and eventually to leave the company-- poor compensation, useless performance reviews, and the impossibility of getting promoted. While the subject of pay is tricky, Dr. Katcher suggests that there is nothing to be worried about this issue if they implement slight changes. For instance, use bonuses rather than pay increases, avoid paying by the hour, and train supervisors to talk about pay and performance reviews. That way, proper expectations will be set which will help the employees understand the process better.
Changing the management mindset can be very difficult, especially for established corporations which have been running for years in a specific manner. However, in the long run, the management does not solely run the company. If the employees are happy, the company shall experience their hard work's sweet fruits.
