You may love your job–but probably not everything about it. Even working in a cubicle doesn’t mean you’re walled off from office irritations. A new survey commissioned by Citrix reveals the top reasons why office workers say they need to break away.
Colleagues from hell
Workplace bonding can be a good thing, but some rituals just make you cringe. 74% of office workers have at least one company event they secretly dislike participating in. 34% of office workers secretly dislike participating in costume contests at work, followed by 31% who secretly dislike team-building activities. Office fun isn’t gender-neutral; the number-one disliked office event for male co-workers is office baby showers (42%), while female co-workers are split between costume contests (33%) and staff photos (31%).
We meet some of our best friends at the office, however some officemates can really put a damper on the day. Almost half (49%) of office workers currently work with a know-it-all and 44% work with a whiner. You’re not the only one watching what you say–40% work with a gossip.
8 to 10 hours with someone loudly chatting on their phone, or audibly crunching a snack, can aggravate even the calmest co-workers. But it’s not the weird sounds from the cubicle next-door that make office workers frustrated: 51% believe that a constant-complainer would be the most annoying type of person to sit next to every day at work. Offering a friendly ear is nice, however when it’s an on-going occurrence you might just need some time away.
The best and worst office bosses
While most bosses are great for guidance and motivation, sometimes boss-employee relations aren’t made in HR heaven. According to office workers, the number-one worst type of boss is a boss who steals their ideas (37%), followed by a boss that knows it all (33%). Whether or not you have a difficult boss, a lot of us need a boss-break and we’ll get creative to achieve one.
If you’re stuck in a bad boss situation, you’d probably like to get away for a while. 3 in 10 (30%) take vacation breaks to a new level and have scheduled their own vacation time around their boss’s scheduled vacation–specifically to maximize the time they won’t have to work with their boss. You’d think this would be a junior-level employee move; however it’s the managers and executives who most admit to pulling off this ploy with their leave (39% of executive and manager-level workers, 27% mid-level and junior level workers).
It’s not necessarily the grind keeping office workers down. 1 in 5 (21%) office workers report needing a break from their boss more than a break from their actual work. If you’re the boss, consider implementing flexitime or remote working hours into the week to allow workers to have a break.
Most workers assume their boss wouldn’t be open to a work-from-home arrangement. And many aren’t. 50% of office workers say their boss opposes remote working, while a third (35%) feel their boss just tolerates it. Only 15% have a boss that encourages working out of the office.
Office workers and work-life balance
Sometimes there just isn’t enough time in the day, so office workers carve out a little me-time by escaping the office. The number one reason people have slipped out of the office in the middle of the day is to exercise (18%). And what about those too exhausted to work out? About 1 in 8 (12%) have snuck out of the office for a nap-break. Exercise and sleep are essential to staying productive and healthy—health experts agree—just make sure your boss does too.
The Piña Colada is propped on the arm of your beach chair and the waves are lapping at your feet. You’re finally on vacation and everything is perfect—until that urgent work email arrives. Surprisingly, an overwhelming majority of office workers (72%) say they would be more likely to respond immediately to the urgent work email than they would be to pretend they didn’t see it, beach vacation or not. Now that’s dedication.
What we really do, and wear, when we work from home
While working remotely, more than two in five (43%) say they have watched TV or a movie, 1 in 3 (35%) did household chores and more than 1 in 4 (28%) have cooked dinner. And who says working parents don’t know how to have fun? Parents are more likely than non-parents to watch TV or a movie and play a video game while working away from the office.
If you work from home, you may like to brag that you can do it all in your pyjamas. And for most people, working from home means dressing down, but only so far. Nearly half (49%) of those who have worked from home say they’re most likely to wear jeans and a t-shirt when on the job–on the couch. 25% are most likely to work in their PJs, and 7% of people keep it simple–real simple–working from home in their underwear or birthday suit.
A majority of workers who have never worked remotely (64%) identify at least one extremely popular perk or pleasure they’d be willing to give up in order to work from home just one day a week. Here’s what they’d do without to get a day at home: lunch breaks (32%), alcohol (25%) and coffee (20%).
Out-there excuses
Achoo! Is that for real? Health issues are the most common type of creative excuses used or heard to get out of coming into the office. Here are some of the most creative excuses heard, or used by the survey participants:
- My bicycle ran out of gas
- I’m dieting
- I drank too much Sunkist and was too tired to come in
- I’m having toenail issues
- My numerologist told me not to come in
- It’s Elvis’s birthday
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
