According to a recent study, managers deserve some recognition, too. More than half — 52 percent — of employees polled said they are satisfied with the performance of their bosses, while 28 percent are unhappy with their supervisors, according to a press release.


Similarly, 60 percent of workers said they can trust their managers, compared to 21 percent who believe their supervisors aren’t trustworthy. Less than one-quarter — 24 percent — of workers feel they could do a better job than their bosses if put in charge.

The survey was developed by Robert Half International, a specialized staffing firm, and CareerBuilder.com. It was conducted via a web panel and includes responses from more than 3,000 U.S. workers.

Managers drew the highest marks when it comes to addressing day-to-day problems, with 58 percent of employees saying their bosses make time to review their job concerns; only 22 percent disagreed.
Workers were somewhat less enthusiastic about their supervisors’ willingness to help them advance professionally. Forty-five percent of respondents said their managers help them develop new skills, compared with 26 percent who disagreed.

"Helping employees acquire new skills and assume greater responsibility is one of the most effective ways managers can promote loyalty, increase employee performance and build future leaders," said Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half International and author of Human Resources Kit For Dummies. "Unfortunately, this type of training takes time, and many managers are too consumed with trouble-shooting to offer their staff members guidance or professional development."

While most employees approve of their supervisors’ performance, workers aren’t quite as complimentary about top executives.

Forty-four percent of workers said they are satisfied with their corporate leaders’ performance — 8 percentage points lower than those who said the same about their bosses. Likewise, while six out of 10 workers believe their bosses can be trusted, approximately four out of 10 said the same about their corporate leaders.

In addition, 36 percent of employees said those at the top lead by example, and 34 percent believe their corporate leaders are effective at motivating staff.

"The higher up the ranks an executive goes, the more challenging it becomes to communicate with staff," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder.com. "Line managers have the benefit of being able to build rapport through daily interactions, whereas corporate executives typically must rely on more formal communication channels, which may not always be as effective."

The methodology used to collect survey responses from more than 3,000 workers involved selecting a random sample of comScore Networks panel members. These web panel members were approached via an e-mail invitation, which asked them to participate in a short online survey. The results of this survey are statistically accurate to within +/- 1.78 percentage points (19 times out of 20).

Via USA Today