Employees unknowingly do things that drive their bosses insane and disturb the overall organization. Common annoyances like lateness, missed deadlines, and a bad attitude seem minor in the grand scheme of things.
Research from Harvard Business Review demonstrates that 75% of employees admit that their bosses significantly contribute to work-related stress. This tends to come from things that might be relatively minor but are incredibly unacceptable when repeated over time.
Procrastination
Procrastination affects productivity and deadlines. A survey conducted by Darius Foroux involving 2,219 participants revealed that 88% of workers delay their responsibilities for at least one hour each day.
That means adding bottlenecks to a process flow that may require every project from an entire team.
Missing Deadlines
The success of the team relies on individuals fulfilling their roles, and continued failure tarnishes a reputation and erodes progress. Only 2.5% of companies meet all project deadlines, according to PwC.
Missed deadlines often lead to your resource pool shifting unnecessarily, creating inefficiencies.
Being Late to Work
Employees who continue to show up late mess with schedules and signal that time doesn’t really matter — meaning managers have to readjust their plans because an employee has demanded it by being persistently tardy (and thus affecting productivity).
A CareerBuilder survey states that 29% of workers run late at least once a month.
Poor Communication
If employees miss the mark, then either more employees or managers must fix it. This can cause a project to be delayed and require rework.
According to research by the Holmes Report, inefficient communication costs companies $62.4 million every year.
Taking Long Breaks
These gaps slow project development, forcing others to pick up the slack for lost time, a move that greatly peeves supervisors who see it as laziness.
Unscheduled breaks without career coverage can also strain work relationships as someone else has to pick up the work for the one taking a long break.
Avoiding Responsibility
Avoiding responsibilities leads to a culture of no accountability and causes managers to micromanage or implement excessive controls. According to Harvard Business Review, teams improve their performance by 50% when authorities are clear and defined.
Constant Complaining
Employers appreciate beneficial criticism that is geared toward making changes within the business. All this negativity can create a sort of corrosive bitterness, and eventually, everyone else starts to underperform.
Refusing Feedback
If employees aren’t open to feedback, their potential for career growth is severely stymied, and it makes bosses seeking to build a culture of learning it near impossible.
Zenger/Folkman research found that 92% of people agree that when they are offered constructive feedback on their current abilities, they will feel more in charge and determined to improve.
Overpromising
Broken promises undermine confidence and lay undue burdens on teams and managers to scramble in order to meet revised plans. Overpromising leads to disappointment when employees underdeliver or fail to meet ambiguous and unofficial promises they may have made.
Lack of Initiative
Managers like to see employees who are self-starters, which reduces the need for micromanaging and increases productivity in general. The American Psychological Association recently found that employees who exhibit such initiative are happier.
Gossiping
Bosses need trust and unity to ensure the team functions coherently; gossip erodes confidence. Research by the Society for Human Resource Management finds that 65% of Americans believe gossip lowers the quality of our work environments.
Gossip can also lead to misunderstandings, resentment, and a breakdown of communication, affecting individual relationships, collaboration, and productivity within the team.
Poor Time Management
Time mismanagement can lead to missed deadlines, stress, and even ruin the team workflow, which requires direct intervention from bosses. According to McKinsey research, employees spend 28% of their workweeks managing emails.
