Study: Some Bosses Have an Employee They’d Like to See Leave the Company

Instead of outright firing an employee, some bosses prefer to express subtle behaviors with the hope that employees will leave the company on their own, a new survey shows.

Chicago — June 12

Most managers understand that the quality of their working relationships with employees can make or break on-the-job productivity, but just how pervasive are negative worker-boss pairings? And what are some warning signs that your manager may want you out?

A new CareerBuilder survey by Harris Interactive from Feb. 11 to March 6 among more than 2,000 U.S. employers found that 27 percent of bosses have a current direct report that they would like to see leave their company.

The results were nearly equal by gender, but varied significantly by age, with younger managers — aged 25-34 — more likely to report having an employee they would like to leave than older managers — aged 55 and up — by a margin of eight percentage points.

When dealing with an employee they would like to leave, 42 percent of managers are likely to issue a formal warning. Other things managers say they are more likely to do that may serve as a red flag for workers, including:

• Point out shortcomings in employee’s performance more often: 27 percent.
• Reduce responsibilities: 21 percent.
• Hire someone else to eventually replace the employee: 12 percent.
• Move the employee to another work area: 8 percent.
• Keep the employee out of the loop regarding new company developments: 8 percent.
• Communicate primarily via email instead of in person or over the phone: 7 percent.
• Don’t invite the employee to certain meetings or involve him/her in certain projects: 6 percent.
• Don’t invite the employee to social gatherings with co-workers: 3 percent
• Nearly a third — 32 percent — of managers said they would do none of the above.

Source: CareerBuilder