Chicago — April 11
What is the strangest thing your boss has asked you to do? Spy on senior management? Work on her daughter’s science project?
Nearly 23 percent of workers reported that their bosses have asked them to perform tasks that are not related to their jobs, according to a new CareerBuilder study.
The national survey, which was conducted online by Harris Interactive from Feb. 11 to March 6, included more than 3,600 U.S. workers across industries and company sizes. Additional results draw from a similar study conducted in November among more than 3,500 workers.
To be sure, most workers like reporting to their boss. When asked to grade their boss’s performance, the majority (66 percent) gave an above average rating.
However, when it comes to day-to-day projects, some workers feel assignments from the boss fall outside of their job description.
Workers provided the following real-life examples of the most unusual requests they received from their bosses:
• Boss asked employee to be prepared to delete all emails and computer files at a moment’s notice.
• Boss asked employee to be a surrogate mother for her more than once.
• Boss asked employee to spy on senior management.
• Boss asked employee to buy a rifle for him, and he would reimburse the employee.
• Boss asked employee if she knew of anyone who could “hook him up” with illegal substances.
• Boss asked employee to go online and post false good comments about him.
• Boss asked employee to come up with a science fair project for her daughter.
• Boss asked employee to fire his brother.
• Boss asked employee to lend him $400 for a down payment on a car.
• Boss asked employee to remove her stitches.
• Boss asked employee to be better friends with him.
• Boss asked employee to scour an abandoned office building for furniture and supplies they could use.
• Boss asked employee to bail another co-worker out of jail.
• Boss asked employee to clip her dog’s nails.
• Boss asked employee to help plan her wedding.
Source: CareerBuilder
