Majority of UK travel employees think they can do a better job than their boss

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Written by Linda Hohnholz

A survey ahead of Boss’ Day, a US national day which falls on October 16 this year, revealed that 6 in 10 employees in the UK think they could do the job better than their superiors.

The survey of 500 UK employees, conducted by bgo.com, saw 60% of respondents say they believed they could do a better job than their boss.

The survey revealed that 6 in 10 employees in the UK travel industry believed they could do a better job at being the boss than their direct line manager.

  • 65% of 21-24-year-olds believed they could do a better job than their boss
  • 66% of staff in the IT industry answered that they could be a better manager
  • 77% of junior management in the travel sector believed they were superior to their boss

The travel industry had 57% of respondents say that they would be better than their boss but there’s a noticeably split between the entry level and junior management response.

While 41% of entry level employees believed they’d be a more efficient manager, a far greater 77% of junior management felt that they’d do a better job.

Jeremy Fletcher, CEO and founder of change-management consultancy Transform Finance, believes that the answer may lie in perception: “Employees are often not exposed to the full range of their boss’s role, nor the pressures or constraints that they are under.

“This lack of visibility can make a job look far easier than it actually is.”

Essentially, being unaware of what a boss or line manager does in detail leads to a belief that they would be able to do a better job. But with so many responders high up the chain of management, is this the only answer?

Another possible explanation is that a lack of influence that makes giving an opinion seem easier. As Carl Williams, Director at Williams Talent Management Consultancy points out, “Spectators always have more to say on how to do stuff if they know the comfort of their spectators’ seat isn’t under threat of change.”

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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