CareerBuilder Releases Top Ten TV Bosses Workers Say Most Remind Them of Their Own

--CareerBuilder Survey Also Reveals How Workers Rate Their Real-life Bosses--

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Sep 09, 2010, 10:31 ET

CHICAGO, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- The boss and employee relationship can be a complex partnership, especially when differing responsibilities, communication styles and ideas get in the mix. Workers shared their feelings about their bosses in a new CareerBuilder survey. Nearly one-third (31 percent) said that they feel they can do their bosses' job better, while on the flip side, 60 percent of workers said they don't feel that their boss could do their jobs. The CareerBuilder survey was conducted among more than 4,400 workers nationwide between May 18 and June 3, 2010.

Some workers report that they find the relationship with their boss challenging due to a lack of focus on career development, feedback and support. Sixty-one percent of workers said they feel that their bosses do a poor job grooming them to move up in the organization. In addition, 45 percent said their bosses do a poor job of providing regular and consistent feedback, while 34 percent said their bosses could back them up better.

Bosses earned higher marks from workers when it came to being open to different work arrangements, taking time to listen and providing resources. Seventy-two percent of workers said their bosses did a good job offering flexibility. Sixty-nine percent felt their bosses listened to their ideas and concerns while 68 percent said their bosses provided them with the resources needed to do their job effectively.

"The workforce has been through a lot during this recession, so it's important for workers and bosses to maintain a strong and communicative relationship," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. "As many companies recover from the challenges of the last 18 months, both parties need to listen to each other and be flexible, with a common goal of moving the organization forward."

To help assess how workers view their bosses, the survey asked which TV show bosses remind them most of their own, good or bad. The top ten include:

Jacob from "Lost" – you're never really sure where he is, what he wants and what he has in store for you
Judge Judy from "Judge Judy" – no nonsense and is fair when making decisions
MacGyver from "MacGyver" – resourceful and can fix any situation
Jack Donaghy from "30 Rock" – likeable and a corporate guy, through and through
Oprah Winfrey from "Oprah" – very influential and informative
Simon Cowell from "American Idol" – judgmental and insulting
MacGruber from "Saturday Night Live" – terrible with managing projects and deadlines, causing everything to blow up around him
Michael Scott from "The Office" – bumbling and idiotic
Leslie Knope from "Parks and Recreation" – believes her job is more important than it probably is
Donald Trump from "The Apprentice" – demanding and powerful

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 4,498 U.S. workers (employed full-time; not self-employed; non government); ages 18 and over between May 18 and June 3, 2010 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset of U.S. employees, based on their responses to certain questions). With a pure probability sample of 4,498 one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 1.46 percentage points. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

About CareerBuilder®

CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract their most important asset - their people. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 23 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 32 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world's top employers, providing resources for everything from employment branding and data analysis to recruitment support. More than 9,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder's proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), Tribune Company, The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.