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Workers Rate Their Bosses in New CareerBuilder.com Survey

Nearly Three-in-Four Are Satisfied with the Performance of Their Boss

CHICAGO, September 9, 2008 - The need for more inspiration and strong leadership in the workplace is increasingly critical in today’s economic climate, according to a new nationwide survey of more than 8,700 workers by CareerBuilder.com. Forty-five percent of workers said they don’t feel secure in the C-level leadership of their organizations. While the majority of workers (73 percent) are satisfied with the performance of their direct supervisor, only 50 percent categorized the performance of senior management as good or great. More than half said they don’t feel motivated within their organizations and expressed a desire for more personal attention and development.


While bosses ranked higher in overall character, they ranked lower in leadership. Seventy-three percent of workers categorized their boss as trustworthy, 70 percent said their boss is respected in the organization and 65 percent reported their boss communicates effectively. On the other hand, 51 percent feel their boss does not motivate them, 51 percent said their boss does not help them move ahead and 41 percent stated they don’t learn from their bosses.

"As we function in an economy beleaguered by uncertainty and instability, communication and motivation at all levels of an organization are imperative to weathering the storm," said Jason Ferrara, Vice President of Corporate Marketing at CareerBuilder.com. "Leaders need to invest in the career development of workers and reinforce the value that employees bring to their business to create a healthy and open workplace culture."

Thirty percent of workers surveyed report that they think they could do their boss’s job better, and said the following were their primary issues with their bosses:

  • Plays favorites (23 percent)
  • Doesn’t lead by example (23 percent)
  • Is never around (14 percent)
  • Never provides positive feedback (13 percent)

Workers tend to have less visibility with senior management, which may negatively affect their ratings. When workers rated their senior executives, they were split 50/50, as 50 percent of workers rated their CEO, CFO and COO’s performance as good or great, while the other 50 percent rated their performance as fair or bad.

Companywide communication and motivation came into play when workers identified opportunities for improvement among C-level executives. Fifty-five percent of workers said that senior management does not make an effort to have working relationships with employees on every level, and 58 percent said senior management does not motivate them.

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive® on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 8,785 employees (employed full-time; not self-employed) between May 22 and June 13, 2008. Percentages for some questions are based on a subset of responses to certain questions. With a pure probability sample of 8,785 one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 1.05 percentage points. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

About CareerBuilder.com
CareerBuilder.com is the nation’s largest online job site with more than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.6 million jobs. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company, The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI) and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), the company offers a vast online and print network to help job seekers connect with employers. CareerBuilder.com powers the career centers for more than 1,600 partners, including 140 newspapers and leading portals such as AOL and MSN. More than 300,000 employers take advantage of CareerBuilder.com’s easy job postings, 26 million-plus resumes, Diversity Channel and more. CareerBuilder.com and its subsidiaries operate in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.careerbuilder.com.

CareerBuilder Media Contact
For all media inquiries and interview requests, contact:

Jennifer Grasz
(P) 773-527-1164
(E) jennifer.grasz@careerbuilder.com