Forget honesty, trust or respect, what workers really want in a boss is a sense of humour – according to new research.
The poll, conducted by officebroker.com, who work with thousands of small businesses each year, found that the ability to have a laugh with a superior was the single most effective trait when fostering a successful boss employee relationship.
More than a quarter (26%) of the 600 employees polled chose sense of humour as their top boss trait, followed by trust (20%), respect (15%) and patience (13%).
Other boss traits which were found to be particularly sought after by employees included fairness (10%), open communication (9%) and honesty (7%).
Comical bosses, such as the Ricky Gervais creation David Brent, were found to be more important to female employees than male, with a 61% to 39% split of those choosing it as the top manager trait.
It’s believed sense of humour topped the list as whilst all the other traits enabled a positive working environment, they didn’t necessarily enhance enjoyment of the job role, with many staff keen to relieve tension and break up the day by sharing a joke with a superior.
A spokesman from officebroker.com said the findings revealed a mutually shared sense of humour benefitted any relationship whether work or social.
He said: “As workers are pushed to do more demanding and time consuming roles it’s becoming increasingly important that they can share a joke with their boss in a bid to increase their enjoyment of the working day.
“A sense of humour is an extremely personal thing and so any worker luck enough to have a boss with the same tastes as them could be on to a winner in terms of job satisfaction.
“We found traits which are widely regarded as being positive to a working relationship such as respect, trust and open communication still went a long way to a productive environment but it seems many workers want to go one step further and regularly share a joke with a superior.
“In fact, of those employees we polled, many stated they believed that the ability to share a joke with a boss encouraged a culture of openness in the workplace and helped remove formal barriers.
“It is worth noting however that a boss who jokes around too much, a David Brent style character, could well risk damaging now only his, but also his employee’s performance, it really is a fine line.”
He concluded: “We all know how stressful work can be and often this is caused by a fraught boss employee relationship, so the ability to relieve any tension by sharing a joke is not only enjoyable but in the long-term could prove essential for businesses.”
