4 things you don’t want your boss to know
Sep 29, 2014, 7:49 PM | Updated: 7:49 pm
There are some things you might want your boss to know about, like scientific research saying managers who have better relationships with their employees are less stressed. But there are some things that might be worth hiding from your boss. So mum’s the word — we’ve listed a few of them below.
1. Unhappy employees may increase productivity
It might seem counterintuitive, but new research from the University of Liverpool found that angry employees are sometimes the best problem solvers.
“Anger does not always lead to negative outcomes,” the study reported. “[It] can be used as a force for good through acting upon injustices.” And that same upset worker who stands up for a longer lunch break is more likely to clash with the team, bringing up new ideas.
As for happy employees, the study found that their happiness might make them a little too content with the status quo.
2. Longer hours may relieve stress
No one wants to work longer hours, but a study by the Council on Contemporary Families found that people are more stressed at home than work.
“People have significantly lower levels of stress at work than at home,” researcher Sarah Damaske said of their study measuring levels of cortisol, and that remained true between genders.
“Our findings suggest that telling people to quit or cut back on work in order to resolve their work-family conflicts may not be the best long-run advice,” Damaske concludes.
So maybe a few extra hours at work aren’t so bad. It beats picking up after the kids.
3. You’d take a pay cut for perks
When asked if they would take a pay cut to work from home, 53 percent of technology professionals said yes, according to a GetVoiP survey.
The average pay cut participants said they’d allow was about 8 percent, but almost 7 percent said they would be OK with more than 30 percent of their paycheck disappearing if they could work at home.
But maybe this just confirms that most workers value home life over money. Like columnist Greg Kratz said of the study, “It's hard to put a price on better family time.”
4. Robots can do it better
Economists David Autor and David Dorn blame “computerization” for much of “the ‘hollowing-out’ of middle-skilled, middle-wage jobs and a corresponding rise in employment at both the high and low ends of the skills spectrum,” reported Pew.
The more routine your job is, and the less conceptual the thinking or heavy the lifting, the more likely it is you’ll be replaced by a robot, Pew explains of the economists’ research.
Famous athletes and bus drivers are safe, but if you’re a proofreader or barber, you might want to start thinking of a new profession — at least according to their algorithm.
