Some Employees Hate Their Jobs, While Others Just Hate You

“Hate” is such an ugly word that it’s best left in the hands of trained professionals, like ministers, psychiatrists and small-market GMs trying to outbid the New York Yankees. Sometimes, though, even when it’s not exactly the right choice of words, its shock value compensates for its imprecision.

How, I ask you, can you resist a book with the title, 30 Reasons Employees Hate Their Managers? True, once you start reading the thing (written by Bruce Katcher and Adam Snyder), you realize there’s no actual “hatred” going on (or not very much, anyway), but there sure is a lot of resentment, discouragement, emptiness, loneliness and a whole bunch of other unpleasantnesses going on in companies large and small – and those people are blaming YOU, their manager, for most of it.

In the IndustryWeek 2007 Salary Survey, we revealed exactly what’s bugging manufacturing managers; this 30 Reasons book offers the counterpoint: what’s bugging your employees. Not all of the employees are from manufacturing companies, but don’t get too comfortable – there apparently is more than enough “hatred” to go around, no matter what industry you’re working in.

Here’s the list of “30 Reasons”:

1. We feel like slaves.
2. I know how to do my job, why can't they just let me do it?
3. I am afraid to speak up.
4. Nobody appreciates my hard work.
5. There are different rules for different people.
6. Management doesn't listen to us.
7. Management doesn't respect us.
8. So who's in charge anyway?
9. I don't trust the information I receive from management.
10. My boss is a terrible manager.
11. I've lost confidence in management.
12. We're understaffed.
13. They don't tell me what I need to know to do my work.
14. We need more training.
15. The quality of our products and services is terrible.
16. I receive poor service from other departments.
17. There's too much red tape here.
18. Why don't they get rid of all of the deadwood around here?
19. There are too many damn meetings.
20. I'm not paid fairly.
21. It's just not right that we all receive the same pay.
22. My performance reviews are useless.
23. There's no link between my pay and job performance.
24. The cost of my benefits is eating up my paycheck.
25. It's impossible to get promoted here.
26. I hate coming in to work, it's become just a job for me now.
27. There's no job security here.
28. I've got no time for myself or my family.
29. I feel trapped, I wish I could go out on my own.
30. My company isn't committed to me, so why should I be committed to it?