A Sense of Humour Is The Most Desired Trait
Many employees wish to strike lucky by having a nice, kind, respectful boss, but new research shows that the most valued trait is a sense of humour.
The poll, conducted by officebroker.com found that the best way for an employer to achieve a great relationship with their employees was to be able to have a laugh with them.
A spokesman for officebroker.com 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 lucky enough to have a boss with the same tastes as them could be on to a winner in terms of job satisfaction.”
Twenty six per cent of those polled cited a sense of humour as the winning trait, with 20 per cent feeling that trust was the most important trait.
Respect was also seen as important in the workplace, with 15 per cent voting that way and a further 13 per cent claiming patience is the key to a successful relationship with your boss.
Other traits cited were fairness, open communication and honesty.
Females found sense of humour to be more important with 61 per cent rating it as the top trait compared to men at 39 per cent.
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.
The spokesman said, “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.”
“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.”
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Cara Mason
Tagged in employment Boss