The ability to motivate and guide (39%) and excellent communication and listening skills (27%) are the top two attributes that employees expect in their bosses/managers, reveals a survey by job platform Naukri.com.

The survey was conducted on World Boss Day, which is celebrated on October 16, to understand the relationship between Indian employees and their managers. The responses were from over 4600 employees across sectors and experience levels, wherein 37 % of the total respondents were professionals with over 12 years of work experience.

The survey also reveals the top ingredients (attributes) that make a good boss according to the employees who participated in the online survey.

Employees prefer bosses who give timely feedback

Good managers don’t just inspire their teams to collaborate and work efficiently, they never settle until the team reaches the pinnacle of success by exhibiting the qualities of a true leader. Over 31% of employees prefer managers who motivate them to perform better and give timely feedback.

Effective communication is the key to not only delivering work successfully in the workplace but also helps in maintaining amicable relationships between employees and managers.

However, a point to note is that Indian managers usually follow one-way communication channels (from managers to subordinates), as mentioned by 36% of employees who took the survey. 

Apart from this, managers who have the quality to promote a friendly work environment serve as the icing on the cake.

Bosses who focus more on work-life balance preferred by employees

Post-pandemic, employees are not only accustomed to working from remote locations but also have changed their priorities and requirements from their workplaces. This shake-up has given rise to all sorts of evolved preferences and trends in the workplace.  Nowadays, employees prefer work-life balance over fat paychecks.

Therefore, a majority of employees prefer bosses who focus on maintaining a work-life balance.

Male bosses more approachable, female bosses treat subordinates respectfully

As per this employee survey, male leaders are considered to be adaptive in nature when employees were asked to vote for them on various attributes.  Apart from this, being approachable and open-minded are the other key traits that make males ideal bosses.

In this context, when Naukri.com enquired about what attributes make female employees good bosses, respondents said that they are better at promoting work-life balance and showing respectful behaviour to their subordinates.

This survey is an intriguing outlook on employer-employee relationships, where one of the findings revealed that a whopping 44% of respondents are happy with their current bosses.

Poor career growth, not ‘bad bosses’ top reason for employees’ job switch

The opportunity to grow within an organisation is what makes professionals stay in their current organisations.

The survey findings reveal that the absence of a growth trajectory and a good work environment leaves employees with no choice but to switch.

The majority of respondents (41%) mentioned poor career growth as the key reason for leaving their last organisations, followed by bad work culture and company policies (34%). Interestingly, only 33% mentioned that they left their last organisation due to bad bosses.