Dive Brief:
- When Comparably asks tech workers what stresses them out the most, 42% say unclear goals. The firm queried 10,000 tech workers across departments.
- After unclear goals, tech workers said bad bosses (16%) and long commutes (16%) tied among the things that stress them out the most. They rated difficult coworkers (14%) and long hours (12%) as their next greatest stressors.
- Workers ages 61 to 65 were the only group to tie unclear goals with bad bosses. Comparably says it found unclear goals to be a major problem across disciplines and age groups.
Dive Insight:
Bamboo HR recently polled workers about bad bosses and found that stealing subordinates' ideas was the worse form of bad-boss behavior. Like unacceptable conduct from managers, unclear goals keep workers from adequately performing their jobs. The American Psychological Association has long cited unclear goals as among workers' top stressors and recommended that employers provide clear, frequent and truthful communication to workers.
Clear directives and goals are critical to employees' performance and, in turn, their alignment with their organizations' mission. HR can work with communications professionals and managers to create internal information distribution practices that keep employees in the loop and engaged.
A recent study found that employees trust their managers more than their organizations' leaders. That trust should be based in part on managers clearly expressing goals to their direct reports.
