Eighteen percent of all workers said that the most awkward department in their office was human resources. This was the most popular choice of all, with all who voted saying that they were also likely to reject reasonable requests. Close to 10 percent said that they felt finance/accounting departments were the least helpful, coming a distant second behind HR.
At work, there might be one or two of our colleagues who can often make things a little more difficult than they should be. It could be in meetings, during group projects or through doing something either by mistake or on purpose that derails you when you least expect it. In the typical office, there’s usually someone acting as a source of frustration, but what do we know about them?
Unhelpful and obstructive colleagues come in several different forms. There’s the bullying manager, the pushy member of the HR department and the frustrated worker who has been looked over for promotions several times in favour of more likeable colleagues. However, these people tend to share several different characteristics which make them pretty easy to spot.
Can’t-do attitude
Research recently conducted by Powwownow among office workers throughout the UK helped to reveal who fits the profile of the workplace ‘Can’t’, as well as various other bugbears people have about colleagues. Some of the answers may take you aback over how much people really get frustrated by lazy and unhelpful co-workers, although others are somewhat less surprising.The most striking result of all was that 18 percent of all workers said that the most awkward department in their office was human resources. This was the most popular choice of all, with all who voted saying that they were also likely to reject reasonable requests. Close to 10 percent said that they felt finance/accounting departments were the least helpful, coming a distant second behind HR.
53 percent of people quizzed in the survey opined that uncooperative or unproductive employees were more prone to bullying, which is a worrying stat.
Unexplained behaviour
Feelings towards obstructive workers tend to be pretty negative on the whole, but there seem to be a variety of reasons as to why they tend to act like they do. The most common reason cited by people in the survey was illusions of grandeur, something 68 percent said about the stereotypical workplace ‘Can’t’. A little delusion is harmless, but too much can lead to unreliability and even anger.Some67 percent said that they believed frustrating colleagues acted in the manner they did in an attempt to retain what power and responsibilities they had. They also said they acted in such a way because they wanted to hold others back, possibly in an attempt to avoid being passed over for a promotion. 40 percent said they believed confusion, a lack of confidence or insufficient training was to blame.Sometimes, these workers might have reason to feel frustrated themselves. They could be unhappy, uncomfortable in their working environment or could have had their hopes dashed, leading them to feel the need to take out their frustrations on whoever happens to be nearest. Listening to them might be a good idea to get them onside.
Dealing with frustration
When dealing with an unhelpful colleague, workers said they had different ways of trying to cope. Four out of 10 people said they would moan or even scream privately in frustration, while amazingly, 36 percent said they would look for a new job, just to get away from them. With only three out of 10 saying they would talk to their superior or a colleague about the unhelpful worker.All of this shows that there is a common problem in offices nationwide. Dealing with unhelpful workers isn’t as constructive as it should be. A little dialogue from all parties involved could go a long way towards rectifying that, although the workplace ‘Can’t’s around the country are the ones who should shoulder much of the blame.
