26.01.2023

Property/construction bosses are among the most hated, survey reveals

Ever wondered which industry has the worst bosses? Or perhaps your New Year’s Resolution is to find a new job; or learn how to reduce stress within the workplace, like 12.5% of the UK plan to, according to Finder.

To find out, the experts at the SEO Services Company Reboot carried out a UK study, asking 3,445 people from 29 different sectors whether they liked their boss, and if not, what were the main reasons.

These are the top 10 industries with the most hated bosses…

Work Sector	Dislike My Boss (%)
Retail	51
Healthcare	48
Sales	47
Property and Construction	45
Energy and Utilities	42
Public Services and Administration	42
Law Enforcement and Security	38
Teaching and Education	36
Call Centre and Customer Service	35
Hospitality and Events Management	34
Legal	34
Recruitment and HR	34
Government and Defence	32
Advertising and PR	32
Social Care	28
Leisure	26
Marketing	23
Banking and Finance	21
Consulting and Management	21
Environment and Agriculture	18
Sport and Tourism	18
Accountancy	16
Engineering and Manufacturing	16
Transport and Logistics	16
Media and Internet	15
Science and Pharmaceuticals	14
Information Technology	12
Charity and Voluntary Work	11
Creative Arts and Design	10

In first place is the retail industry, with a whopping 51% of people surveyed disliking their boss. According to the latest statistics, the number of people in the UK working in retail amounted to 3 million in 2021. That same year there were 316,400 retail outlets in the country.

Following closely behind, with 48% of workers not liking their boss, the healthcare industry comes in second place. Data from 2022 shows that there are 1.2 million people employed by the NHS, 31,000 more employees than in 2021.

The sales industry places third, with 47% of people hating their boss. This is followed by the property and construction industry (45% disliking their boss) in fourth. Finally, sharing fifth place are the energy and utilities industry and the public services and administration industry, with 42% of employees disliking their boss.

And the most common reasons for people hating their bosses are…

If you dislike your boss, what are the main reasons?	%
being underpaid	66
micromanagement	46
lack of communication	43
ungrateful	27
bullying	24
generally annoying	24
lazy	15
conflicting personalities	12
condescending	12
incompetent	9
unqualified	6
inappropriate	5