Do your office mates hate you?

Brown nosers and staple stealers beware: about a quarter of your colleagues hate you so much that they may consider changing jobs just to avoid you.

A recent online poll by British public relations company 72 Point – a division of the UK’s largest independent news agency – suggests that while most co-workers enjoy or at least tolerate one another, a full 22 per cent confess to despising their colleagues. And one in three says they refuse to socialize with co-workers outside of work.

In fact, office strife is so bad that one-third of respondents say they have actually quit a job to escape obnoxious co-workers. And nearly 75 per cent admit to regularly gossiping about colleagues while at the office, while one-third take their backstabbing elsewhere.

“The office is a lot like family,” Franke James, editor and founder of the Canadian website Office-Politics.com was quoted in the National Post. “And nobody knows how to push our buttons like a brother or sister.”

Although 2000 British adults participated in the survey for the office stationary firm Partners, James says corporate politics and asimilation trends within office culture have no borders and would not be seen as a purely British phenomenon.

Sneaky e-mails
When it comes to trash talking co-workers, e-mail and instant messaging is a tempting way to vent, with one in ten survey respondents engaging in “sneaky chats” with workmates. Not surprisingly, half of these people (5 per cent of total respondents) have sent an inappropriate message to the wrong person at least once.

“It’s so dangerous to gripe via e-mail,” says James. “Never put in writing what you wouldn’t say to the person. Of course, some people would say terrible things. So perhaps the better advice is, ‘Never put in writing something that is slanderous that you might get sued for!’”

One in five respondents say their boss is the chief cause of tension at the office, while senior management emerged as the least liked group.

The eleven most despised personality types*:

The Brown Noser (28.6 per cent). Spends most of the time sitting next to the boss.

The No.1 (17.7 per cent). This person’s work is always done better, faster, sooner, and cheaper.

The Corporate Speaker (15.3 per cent). Knows the right lingo, but usually proves to be more mouth than action.

The Malingerer (13.5 per cent). A serial sick-day taker who shows up solely to blind boss with charm. Yet, irritatingly, usually manages to get first in line with it comes to a promotion.

The Clock Watcher (8.1 per cent). Arrives at exactly 9 a.m. and is never seen in the office past 5 p.m. And yes, takes a full hour for lunch even if it is really busy.

The Social Secretary (5.7 per cent). Organizes office parties, after-hours outings and lunches, yet is rarely seen doing any real work.

The Letch (3 per cent). Spends most of the work day e-mailing women in the office.

The Toilet Weeper (2.6 per cent). Most of the time is spent locked in the washroom sobbing over one personal crisis or another.

The Mum (2.3 per cent). Makes coffee and knows location of the first-aid kit. The first to provide a comforting tissue in times of duress.

The Dieter (2.1 per cent). Constantly obsessing over irritating fad diets such as low GI, Atkins, Weightwatchers.

The Love Flop (1 per cent). Always single, constantly annoying co-workers with news of a new man/woman and then moaning days later when dumped.

*Source: Partners/72 Point

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