Zogby Poll: As Independence Day Nears, Workplace Democracy Association Survey Finds One in Four Working Americans Describe their Employer as a "Dictatorship"



UTICA, New York - One out of every four working Americans (25%) describes their workplace as a dictatorship, while just 34% of bosses in the American workplace react well to valid criticism, according to a new Workplace Democracy Association/Zogby Interactive survey.

The survey also found that less than half of working Americans - 46% - said their workplace promotes creative or inventive ideas, while barely half - 51% - said their co-workers often feel motivated or are mostly motivated at work.

Asher Adelman, Founder and President of the Workplace Democracy Association, said that "As we prepare to commemorate our nation's independence and celebrate the freedoms that we often take for granted, it is unfortunate and ironic that so many Americans work at organizations that are managed like mini-dictatorships." Just 52% of respondents in the nationwide survey said their boss treats subordinates well, the survey revealed.

http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1520

Then would it be fair to assume that one in every three describe their workplace as good, fair, and as having bosses that react well to valid criticism.
And although a little under 50% said their workplace promotes creative or inventive ideas, while MORE than half - 51% - said their co-workers often feel motivated or are mostly motivated at work.
and Amazingly, 52% of respondents in the nationwide survey said their boss treats subordinates well, the survey revealed.

Which is why there are those who can survive a dictatorship and there are those who can't.

perspective

Amazingly, this poll has as little as .009% to do with anything at all, as far as your workplace is concerned. It's like those "quizzes" on AOL: "Can you spot the fake corporate logo?" Tell me, what does this have to do with the price of eggs? Quien Importa?

Well, I work at home, and my wife is a... well, I'd tell you, but then there would be 52 posts all with some version of, "And we understand why."

I just don't think I'd care to take the abuse today. So there.

i took a leave of absence from my decent job, and when i got back, i had no job. thing was, i hated it, my boss was a see you next tuesday if you catch my drift, and all i wanted to do was drink and smoke pretty much all day. i had no options, and ended up working at the pizza place i worked at when i was 18. it's practically humiliating, i'm older than just about everyone, and i make just over minimum wage. but i don't work hard at all, i can literally sit through an entire shift, i can break just about any of the very few rules and not worry about any kind of punishment. i can be late, and i can leave early. basically, i go to stranger's houses and i've seen some of the strangest human behavior imaginable. i think the only way i could get fired would be to smoke crack in the dining area or run around naked. it's humbling, hard to pay the bills, but somehow immensely satisfying.

Happy hours: good times but no promotion: survey

One in five U.S. workers regularly attends after-work drinks with co-workers, where the most common mishaps range from bad-mouthing another worker to kissing a colleague and drinking too much, according to a study released on Tuesday.

Most workers attend so-called happy hours to bond with colleagues, although 15 percent go to hear the latest office gossip and 13 percent go because they feel obligated, said the survey conducted for CareerBuilder.com, an online job site.

As to what happens when the after-work drinks flow, 16 percent reported bad-mouthing a colleague, 10 percent shared a secret about a colleague, 8 percent kissed a colleague and 8 percent said they drank too much and acted unprofessionally.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080624/us_nm/...odNqTi2cuUWIr0F

My boss is a total dictator, whatever he says goes but I admire him a lot because no matter what, he's always right.

_{Have I mentioned that I'm self-employed?}

My supervisor is cool actually. He's pretty understanding that we work weird hours and need time off in the middle of our shift sometimes to meet with family or friends. He's pretty cool about letting us take time off, when Skye was sick he would let me sneak her in after everyone else had left so I could still be at work and take care of her.


His boss is bipolar I swear. Sometimes she's pretty cool and others she's obnoxious, shoots first, asks questions later. Fortunately for us, unfortunately for my supervisor, she's afraid of me because I talk back so she makes him serve up any complaints she has about my work.

I get paid decently, I get decent benefits, I can't really complain.

[quote name='Alfredo' date='Jun 25 2008, 06:53 AM' post='54641']
My boss is a total dictator, whatever he says goes but I admire him a lot because no matter what, he's always right.

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Do you think this is what Cheney thinks about Bush??
Sorry I couldn't resist...

I'm relatively new here. It' not really a job in my field but it pays the bills just fine. And i love the people, most of them have been here for years. It's the kind of place that inspires loyaltty and it seems to be a two way street. Everyone is very progressive and accepting of me and my partner. So while it's not the perfect job for me in some ways, the environment makes it worth it.

Our workplace is in a state of flux. We have a new manager who seems determined to see how far he can push the workforce.
Worse of all he lies to your face without a second thought, which makes it hard to hold a serious conversation with someone like that.

http://asweb.artsci.uc.edu/sociology/kunzctr/overwork.htm

Juliet Schor, The Overworked American - the unexpected decline of leisure

In The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure (1992, Basic Books), Juliet Schor (a Harvard-based economist) examined government survey data and found that between 1969-87 annual hours worked increased by 163 hours (i.e., one month) for the typical American worker. This 163-hour rise in hours worked reversed a century-long downward trend in time spent in paid labor.

The causes of this decline in leisure are found in the decline of unions (which fought for reduced work days earlier in this century), and a consumer-oriented society in which workers take on additional overtime to pay for a material lifestyle fed by abundant credit. In addition, employers seeking to increase revenues can reduce their labor costs by asking their employees to work overtime rather than hire additional workers. Automation and downsizing increases the workload on remaining workers after each round of cost-cutting.

[snip]

Bluestone and Rose's analysis shows that Americans are both overworked and underemployed.

[snip]

Corporations ARE dictatorships. Period.

This is what I like about where I work, the University itself is fairly progressive. At least our president and the Board is.

When the ignorant citizens of Michigan decided to vote in an amendment to our state constitution denying gay couples equal benefits, MSU and other state universities went to work figuring out a way in which they could continue to cover same sex benefits and stay within the law.

Now that's not an easy thing to do when you have a group of Neanderthals in your area whose only purpose in life is to deny same sex couples any humane rights at all.

I swear I wish these people would just come out of the closet already and leave the rest of the world alone! This fear they have of their own sexuality is just really giving me a headache.

My workplace is cool some days, and hot on other days, sometimes it's raining and we have to work outside anyway, other times it's a blizzard and we still have to work outside. My bosses are all very helpless, especially when it comes simple things like feeding themselves, or even getting a drink of water. Some of them do help out though, every day a few of them bring in things like eggs and such. But all in all, they're the bosses and I have to do what I'm supposed to do without question, wow am I pathetic or what...JK

I got that at home, but there are some helpless induhviduals where I work. Feeding themselves isn't a problem, but I swear they'd forget their own names if it wasn't screamed at them every once in a while.

Dictatorship

RM-- I hate it when they scream about the food, or where is the food, what's taking so long, etc. A bunch of horses asses is what they are!!!

Well, some, I'm sure there are bovine asses as well!

RM-- Oh yeah they're a whole 'nother matter, always chewing their food forever, while everyone else waits to get theirs, and they even shit where they eat, which is weird, and no one seems to care, WTF?!

Well, seeing as how they share the same brain and because I'm self-employed...lol yeah.

Not the brightest bosses on the planet are they.

No thier not, their actually really stupid which I guess is why they are at the bottom of the food chain, at least where I work they are.

A friend of mine used to work on a dairy farm. I've heard stories!

Oh Dairy cows are a whole 'nother story, they are huge and will trample you when trying to load them, I almost got killed helping out a friend of mine doing just that. Of course they had calves that weren't weaned, so they were especially nuts. I was on foot, not horseback, which would have been safer.

I thought we were talking about our bosses? How did we get onto animals?

I don't know 'bout you but animals are my bosses. Both at work and at home!

I'll apologize to my supervisor tomorrow, but being a musician he'll understand.

RM--LOL, how many don't get it? I sure as hell do, as do you, too!!!

A millionaire who inflicted years of abuse on two Indonesian housekeepers held as virtual slaves in her Long Island mansion was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison.

The trial provided a glimpse into a growing U.S. problem of domestic workers exploited in slave-like conditions.

http://www.yahoo.com/s/907314

Flight attendant wins $1.2 million in suit


"In trial testimony and an interview, she said her problems with the airline started in May 1995 when a passenger frustrated by flight delays kicked her in the back. The passenger turned out to be the wife of a French diplomat, Anderson said, and when she tried to get American Airlines to do something about it, the company turned on her instead."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...J.DTL&tsp=1