Men are the best bosses: Women at the top are just too moody (and it's women themselves who say so)

Aug 12, 2010

They are hormonal, incapable of leaving their personal lives at home and only too happy to talk about their staff behind their backs.


Female bosses are a nightmare to work for, a survey of employees concludes.

And it is not just men who think so.

Two-thirds of women said they preferred a male boss because their straight-talking, ‘get to the point’ attitude makes them easier to deal with.

They are also much less likely to have a hidden agenda, suffer mood swings or get involved in office politics, workers said.

About 3,000 men and women were questioned for the research, with three- quarters of men agreeing that they would rather work for a man than a woman.

A quarter of women accused female bosses of backstabbing and bringing their personal lives into the office.

And a third of those polled said women with power are ‘loose cannons’ who often feel threatened by colleagues.

David Brown, of online recruitment firm www.UKJobs.net, which commissioned the research, said: ‘Incredibly both men and women are in total agreement that men make better bosses – 63 per cent of women and 75 per cent of men.

‘This indicates that while women are more than capable of progressing to a management role, some lack some of the key skills required to be a good boss.

‘No one is suggesting that women aren’t intelligent enough to be in senior positions, far from it, but perhaps-some need to be more approachable and less competitive.

‘People want to go to work knowing they will be given a fair chance and are supported 100 per cent by those they work with and for.’

Fifteen per cent of the workers questioned said female bosses were too ‘sharp tongued’ and a third said it was obvious when it was their ‘time of the month’ because of mood swings.

Other negative assessments included them being ‘too cliquey’, too competitive and spending too long worrying about their appearance.

Forty per cent said men were more able to distance themselves from politics and bitching and 14 per cent said they found them more reasonable than women.

Those who prefer a female boss said they did so because women are more approachable, friendly and understand when workers need time off to look after their children.

The study found that the average worker has had two female and three male bosses.

A third have left a job because they didn’t like their boss, and of these, the majority of women claimed they left because of a female manager.