Senior Execs Write Their Own Office Rules

 

Office attitudes change when employees reach senior-executive levels. Senior-level employees are more likely than their junior counterparts to have fudged their resumes, “angry-quit,” and been involved in an office romance, according to a recent Office Pulse study of 1,158 office professionals, including 53 senior and C-level executives.

30% of senior executives are secretly job searching, the highest percentage among all management levels surveyed. Overall, 16% of business professionals said they were secretly looking for a new form of employment.

Additionally, senior executives were more likely to make a rash decision and quit over a conflict, the study found. 28% of them said they’ve “angry-quit” from a job in the past. That’s more than senior managers (5%), middle managers (8%) and junior managers (10%). However, around 1 in 5 junior, middle and senior managers admitted to coming “close” to angry-quitting, suggesting professionals get more confident about making this bold change as they move up the ladder.

With that said, most senior executives did describe “work” as “fun” (57%) when asked what work means to them, a much higher rate than their colleagues. Just 35% of professionals overall called work ‘fun,’ with the majority calling it “just a paycheck.”

Most business professionals seemed to have high ethical standards, with just 4% admitting to lying on their resume in the past. However, that number jumps to 21% among senior execs who admitted to a falsity on their resume.

Other senior executive insights include:

• 53% believe lunchtime meetings are okay, even if lunch isn’t provided. Just 25% of all workers agreed.
• 45% have had an office romance, compared to just 25% of all business professionals.
• 55% said they ‘rarely’ bring a lunch to work.

Overwhelmingly, senior executives were most likely among their colleagues to travel a few times a week for work: 1 in 4 senior executives do so, compared to just 6% of senior managers. And when senior execs are in the office, most are secluded from their colleagues. 68% said they have a private office – the most out of any management group. Surprisingly, they still want more personal space, with 40% saying the number one change they’d make to their office would be adding more personal space. Possibly related? 1 in 4 senior execs described socializing outside work with colleagues as “my idea of a nightmare.”