Be careful what you say at work: One in five employees 'hate their colleagues'

Be careful what you say at work: One in five employees 'hate their colleagues'

By Lucy Ballinger

Last updated at 6:13 PM on 15th February 2010

• Comments (17)
  
• Add to My Stories
  

They may greet you with a smile in the morning, but beware what they are saying behind your back - apparently one in five workers hate their colleagues.

Almost six million employees despise people they work with, according to a study.

Of these, almost two-thirds regularly gossip behind the backs of their colleagues.

And the back-stabbing continues away from the office, with one in four admitting they liked to moan about staff when they went to the pub after work.

Media emerged as the business where back-stabbing is most rife, followed by accounts, IT and sales.

A third of workers said they disliked colleagues so much they would not even consider socialising with them away from the office.

The researchers found that bosses are the major cause of tension in the workplace, while senior management emerged as the least-liked group of all.

The survey of 2,000 people for OnePoll found most staff use email and MSN messaging to talk about their colleagues behind their backs.

The study also found women are more likely to talk behind their colleague's backs than men.

A typical female employee will spend around 20 minutes a day moaning about someone they work with, either by email or by instant messaging online.

Two out of five women said they had sent nasty messages in the past seven days compared to one in five men. Colleagues annoyed them because they were 'jealous' or 'saw them as a threat'.

Men who were questioned said their main gripe with a colleague was 'laziness' or someone having 'ideas above their station'.

A spokesman for OnePoll said: 'Workers are spending longer and longer in each other's company as workloads increase.

'That leads to added tension. People who are in positions of authority are bound to end up as victims of back-stabbing.

'But workers should be careful, as one in twenty have sent an inappropriate message to the wrong person.'