What do UK professionals do to try and impress their new boss?

Nearly three quarters of workers say that they aspire to impress their boss for as long as they work at that company.

Women are some of the most likely to want to make a good impression throughout their entire employment (75.5 per cent), as well as those aged between 35 and 44 (75.6 per cent), according to the survey by CV-Library.

When asked how they aim to please their new employer, respondents cite effective management of workload (27.3 per cent), putting forward new ideas (18.2 per cent), and taking on extra responsibilities outside of the job spec (13 per cent), as key goals.

Helping other members of the team (9.8 per cent) and always being punctual (9.6 per cent) are other aims for employees.

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library says, ‘Our findings suggest that UK workers are keen to impress their new employers, and this is unsurprising, given that most professionals want to get ahead in their career.

Recognise your staff

‘Though as an employer you may expect punctuality and organisation as standard, it’s important to ensure that employees don’t go unnoticed for their efforts when they are consistently doing a good job. Recognition and reward is greatly received by staff, and will also work to encourage continued hard work in the future.’

Despite the majority saying they would never stop trying to impress their boss, nearly a quarter (21.7 per cent) of professionals admit that they would only aim to make an impression for up to a year at the company. Of those, 7.5 per cent would only make an effort for the first week, 5.1 per cent for the first month and 5.9 per cent for the first three months.

Biggins adds, ‘It’s positive to see that the majority of professionals will always aim to please their employer, and not allow the novelty to wear off when they no longer view them as a ‘new’ boss. It is however concerning that some will only try to make a good impression for as short a time as a week.

‘Be sure to nurture an environment where your employees feel as if they can share new ideas, and they know their hard work is appreciated. This will in turn encourage employees to continue working hard and aiming to please, its win-win!’

Further reading on managing employees

 

Ben Lobel

Ben Lobel

Ben Lobel was the editor of SmallBusiness.co.uk from 2010 to 2018. He specialises in writing for start-up and scale-up companies in the areas of finance, marketing and HR.

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