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A quarter of employees would upgrade their workplace technology if they were In charge

What would you do differently at work if you were the boss?
Written by Eileen Brown, Contributor

According to the latest census, 90% of the US population aged 25 and older had completed four years of high school or more. As the American population becomes more educated, so does the workforce: People with a college degree filled nine in 10 new jobs in the last year. However, this might mean you are overqualified for the job.

Almost one-in-three remote employees believe they are more qualified than their manager, according to a new study.

Those who believe they are more qualified than their manager earn an extra 5K annually.

Guaynabo, PR-based online resume creator Resume Lab issued online questionnaires to 1,000 Americans using Amazon's Mechanical Turk. To qualify for the survey, participants had to be employed and report to a superior.

To ensure that respondents took the survey seriously, the company administered an attention-check question.

Those who failed to identify and correctly answer the question were ejected from the survey.

Despite the growing number of employees exceeding the requirements of a position, only five (21.7%) of respondents believed they were more qualified than their manager. That percentage jumped to nearly a third when looking at remote employees.

Employees working in higher-pressure work environments were 3.7-times as likely to feel more qualified than their manager, compared to those working in low-pressure workplaces. And working from home is sure to relieve some of that pressure.

Millennials were also the most likely generation to believe they were more qualified than their managers.

Compared to just 17.7% of baby boomers and 21.1% of Gen Xers, almost a quarter (23%) of millennials believed they were more qualified than their superior.

Although digital workplaces are increasing in popularity (and come with their fair share of perks), the real challenge comes down to managing or being managed through a computer screen.

One in four employees would upgrade workplace technology if they were In charge zdnet
Resume Lab

If roles were reversed, over one in three (35%) of employees surveyed said they would create goals for employees if they were in charge, while 34.3% said they would increase employee pay. Remote workers are also 36% more likely to schedule more meetings if they were in charge.

Almost three in 10 (27%) of all employees would upgrade workplace technology if they held a position of power and over half (55.2% of employees would also employ a different management style if they were in charge.

Although 44.8% would employ similar strategies as their managers, 37.4% would choose a consultative approach, and 30.3% would opt for a democratic management method. However, less than one in five (19%) of supervisors use this as their current approach.

Workplaces are toxic for various reasons, but nearly 16% of employees cited their manager as toxic to the workplace. However, almost56% would not tell their boss how they genuinely feel about them.

What would you do if you were in charge?

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