Almost one employee in three (31%) would report colleagues to managers if they thought that they had been seriously underperforming, even if they considered those colleagues to be friends.
According to the global poll by job site Monster, a quarter (27%) of workers would report a friend whose work was not up to scratch if the team’s success was on the line and one in 20 (4%) would do so if they thought that it would help them get ahead.
However, nearly three-fifths (58%) of the 10,676 workers polled internationally said that they would not report an underperforming friend to the boss and would instead try to help them with their work.
US respondents were the most likely (43%) to tell management about underperforming friends, with 37% saying that they would do so if the team’s success was being jeopardised and 5% willing to do so to get ahead in the workplace.
In comparison, 29% of UK workers polled would report an underperforming friend to their boss to protect the team’s success and 4% would report them if it would help them progress in the company.
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Employees in Asia were the most likely to try to help friends with work should they struggle, with 62% saying that they would do this.
For information on managing performance, read XpertHR’s good practice guide.
