Spying on senior management, loaning money among the most unusual things bosses ask employees to do

One-quarter of U.S. workers say boss asks them to do tasks unrelated to work: Survey

Spying on senior management, working on a child’s science project and loaning money are just some of the strangest requests employees have received from their bosses.

Nearly one-quarter (23 per cent) of workers in the United States reported that their bosses have asked them to perform tasks that are not related to their jobs, according to a new CareerBuilder survey of 3,600 U.S. workers.

Above and beyond

When it comes to day-to-day projects, some workers feel assignments from the boss fall outside of their job description. Workers provided the following real-life examples of the most unusual requests they received from their bosses:

• be a surrogate mother for her
• spy on senior management
• buy a rifle for him
• go online and post false good comments about him
• come up with a science fair project for her daughter
• fire the boss’s brother
• lend him $400 for a down payment on a car
• remove her stitches
• bail another co-worker out of jail
• clip the his dog’s nails
• help plan her wedding.

Grading the boss

Most workers like reporting to their current boss. When asked to grade their boss’s performance, the majority (66 per cent) gave an above average rating. One-quarter (26 per cent) gave their boss an A grade while 40 per cent gave a B grade. Twenty per cent gave a C grade, nine per cent gave a D level and six per cent gave an F.

While three-quarters (64 per cent) of workers reported they respect their boss, only 37 percent said that they learn from him. Nearly one-third (32 per cent) feel they are smarter than their boss.

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