Blair Tips Goody as Most Annoying Person to Work for says Survey

Tony Blair and Jade Goody may not have much in common but they have topped the list of the most annoying public figures to work for according to a national survey of business people by training company PTP Training & Marketing.

More than 200 managers from all over the UK were asked “of those in the public eye who would be your idea of the most annoying person to work for?” Tony Blair just beat Jade Goody by a mere 1.5% to become the number one most annoying person in the UK to work for. Model Naomi Campbell was in third position with David Brent of The Office fame being considered the fourth most annoying person we would like to find ourselves working for. Gordon Brown and George W Bush tied in fifth position.

Other well-known figures to feature in the list were politicians John Prescott and Boris Johnson, TV chef Gordon Ramsay and TV racing pundit John McCririck.

In addition to identifying annoying people the survey also looked at general bugbears in the office. Unsurprisingly ‘IT problems’ came out on top with a quarter of the respondents admitting that the computer going wrong was their biggest headache. This was followed by ‘irritating colleagues’ and the ‘daily commute’. ‘Too much red tape’, ‘too many emails’, ‘an irritating boss’ and ‘pointless meetings’ were also mentioned as the key aspects of office life which really get us down.

When asked what one thing would improve life in the office the top answer was a ‘better working environment’ – highlighting the fact that people do feel their work surroundings are important and have an impact on their performance. Next on the list were ‘an easier commute to work’, ‘longer holidays’ and ‘less red tape’. A few also thought a change of boss or secretary would make their life a lot easier!

And, according to the survey results, the two main things which annoy us about our colleagues are a ‘lack of respect for others’ and a ‘blame culture’ - blaming other people for their own incompetence. An ‘over inflated view of abilities’ and ‘sloppy work habits’ were also cited as irksome traits in colleagues.

Commenting on the results of who and what annoys us in our business lives PTP’s managing director Marc Holland finds it curious that two very different kinds of people came out top in the survey of annoying people to work for. He says:

“Despite the fact that Tony Blair and Jade Goody come from two opposite ends of the public life spectrum and have very different personalities there is still some common denominator in their characters which people find irritating. The seemingly outspoken figures such as Gordon Ramsay, John Prescott and John McCririck are not such a surprise as people generally don’t want to work with very overbearing people.

“It is also interesting to see that lack of respect for others is seen by so many people as one of the most unpleasant characteristics in our colleagues. It underlines the fact that the management style today puts the emphasis on qualities such as respect, listening to people and understanding others’ perspectives. A company can only motivate its people by respecting them and treating them well.”

For more information on the training programmes available call PTP on freephone 0800 975 6787 or visit the web site at www.ptp.co.uk.

Top Ten Public Figures Considered Most Annoying to Work for:

1. Tony Blair
2. Jade Goody
3. Naomi Campbell
4. David Brent
5. George W Bush
5. Gordon Brown
7. John Prescott
8. Boris Johnson
9. Gordon Ramsay
10. John McCririck