Regus research shows 49 per cent of workers in big companies don’t like their colleagues

IT’S official. Half of your colleagues don’t like you and there are three main reasons why. Here’s what you could be doing wrong.

HAVE you ever noticed silence swiftly descend when you walk into a room at work?

You may not be imagining it as new research shows half of workers in large companies don’t like their colleagues.

Figures from office space provider Regus show 49 per cent of people in companies with more than 250 staff don’t like their co-workers. It’s significantly more than the 16 per cent of people in companies with less than 49 staff who admitted to disliking their colleagues.

The top reasons for disliking co-workers include:

• They have a poor work ethic (31 per cent)

• They are unable to do their job properly (19 per cent)

• They are overpowering and controlling (18 per cent)

Employees also didn’t like colleagues when they were perceived as being too precious to work hard (11 per cent) while small business workers detested colleagues who were difficult to manage.

Having a poor work ethic and being unable to do their job properly was the main reason colleagues are disliked.

When people didn’t like a co-worker the most common response was performance management, with 53 per cent of people saying this was their first port of call, according to the research.

More than one third said they would work harder to understand a colleague better while six per cent said they would fire them.

Regus Australia and New Zealand CEO Paul Migliorini said when you can’t handle working with a certain person, the best thing to do is look at the big picture.

“In today’s busy workplace, we often forget the value of getting to know people and building relationships through collaboration.”

“You might find that getting to know that, or working with them to overcome a specific challenge will help you turn around the situation. For employers, it’s important to structure your workplace to foster collaboration and positive interactions between employees.”

Hosting social events can help build positive relationships between staff. Pic: Thinkstock

Mr Migliorini said having flexible working time and places can help improve collaboration.

“We’re seeing a huge rise in flexi-work, so you might be pleasantly surprised how your boss reacts to the idea.

“When discussing these kind of issues with your manager, it can really help to have a suggested solution, such as flexible working, up your sleeve — that way they’ll know you’re proactive and prepared.”

Other tips include setting up a clear goal structure to get colleagues where they need to be, hosting social functions to build relationships between staff and building a positive work environment through company values.