Unhappy at Work? Blame Your Boss

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Bosses hoping to bask in the warm gratitude of their employees on National Boss Day today may have to wait a while. A majority of American workers are unhappy in the workplace and say their bosses are largely to blame, according to a new survey.

And those hoped-for thank-yous from grateful employees? Most workers believe that their boss wouldn't care enough to bother — only 38 percent plan on thanking their bosses today, according to a survey of 1,000 workers across the country sponsored by Michelle McQuaid, an expert on workplace relationships and author of a new book, "5 Reasons to Tell Your Boss to Go F**K Themselves! How Positive Psychology Can Help You Get What You Want."

Only 38 percent of those polled described their boss as "great," while 42 percent said their bosses don't work very hard and close to 20 percent said their boss has little or no integrity.

Bosses are leaving Americans unappreciated and uninspired (31 percent) and downright miserable, bored and lonely (15 percent), McQuaid said.

Only 36 percent of employees are happy at their job, the survey found. And 65 percent believe a better boss would make them happier, while 35 percent say a bigger paycheck would.

Close to 60 percent of Americans said they would do a better job if they got along better with their boss, and more than half (55 percent) think they would be more successful, the survey found.

But slightly fewer than one in 10 will take advantage of National Boss Day to talk to their boss and improve the relationship.

"This current situation in the workplace is taking an incredible personal toll on employees and for organizations, it is costing $360 billion a year in lost productivity," McQuaid said.

This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith at nsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith and BusinessNewsDaily @bndarticles. We're also on Facebook & Google+.