Water cooler: Hey, cool it on rage in the workplace

By Times Staff
Published April 15, 2007

Hey, cool it on rage in the workplace

You've heard of road rage. Now we have a whole new blood-pressure-raising affliction to deal with: desk rage. Without really defining the term, RJC Associates of California said in a report last week that 14 percent of American workers say they've seen desk rage at their workplace. The survey's additional findings offer more insight into what desk rage is: Twenty-two percent of workers say they've been driven to tears because of workplace stress. (Nothing to be ashamed of, guys.) Sixteen percent say they've seen company property damaged as a result of workplace stress. (Um, that computer was on its last legs anyway.) Nine percent report that physical violence has occurred at their workplace because of stress. (Okay, we won't joke about that one.)

It's hard to track nonfinancial stuff

Deloitte is taking a skeptical tack on chief executives in a new survey - you can tell just by the title. "In the Dark," released this month, found that 29 percent of CEOs and other senior execs rate their ability to track their company's nonfinancial performance as excellent or good. Deloitte says execs can't ignore measurements like customer satisfaction, innovation and employee commitment, which are becoming increasingly important to analysts. But those characteristics are harder to measure than, say, profits and loss. And the big cheeses feel like they have a good grip on that kind of thing: Eighty-seven percent say they're good or excellent at tracking their company's financial indicators.

[Last modified April 13, 2007, 19:16:36]