The Australian Workplace Index reveals surging loneliness among employees who must answer to bosses with "Dark Triad" personality traits

Drawn from a survey of 2500 workers in industries ranging from mining to the arts, the data is the first to be released by the Australian Workplace Index (AWI), a benchmarking tool developed by the University of Newcastle and The Australian National University with the aim of lifting performance in organisations nationwide.

The data also revealed that staff who felt empowered by their leaders were 25% less likely to quit, however 43% of staff reported their supervisor to exhibit "Dark Triad personality traits", which resemble narcissistic, psychopathic and Machiavellian personality types.

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UoN Professor Christina Boedker said these types of leaders lack remorse and are callous, manipulate and exploit their co-workers or staff, use deceit and lies, and seek status and admiration.

"More worrying was the finding that the higher supervisors move up the organisational ladder, the more pronounced their Narcissistic, Psychopathic and Machiavellian personality traits - 37% of front-line managers exhibit Dark Triad personality traits on average; 54% for middle and executive managers; and 65% for CEOs," she said.

The AWI researchers warn that the way Australians work has changed in the wake of COVID-19, and employers must adapt to retain staff and increase productivity.

Drawn from surveys conducted between December 2021 and June this year, the AWI data also revealed:

UoN Professor Christina Boedker said that data found that workplaces with empowering leaders are better able to retain staff, and that there was no doubt that the high levels of loneliness were because of the way the pandemic had changed the way we work.

"The pandemic - and WFH arrangements - has undoubtedly been a root cause, causing loneliness to surge to unprecedented levels. We found that young adults (18-29) and people working remotely/from home were more likely to feel lonely in their work. We also found that executive managers experience much higher loneliness than non-executives; and that women feel more lonely than men," she said, adding that workplaces needed to support and nurture staff differently, without regular face-to-face time.

Professor Boedker said younger people were experiencing higher levels of anxiety than older generations thanks to social pressures to perform and "do well" being higher than ever.

"This is compounded by social media with constant comparisons, a mirror which reflects upon you and impacts your self-esteem, a daily reminder of who you are relative to others - these trends were prevalent also before the pandemic, but have been accelerated by the social isolation brought on by the pandemic and left young people more vulnerable than ever before," she said.

Professor Boedker said the first AWI data was a reminder to employers to carefully choose he people they promoted into supervisory positions.

"If you end up with the wrong people in key positions, it will undoubtedly have a devastating impact on people's wellbeing at work, resulting in high turnover which is both costly and time consuming to manage and lower productivity," she said.

An empowering leader, she added, was one who "expresses confidence in their staff, provides autonomy and prospects for self-determination, fosters participation in decision making and gives a greater sense of impact and meaning to work."

"An individual's relationship with their direct supervisor is the most critical aspect of any person's working life," she added.

ANU economist Professor Kieron Meagher said that with unemployment is at its lowest levels in decade, being an employer of choice is about more than just pay: "If businesses want to excel and see results then they need to focus on the wellbeing of their staff and the leadership style of their organisation."

The AWI will collect quarterly data measuring leadership, wellbeing and productivity from thousands of workers, with the long-term goal is to have a publicly available national workplace index. It will also provide tailored programs for businesses, with a pilot program underway in the Hunter region.

Professor Boedker said that the national panel data was already being used by local organisations to benchmark themselves against, to see how they compared in the three areas.

"The AWI transforms management and leadership practice through knowledge and data. We are currently working with a number of local firms in the Hunter region who are going through the benchmarking exercises and coming out stronger at the other end," she said.

The next data will be released in November.

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