50 Wholesome And Funny Bosses Who Put Their Employees First (New Pics)

Leadership author Robyn L Garrett says that one clear requirement many employees nowadays have for their bosses is emotional maturity. "We're done with bosses that yell, whine, and play mind games. A good boss needs to be able to manage themselves and focus on true leadership," she says.

Gen Z and Millennials also want to feel respected at work. "Younger generations expect a more respectful and responsible workplace. Norms have changed a lot in the last 20 years and they'll continue to make the workplace more inclusive and less stressful. That's something that benefits everyone, regardless of age," Garrett notes.

Still, being a good boss doesn't mean you're everybody's friend. "It's more important that bosses are respectful of employee boundaries than it is for them to build personal connections," Garrett believes. "If an employee prefers not to mix their work and home lives, that is a perfectly reasonable choice. The boss's job is to build a healthy work environment so that people can do their best possible work," she explains.

In that same Pew survey, people also revealed the traits that, according to them, their good bosses have. The employees said their bosses are very good at giving their employees flexibility on work-life balance, giving the employees credit when it's due, and staying calm under pressure.

The gender of the boss doesn't matter to employees. Most are likely to say that their boss is good regardless of whether they're a man or a woman. They are, however, more likely to describe their boss as "caring" and more likely to give the employees credit. 

When asked whether they would like to work more for a man or a woman, a bigger percentage (15% vs. 12%) veered towards having males as bosses. What's also interesting is that men prefer that their boss be male, while females prefer their bosses to be women. 

For women under 30 that seems to be particularly important, as one in ten of such respondents said they'd prefer if their boss was a woman. For other age groups of women and men, the percentages were much lower, under 20%.

What makes a good boss? Why are some loved and others hated? The truth is that many people who become bosses don't have the skills to be good leaders. As organizational development consultant and author of Work Jerks Louise Carnachan told us in a previous interview, most employees become bosses because they've worked at that place long enough or were very good at their jobs.

However, being good at your job doesn't always translate into being a good boss. As Carnachan told us previously, leading others is a completely different job, and many people thrown into the position of a boss can lack that competence. "Unless you've had a role model to follow, you're probably at sea about what to do," Carnachan noted.

"Leadership training and coaching can help immensely, but not every organization makes this available," Carnachan explained. However, new bosses can become good leaders by educating themselves, too. "There are many good books and leadership classes you can take on your own or through your professional organization," according to Carnachan.

Back then, Carnachan also told us that most employees say they have a good boss when they have similar characteristics, even if their personalities are completely different. "The commonalities of great leaders are that they ask questions, listen, know something about their direct reports' lives (as in what's important to them, not by being intrusively personal)," Carnachan told us last year.