Small Business Employees Give Their Bosses a B-Minus

Are you a small business owner? How do you think your employees rate your management capabilities. Or, if you work for a small business, how do you think your bosses are doing?

A new study showed that, while a strong majority (81 percent) of small business employees are satisfied with their job overall, the average grade they gave their business for management was a B-minus. Half of those surveyed gave their employers either an A or a B (22 and 38 percent, respectively), while 27 percent said C, 10 percent said D and only 3 percent gave their employer a failing grade.

The 2013 State of the Small Business Employee Report, commissioned by business technology developer GFI Software, asked a wide range of questions on various issues ranging from workplace satisfaction, social media use, cyber security and technology. It focused on employees at small businesses with between two and 99 employees.

Other findings included:

87 percent have some fear of identity theft occurring while they work on employer computers
75 percent said mobile computing has improved their lives; 25 percent said it has made it more stressful
59 percent wished they could remove their personal information from the Internet
53 percent of employees who work for an employer with an IT person say their company has written policies about computer use
43 percent have recently connected to their work network via a mobile device
37 percent said they use Facebook daily
36 percent said their work computers are set up to block some websites
33 percent said they use social networks for personal reasons while working
7 percent of those surveyed admitted to having lost a mobile device with company data on it

“While small businesses are subject to many of the same market forces as large enterprises, it's important to differentiate how the universal trends that drive all businesses impact them uniquely and specifically,” said Sergio Galindo, head of global product management, GFI Software. “As a company that delivers solutions to these smaller organizations through a mix of on-premise, cloud or managed services, knowing the user base and how they interact with technology is essential to our success.”

The survey was performed between September 28 and October 7, 2013, and included data from 1,119 U.S. adults who work full time at small businesses and who use a computer at work. The survey had a margin of error of +/- 4.2 percent.