Almost half of respondents in a Wales-based business survey were prompted to leave their jobs due to the ‘aggressive’ leadership style of their employers.

The survey, conducted by Cardiff-based Yolk Recruitment, indicates that more than two-fifths of people employed within the sales industry — one of Wales’s largest employment sectors — have left or are considering leaving on account of their employer’s ‘aggressive’ or ‘dictatorial’ style of management.

For the survey, Yolk Recruitment — a specialist provider of recruitment solutions for the sales industry in Wales — asked respondents: “What is the management style of your current or previous employer?” The main findings of the survey are:

• 22.7% of respondents reported that their current or previous employer had an ‘Aggressive’ style of management

• 20.6% of sales people who took part in the survey stated that their current or previous employer had a ‘Dictatorial’ style of management

• 34% of respondents said that their current or previous employer had an ‘Authoritative’ style of management

• 13.4% of respondents said that their current or previous employer was ‘Passive’ in their style of management

• 55.7% of sales people who took part in the survey stated that their current or previous employer had a ‘Supportive’ style of management

• 55.7% of respondents reported that sales targets have increased by at least 50% over the last 18 months despite the recession.

Dale Williams, managing director of Yolk Recruitment, says: “While touch management styles are sometimes appropriate, there is a fine line between a manager being assertive, to get results, and what is effectively bullying, which does little other than destroy staff morale and increase employee turnover.”