According to a poll of 1,886 employees by HireScores.com, 47% of men claim they would be too distracted to work for an attractive female boss and 53% of women would be intimidated if they worked for a good-looking man.
In fact only 21% of women and 16% of men claim working for an attractive boss would not have an effect on their work.
But when asked about working for an attractive boss of the same sex, 86% of men would feel threatened and 61% of women would be jealous. Both men and women (16% and 20%) would be annoyed if their same-sex boss were good looking.
Lisette Howlett, the founder of HireScores.com, said: "Regardless of someone's appearance, within the workplace their job title is the only label they should hold. Clearly, someone's appearance should be just as irrelevant as their age, gender or race. But this survey demonstrates the extent to which someone feels comfortable with their manager impacts on their ability to do their jobs.
"All managers - super-attractive or not - need to establish effective professional relationships with their people. They need to think about their leadership style and impact and develop this so that it works across the board - this includes how they dress, how they mix with their teams and how they project their authority."
"This also raises the very real issue that managers need to maintain a sensible distance between themselves and their staff. It is fine to sometimes relax and have fun but it must never be forgotten that unless the management/staff relationship is kept professional there will be problems at some point in the working relationship. If managers earn the respect of their people, then at some point their looks will cease to be so relevant."
