The world's worst boss has been named as the Dickens character Ebenezer Scrooge in a survey of small business employees by Employment Law Advisory Services (ELAS).

One-third (33%) nominated the character from A Christmas Carol as the worst employer, with Meryl Streep's portrayal of New York fashion editor Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada coming second. Star Wars villain Darth Vadar came third.

The most popular choice as boss would be David Brent from The Office, who was nominated by 78% of respondents.

"David Brent is probably the best of a bad bunch but I don't think I would want him to be my manager," said Peter Mooney, head of consultancy at ELAS.

"This survey shows that the portrayal of management techniques in the media is pretty damning. Thankfully in my experience this is not always the case in real life."