Dealing with a Bad Boss

Most of us have been in a situation before where we have had to deal with unreasonable and demanding boss; someone who verges on the wrong side of aggressive and demanding. While HR typically tends to focus on this situation more from the boss’s perspective and how they can deal with difficult subordinates, there are far more workers than there are managers/bosses and as such, far more potential for a grievance to occur on the side of the subordinate.

Who is affected?

With the emergence of the Millennial generation into the workforce, we are starting to see a new and different attitude towards general workplace bullying and harassment. Due to being raised in a culture that popularised the concept of safe spaces, trigger warnings and over protective parents, traditional bullying behaviour seen in previous generations is no longer acceptable to the new generation, especially now that Millennials now outnumber both Generation Xers and Baby Boomers within the workplace.

The history and famous faces of the bad boss

For generations, going back centuries even, the typical successful boss was seen as a hard, domineering figure that commanded and controlled his workers like an army drill sergeant, displaying ego, a quick temper and the ability to intimidate his underlings. Famously hard and difficult bosses such as Steve Jobs. Henry Ford, Rupert Murdoch, Larry Ellison and Donald Trump were all successful in their fields, but many did so at the expense of the well-being and health of their workers with emotional, mental and physical acts of bullying common. While Steve Jobs

revolutionised multiple industries with his sheer force of will and vision, he was known to be an incredibly difficult and demanding boss who would humiliate and berate employees, interviewees, contractors and members of the press in his quest for perfection and recognition. But despite his difficult and confrontational style, Jobs has gone down as one of the most successful businessmen of all time. This has led to a raft of imitators within the Palo Alto technology sector, particularly at Apple where managers feel the best route to success was to copy his attitude and behaviour. This has resulted in Apple traditionally having a high turnover rate as it struggled to hold on to top talent, who eventually left for similar work environments with less stressful working conditions. However, this has improved in recent years as the influence of Jobs begins to wane following his death in 2011.

The influence, fame and success of these “titans of business” has permeated the myth that in order to be successful, you have to be mean, ruthless and uncaring in business. This is the latest evolution of the “great man theory” of leadership that has dominated business for generations. However as with any theory, it develops overtime, evolving into Trait Theory  down the years as methods and attitudes have changed. But the general belief that in order to be a successful manager you have to be hard, cold and demanding still permeates Western working culture, with many centres even offering courses on how to achieve this attitude in order to be perceived as a better boss.

The consequences

But this type of tyrannical behaviour comes at a price. Not everyone aspires to be the next Steve Jobs, with many people just wishing to come into work, do their job and go home at the end of the day. It was found in a 2006 Florida State University study of 700 employees, that in situations where people were working with an abusive boss, employees were five times more likely to slow down on purpose. They also made more errors than their peers, and were nearly six times more likely to call in sick when they actually felt fine. This difficult boss dynamic also damages employee morale: Stanford organisational behaviour professor Robert Sutton wrote in his 2007 bestseller, The No Asshole Rule, brutish managers “infuriate, demean and damage their peers, superiors, underlings and, at times, clients and customers, too.”

A new breed of boss

However, despite the success of the alpha male stereotype of the likes of Steve Jobs and Donald Trump, there are other high profile bosses that have identified the errors in this approach and have gone against this mind-set, taking steps towards becoming more inclusive and understanding bosses. Mark Zuckerberg is one of the leading Millennial voices who has taken a more modern and inclusive approach to running a hugely successful company by interacting with, supporting and encouraging his staff. In comparison to the golden towers and private offices of his older contemporaries, famously Zuckerberg doesn’t even have his own office, preferring instead to have a desk in an open-plan office so he is always available to his staff should they need to speak to him.

What is the current situation in the UK?

Research carried out by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in the UK stated that 29% of people have been bullied at work, with 72% of the bullying being carried out by the manager. This places the victim of the bullying in an incredibly difficult situation. Should they take their complaints to the HR department, it creates a potential risk of the manager singling out the person who made the claims for further attacks should no action be taken by HR. These attacks can take the form of blocking promotions, making jokes at their expense, turning other employees against them or giving them more work than is reasonably expected to be completed in the time allocated.

Being a bad boss from afar

As the economy and working environment in the UK changes to embrace the ‘gig’ economy, bad bosses are taking different approaches to worker dissatisfaction. Instead of the typical image of a boss that berates and shouts at his workers, these bosses are more likely to be perceived as cool, wealthy, young and hip, but just as difficult to work for as their more traditional counterparts. Using the perceived image of the ‘gig’ as the kind of job that can be done to suit the worker as and when they need it, companies like Uber have exploited and bullied their workers, denying them such basic rights as holiday and sick pay, minimum wage, while paying no social security. Following a legal challenge by 2 Uber drivers in London, the Central London Employment Tribunal stated that Uber drivers are employees rather than self-employed and entitled to basic employee rights such as a national living wage and annual leave, Uber attempted to mislead its drivers and sent an email to its 40,000 drivers stating the decision only applied to the two individuals who brought the case. This kind of behaviour can cause just as much harm and damage to workers, even if they never actually meet their ‘boss’ in person.

Work and your health

However, it is not just your working life that could be suffering. Reports from the University of Manchester show that a difficult relationship with your boss could also be changing your personality and health. Those who work for a boss that displays psychopathic and narcissistic traits (roughly 20% have extremely high levels of psychopathic traits, a similar number seen in prisoners) will naturally start to feel more depressed due to their bosses’ behaviour. Due to their bosses’ actions and the difficult situation it forces many people to endure, it can lead to workers mirroring their boss’ behaviour, developing attitude and behavioural problems themselves, creating stress and anxiety as they struggle to cope with the working conditions. Along with the poor attitude, work performance can also suffer, causing further conflict and damage to work relationships. According to another study performed by Keas.com, it was found that 77% of employees had experienced physical systems of stress due to a bad boss, with those who had an inconsiderate or uncommunicative manager 60% more likely to suffer heart trauma. The problem is so bad that three out of every four employees report that their boss is the worst part of their job, with 65% saying they would take a new boss over a pay raise.

Other types of bad boss

While not every boss will be a narcissist or bully, there are many who will still make life unnecessarily difficult with such actions as micromanaging, being intrusive, taking credit for others’ work, being overly-personal, not being competent at their job or putting their failures onto others. Many times it will be difficult to make any kind of change to their behaviour due to their position and power. In these situations, HR can sometimes recommend that the worker affected take the lead in the situation and attempt to work with the manager to overcome the problem. It could be that the manager has personal problems of their own, have been promoted too quickly and are out of their depth, or are simply mimicking the behaviour of their own boss and believe they have to act a certain way now they are in a position of power. Telling a bad boss that they are bad at their job is usually not going to have a positive outcome.

In Summary

Bad managers are the number one reason people leave their jobs. While employees and a boss don’t need to be best friends, they do need to have a professional and productive relationship. In a 2015 Gallup poll of 7,272 adults, 50% of respondents said that they left their companies because of their bosses, showing the necessity for proper recruitment processes and background screening checks. Often managers may lack people skills, but be highly skilled in technical areas, enduring them to upper management and making themselves appear indispensable. These are often the reasons that managers are hired or promoted within teams. But to improve the possibility of hiring the best person for the position, companies should not be afraid of looking outside of their internal talent pool, despite possible resentment and properly vet all candidates not just by their qualifications and experience but their ability to lead and manage also. Due to the potential high turnover rate associated with working for a difficult manager, it is important to make the right hire at the right time.

A difficult boss who is unpleasant to work with can impact the whole company, causing untold damage to morale, reputation, staff retention and productivity. This further demonstrates the importance of checking character references and ensuring you and your company pick the right person. We at CBS can help companies ensure that any employee they select is properly vetted and checks to ensure that their qualifications and experience are as stated and their behaviour and attitude if conducive to best working practices.