Do You Have a Bad Boss?

Good for you, Santa!

‘Tis the season for Santa to decide who's been naughty and who's been nice. 

Your bad boss has been naughty for sure. 

I could write for days and days about bad bosses, because their effect on the workplace, and in the lives of their subordinates, is substantial. According to the folks at the National Bureau of Economic Research, it takes on average twenty-two (22) months for an employee to “shake off the stress and anxiety a bad boss causes.” Yes, you read that right, almost two years. For the love of … this is a crying shame. 

Do you have a bad boss? Find out using my little diagnostic tool. Over the years, here’s what I’ve learned about the worst of the worst.

Bad bosses ignore their employees. These bosses aren’t necessarily overly critical, but they’re not breaking out the “thanks” either. They basically ignore their staff, providing no direction, no feedback, no mentoring, no coaching, no advocacy, no credit, and no appreciation. Someone with this boss might be tempted to pinch himself to confirm he still exists. 

Bad bosses are self-centered. Self-centered bosses make me think of the Nabiha song, “You.” “It’s all about you,” she sings. Uh huh. The self-centered boss is not concerned with her employees’ motivations, wants, or needs. She doesn’t care about her employees’ time, although you’d think she would, since time is money, but—no. She’ll pop into her assistant’s office five minutes before he was planning to head home, insist that a report be generated “right away,” and then let weeks pass before she ever glances at it, if she glances at it at all. Unfortunately, occurrences like this aren’t occasional, they make up a pattern. “To heck with you,” her actions say, “You’re not important.” What a jerk.

Bad bosses don’t stick up for their staff. Good bosses appreciate their employees’ efforts, talents, and intentions and won’t allow others to blame, berate, humiliate, and otherwise abuse their staff no matter how justified the abuser may think he is.

Bad bosses play favorites. We aren’t all the same, and in the workplace, we won’t all be treated the same. However, good bosses are fair and give credit where credit is due. They don’t dump on productive employees so that the “favorite” can be free to do… whatever the heck he does, and they don’t lavish attention and protection on one employee while completely ignoring the efforts, results, and talents of the others.

Bad bosses yell, curse at, and berate their employees. A bully is a bad boss. I don’t have to say a lot about that, do I?

Bad bosses don’t listen. Bad bosses have terrible listening skills. They don’t pay attention when spoken to, and as a result they can’t remember this, and they can’t remember that. Their employees spend all kinds of time repeating things, finding things their bosses have lost, and rescheduling meetings their bosses have forgotten about. These bosses are the original “absent-minded professors,” except there’s nothing charming or comedic about it, because again, this behavior says “You don’t count,” and the reality is, that stinks.

Here’s hoping that Santa puts a huge lump of coal in all the stockings of all the bad bosses everywhere!