Employees, Here Are 5 Tell-Tale Signs Your Boss Is Toxic
There’s nothing more dangerous than a toxic boss. Not only do they infect the workplace, but they create a culture where people are afraid to speak up or ask for help. Over time, this toxicity destroys employee confidence, negatively impacts their job and causes their mental health to deteriorate. As a result, employees rely on their PTO to salvage their mental health until they’re able to put in their notice.
A Harvard Business School study discovered that toxic bosses resulted in
- 25% of employees taking their frustrations out on clients and customers
- 48% intentionally decreased their work effort and intentionally spent less time at work
- 78% said their commitment to their organization declined
- 66% said their performance declined
It’s no surprise that 57% of employees quit because of a bad boss. While many companies are being exposed for their toxic workplaces and CEOs, even more, are still suffering in silence. As someone who has worked in a toxic workplace, I was humiliated and couldn’t understand why I was being targeted by my HR boss. My confidence deteriorated and I believed I was the problem. Ultimately, the workplace broke my spirit and I stayed until I couldn’t any longer.
Some reasons why employees end up staying in a toxic workplace are:
- The benefits and salary are better
- They feel obligated to stick it out so their resume doesn’t look bad
- They love the work they do
- They lack the confidence and belief that they can get a better job
- The company is currently paying for a program or tuition requiring them to stay
Here are five tell-tale signs that your boss is toxic.
Unrealistic Expectations With Impossible Deadlines
Constantly feeling overworked and unsure of your boss’s expectations is a clear sign that your boss is toxic. Rather than being respectful of your time, they expect you to drop everything to complete a project with an impossible turnaround time. When you try to speak up, they refuse to listen or take it as you not understanding the urgency of the issue. However, it’s not that the urgency isn’t understood, it’s that the deadline is impossible and the team is set up for failure. As such, employees are forced to produce less than quality work and abandon processes to complete the task that they’re then reprimanded for later.
Likewise, toxic bosses don’t commit to expectations. Even when they do, they’re always changing details. Employees quickly become burnt out because they’re always trying to anticipate what’s new, what’s changed and what their boss expects.
Using Their Authority To Dictate But Not Hold Themselves Accountable
Toxic bosses are infamous for using their authority to bypass rules and processes. They believe that their role in the company makes them infallible. Rather than admit a mistake or take responsibility for something that went wrong, they ignore it, place blame or make excuses. When evidence or constructive feedback is provided, they take it as an attack and often seek retaliation for being challenged. Retaliation can come in the form of preventing one’s hire, excluding them from meetings or rejecting one’s PTO, to name a few. It’s this reason that those around the toxic boss or manager often turn into enablers who never say no to them for fear of what they might lose if they do.
Daniel Foley, chief marketing officer at Scooter Guide, asserted, without a doubt, the most evident personality trait of a toxic leader is when they don’t practice what they preach. He explained employees are “inspired by leaders who live and breathe the example they want to be followed.” However, toxic bosses don’t value the well-being of their employees because they’re too worried about themselves.
Low Emotional Intelligence And Reactive Decision Making
Toxic bosses can negatively impact a company in more ways than one. Not only do they drive their own employees away, but they also drive their clients and customers away. As a result, they develop a poor reputation in their industry due to their toxic behaviors and reactionary decision-making. Yet, they fail to see how their decisions, words and behaviors negatively impact others.
A study by Pearson and Porath of thousands of employees and managers found when a leader with low emotional intelligence (EQ) exhibits negative behavior
- Two-thirds of employees said their performance declined
- 12% of employees resigned due to the low EQ behavior
- More than 75% of employees said their loyalty to their employer waned
- Four out of five employees lost work time worrying about an unpleasant incident that occurred
- 63% of employees wasted work time trying to avoid the offender at all costs
Reactive decision-making creates a chaotic and stressful work environment that leads to increased employee burnout. Oftentimes, bosses who are reactive can turn trivial things into full-blown crises. They hyperfocus on things to the point where they immerse themselves in other people’s roles because they don’t trust that their employees are working fast enough. Not only is this demotivating to employees, but it devalues their expertise and position in the company.
Daivat Dholakia, director of operations at Force by Mojio, explained, “it’s normal and healthy for every manager to be hands-on and communicative about decisions. What’s less healthy is when a boss feels the need to weigh in on every single little thing that happens within the company.” When bosses expect to know every detail, it’s a red flag that they’re a micromanager. Furthermore, it’s nearly impossible to drive a company forward when the manager doesn’t trust the people they’ve hired.
The unfortunate reality is that most toxic bosses only see their workers as profit producers rather than humans. Thus, they create a culture of disposable workers which is undoubtedly felt by the employees. As such, their loyalty and commitment to the company to rapidly deteriorate. Companies with toxic workplaces may be able to hire top talent, but the reality is, they’ll struggle to retain them. No amount of money, future promises or job title is worth the mental health impact of a toxic boss.
Originally published at https://www.forbes.com. Learn more about me here!