From frantic out of hours emails to bosses who can’t leave their main character energy at the door, THESE are the biggest red flags to watch out for at work
- 43% of UK workers have left a job because of their manager
- Favouritism is alive and well in the workplace – 75% have witnessed special treatment
- Bad management can lead to employee disengagement and reduced productivity
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We love to hate the bad bosses we see on TV and in films, but there is no way your actual in-real-life boss would behave that way, is there?
From micromanaging to playing favourites, a lack of empathy or poor communication, it turns out that toxic bosses are actually pretty common, with 43 per cent of workers having left a job at some point in their career because of their manager, according to a survey of 2,100 UK employees conducted by Visier.
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The survey also discovered that 53 per cent of UK workers who are considering leaving their jobs are doing so because of their manager.
While no one is going to love their boss all the time, developing a good working relationship of mutual trust and respect is important. Some bosses, though, are truly terrible, and make this next to an impossibility.
Red flags to watch out for are managers who avoid conflict and never resolve issues, who are disorganised, or who simply love to contact you when you’re on holiday about things that could absolutely wait until you’re back at your laptop.
But what else should you watch out for at work?
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They give off main character energy
Main character energy is a slang term popularised on social media. It is all about someone who is or wants to be the centre of attention, or who wants more focus on them.
Where a good boss will understand that the work or the team isn’t all about them, and their role is to set objectives, perform high-level strategy tasks and manage people and resources to achieve those goals, bad managers are in it for the title only and will centre themselves as the most important person in the meeting, email chain or instant message thread.
They only want to focus on what they are doing and how that appears to their higher-ups. Asking them for the tools and resources you need to do your job is viewed as an annoyance, and you’re left to your own devices to get on with it. That is, until something goes wrong…
Main character energy: A slang term popularised on social media. It is all about someone who is or wants to be the centre of attention, or who wants more focus on them
The play the blame game
Everyone makes mistakes, it’s human nature. Whether you’re rushing to complete a deadline and slip up, or make an error on a spreadsheet, mistakes are common in the workplace.
In fact, a poll of 2,000 UK workers by data storage and information management firm, Iron Mountain, found 20 per cent of Britons have made what they say is a critical mistake at work, and 12 percent have taken a risk that cost their company money.
Other workplace mess-ups include the 12 per cent who have left sensitive documents on their desk for others to see, and 16 per cent who have ‘replied all’ to a private email, instead of just the person intended.
How your manager responds to mistakes is really important. A leader who immediately wants to point the finger of blame is one many workers are familiar with. This approach isn’t productive, won’t change the outcome––and does nothing to address the actual problem.
Playing favourites
Most people want to get on at work. They want to do well, be given interesting tasks to do, and hopefully be in with a chance of salary bumps and promotions.
A red flag issue for ambitious workers can be their exclusion from their manager’s ‘golden circle’. Some bosses like to play favourites and lavish attention and rewards on the workers they like best.
A study from Georgetown University in the US has found that favouritism is alive and well, with 56 per cent of bosses having a favourite candidate in mind for a promotion, even before any formal process begins.
Seventy-five per cent said they have witnessed favouritism in the workplace, and a shocking 23 per cent said they were guilty of practising favouritism themselves.
A study from Georgetown University in the US has found that favouritism is alive and well , with 56 per cent of bosses having a favourite candidate in mind for a promotion, even before any formal process begins
They leave you in the dark
Communication is key across all aspects of our lives and that absolutely includes the workplace.
Effective communication has many benefits in work, helping to improve outcomes, making sure that everyone understands their duties and responsibilities, plus it helps to keep workers engaged and productive.
When we don’t know what’s going on, information is kept from us or only doled out on a ‘need to know’ basis, it can lead to employees checking out.
As levels of disengagement rise, that can lead to quiet quitting, a trend that has seen workers put the brakes on, and do the bare minimum during the 9-5.
In the UK, employee engagement dropped by 11 per cent during the pandemic, according to a report from Engage for Success. Worryingly, there has only been a partial recovery of 3 per cent, meaning that Brits are reporting a rate of workplace engagement that is lower than before the Covid-19 crisis.
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