To Quit, or not to quit? Learning how to deal with horrible bosses

Rachael Ramos

The Silhouette

There is nothing more amazing than having a boss that makes you want to come in every morning to work and give 110 per cent.

Even if your job isn’t the most exciting, having a fun boss can make your work ten times more enjoyable. On the other hand, there are those bosses who just make you hate waking up in the morning because you know you’re going to go into the office to a boss that makes your life that much more difficult.

Columbia University Professor Harvey A. Hornstein discusses the causes and effects of abuse at work in his book Brutal Bosses – and their prey. 

Hornstein states that an estimated ninety per cent of the nation’s workforce suffer abuse by superiors at some point in their careers.

“There is talk of using new, empowering managerial tools such as flattened hierarchies, self-managed teams and 360-degree feedback,” says Professor Hornstein. “Unfortunately, lots of bosses talk about workers autonomy but behave autocratically.”

So, dealing with a horrible boss? This is an employee’s worst nightmare and unfortunately the chance of you having a horrible boss is quite high.  How do you handle this type of situation? Do you quit, or do you withstand the torment for the sake of a paycheck?

This is an unfortunate predicament for an employee to endure but it does happen in the corporate world. Now, how does an employee deal with this? Unfortunately unlike the movie Horrible Bosses, we cannot simply hire a hitman to take care of the problem for us. So unless you’re thinking of quitting, here are a few tips on how to survive your horrible boss.

Firstly, try to avoid confrontations. This will prevent sudden conflicts and further resentment.

Secondly, think about what’s in your long-term best interest. It is where to buy levitra very frustrating and difficult to work with jerks in the workplace, but unfortunately it’s part of life. However, you can take the positive perspective out of this and learn new coping skills to deal with these kinds of situations in the future.

Lastly, make sure you understand that there is not much you can do to change your boss. If staying a bit longer in the job will help your career in the long run, stick it out until then.

Try to always stay positive, take the high road, and don’t give into pressure. These are just some ways to tolerate and intolerable boss – it just might help you keep your job.

According to a study published by Statistics Canada in Perspectives on Labour and Income, work-related stress has a direct bearing on the current and long-term productivity of Canadian workers in terms of reduced work activities, disability days and absenteeism.

The report also suggests that a supportive work environment reduces job interruptions due to stress.

Enduring this experience can only help you in the long run. You can learn deeply from your boss’ bad behaviour. If you look at your boss’ behaviour you can spend time looking on your own perspective of leadership, of what would you do and how you would want to achieve it. By doing this, you will learn to always keep positive and apply these techniques to your own leadership skills – and you definitely will not repeat your own boss’ mistake.

Experiencing a horrible boss is more common than people think, so it is important to learn how to deal with this type of boss effectively to prevent unnecessary stress.

“I use to have a horrible boss, but I still came into work every morning and performed my job tasks to my full potential, says Edward Chiu, an employee of Royal Bank of Canada. “In the end I got promoted, got a raise, and moved to another department with a friendly boss. Just stay patient and things will work out”.

Follow the tips listed above, and you’ll be on the way to a more comfortable, pleasant, and stress-free work environment.