Do you have a good boss?

[Flying Dodo]

A few people I know have recently lost their job, including my daughter unfortunately, and I've also been chatting to other people generally about their jobs and how they view them.

It does seem there's a distinct hard core of employers who really seem to not give a stuff about their employees and basically treat them in a dreadful manner.

As employer myself, it's been quite shocking to hear the level of abuse some people seem to have to put up with. Bearing in mind staff costs will often be a firm's biggest expense and the time it takes to train new employees to be productive, I really can't understand the way some manager's treat their employees.

My daughter was saying her boss would regularly shout at people if they did something wrong but I've heard of other places where people have been humiliated in front of other employees for mistakes and had things thrown at them. Women of course have to suffer sexual innuendo or worse.

So, what's the worst thing you've had to endure at work from your boss?

 

[Arch]

My boss is great. We get on well, he understands the job and its difficulties (since he also does it himself on occasion) and he's always as accommodating as he can be over time off, holidays etc. I guess it helps that I, in return, do the best I can, and go the extra few yards when required. Plus, it's a rare day when I'm not the first in.

Women of course have to suffer sexual innuendo or worse.

I give as good as I get. There are few phrases in the English language that can't be made filthy when followed up with 'as the bishop said to the actress....'. But our banter is never aimed at anyone personally, more a sort of general joke.

 

[colly]

You don't have an option for 'All of the above'

On a more serious note. I often do work for companies and will often deal with the owner. One in particular stands out as being an absolute b'stard.

Talk about a control freak, rude to his staff, took delight in showing off and tearing them off a strip in front of others, lying to them, etc etc etc. Would run them down behind their backs.
He asked me once if I would do work for him in his workshops and I could fit my own work in around his. He was genuinely surprised when I said no.
We fell out when he began to be late paying my invoices. His excuse was that he was waiting to be paid himself, something I knew to be untrue because I was also doing work for some of the same people.
Cue a row and end of relationship such as it was. Glad to see the back of him.

I think people like that really don't understand how obnoxious they are. He still calls me from time to time acting like we were best buddies.

 

[Flying Dodo]

Sorry - I didn't think of the Dr Jeykll/Mr Hyde possibility.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Depending on how exactly you define boss then I'm a boss. But I have a boss as the CEO I ain't. Too large a gap between the first two options. Which is where my line manager sits. Skewed towards poor behaviour imo.

Can I turn it on it's head. Work is a two-way street and none of the passers by are perfect.

It does seem there's a distinct hard core of employees who really seem to not give a stuff about their employer and basically treat them in as dreadful a manner as they can get away with.

As manager myself, it's been quite shocking to see the level of malfeasance some people seem to exhibit. Bearing in mind the investment in training, the coaching and the mentoring and the effort we put into staff development along with a very fair rewards system I really can't understand the way some staff treat their jobs, co-workers managers and employers.

 

[Flying Dodo]

It might depend upon the actual workplace itself of course. I'd imagine a place like McDonalds for example where most people probably aren't looking for a long term career would have issues.

I'd agree that it has to be a two way thing of mutual respect though.

 

[biggs682]

i am lucky in that the company i work for are very flexiable .

and i do enjoy my work due to that

 

[Theseus]

I tend to have multiple bosses as I work on different projects, some in parallel. In general they are doing well to juggle the resourcing process we use. My current (single) project has my boss in London & me in Edinburgh so there are issues with distance management to consider.

 

[cyberknight]

Yes i do , my boss has got me on the trainee team leader course this year even though the course was oversubscribed as he recognizes all the stuff i do extra for the company above what is required and paid for .

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I tend to have multiple bosses as I work on different projects, some in parallel. In general they are doing well to juggle the resourcing process we use. My current (single) project has my boss in London & me in Edinburgh so there are issues with distance management to consider.

London to Edinburgh? Pah! I spit on your puny same time zone same island same continent distance management issues.

But seriously, it is a pita innit?

 

[Theseus]

London to Edinburgh? Pah! I spit on your puny same time zone same island same continent distance management issues.

But seriously, it is a pita innit?

Indeed. I expect we have a similar 5:30 time difference as you with the other lot wanting to go home at around our lunchtime. Morning only meetings for those projects.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

It might depend upon the actual workplace itself of course. I'd imagine a place like McDonalds for example where most people probably aren't looking for a long term career would have issues.

I'd agree that it has to be a two way thing of mutual respect though.

I'm convinced there is a generational element at work too, excuse the pun. The younger Generation Y-ers (Generation MiMi might be a better name) and very oldest Z-ers appear to have a completely different understanding of the world of work, seemingly thinking it to be a bizarre mix of playground, social space with the odd bit of gainful thrown in, and their place it in, compared with their baby boomer managers who are probably the guardians of corporate policy and resources.

It is as if they come home of an evening any expect to be grated by their significant other with a delighted "Hi honey, how was fun today?" or "everything OK at easy darling?"

It is called work for a very good reason.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Indeed. I expect we have a similar 5:30 time difference as you with the other lot wanting to go home at around our lunchtime. Morning only meetings for those projects.

For me, managing across multiple cultures is the toughest part of the distance mix.

 

[Crankarm]

My boss is an a-hole. There are a couple of sub-ordinate managers who would sooner stab their own grandmothers in the back than take responsibility for problems or cock-ups they have created or failed to deal with. They all from time to time shout at team members, humiliating them infront of colleagues and clients. Often when all of them are intogether as there are a couple of other supervisors to add to cauldron of bitchiness, then there are more chiefs than workers which should start alarm bells ringing. In these straitened times cutting their hours as they are paid the most would seem most sensible rather than those at the bottom who generally do all the work and are paid the least. But that is what passes for good management in this country ..............

The boss can spend an hour and ten minutes chatting up a client but then throw a wobbly when a minion takes 10 seconds longer to complete a task than he believes it should take.

All in all not a good place or environment to work, feeling neither motivated, supported or fulfilled.

 

[marinyork]

My old boss who has just left was a good person (I didn't get on with them personally if you know what I mean) but an all right boss (or even bad boss depending on what your expectations are). They didn't have enough support in terms of number 2s. Really for the size of what they manage (and times) they could do with 2 deputies and a bigger hierarchy (this is what happens elsewhere). On the other hand they struggled with organising things - any adding up, any paperwork and scheduling frequently had mistakes (which would be fine had they not always ignored the queries). I often had problems communicating with the old boss face to face. You had to quickly summarise things in two or three words very loudly. If you didn't they listened to the first two words and the rest was BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH with a very puzzled look on their face. They also had great difficulty conceptualising problems if you tried to warn them before something had actually happened. They never shouted, but they did have a go at me for a few things that I don't think were fair at all. This was tame on the scale of what other people have/I've had, but one of them was more upsetting. They did also make fun of me in front of several other managers on more than one occasion. They were all right though - just never said hello/goodbye/saw them much. They did personally end the stint of unemployment I had so it is good in the grander scheme of things I guess.

The company does have a very high turnover of people and they like to change bosses (in theory every year). Apparently the previous boss was like a dictator and used to nag/shout constantly at one of my colleagues who I'd say is at the more valuable end of the scale. I can see a mile off why they would do this, but that's bullying and counterproductive imho. People in other departments tended to like my former boss because they weren't nasty like some people you meet, but they didn't have to put up with any of the organisational issues we did. They have moved onto managing something different now and I think (not that I know much) that managing on a smaller scale, but with more responsibilities will suit them a lot more .

Had two previous bosses who were great and another one who used to micro manage everything and shout/pester many times a day. Fortunately the latter had quite a high opinion of me, so I didn't get quite the level of abuse that some of the others did. The last one was like a nice friendly absentee landlord. Will have to see what the new boss is, on paper he's great.