Workplace Challenges

Typecast the power figure in your work life

Bossy

Bosses don't get much worse than Reeva Bedard's -- he's hostile, a control freak and slave driver.

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"No one can stand him -- he e-mails people day and night with criticism and complaints, never anything positive. I've gotten up to 36 e-mails a day!" says Bedard, of her micro-manager boss who is unfairly critical and makes everyone feel like a failure.

Bedard (not her real name) feels powerless when it comes to his endless demands and lack of empathy and people skills. "I can't afford to leave or I would. I'm just hoping he does first."

Well, just call him "Chucky Boss," an anti-social type who doesn't have much of a conscience and "is not grateful or loyal no matter what you do for him," according to Dr. Jay Carter. "When he's done using you, he will chuck you in the 'wasted' can."

And he's just one of a dozen terrible boss types that Carter writes about in his new book Nasty Bosses (McGraw Hill).

According to Carter, a psychologist and former corporate manager, a nasty boss is a force to be reckoned with -- "one that can wreak havoc on your life at work and at home. With a nasty boss, you're on the job around the clock; you worry about your job security while taking a shower; you waste the weekend simmering with anger over the latest office mandate."

Bedard, 49, an office manager, can relate to that: "The situation has caused me sleepless nights and has literally made me sick."

EXTREME STRESS

According to the experts, bad behaviour by snide superiors is common as pressure to perform and profit proliferates. That can bring out the worst in some managers while others are just belittling brutes to begin with.

According to Dr. Rick Kirschner, bosses who bully, browbeat, harass or are just plain incompetent, sabotage productivity and creativity. "Employees who base their actions on fear tend to miss important details, make mistakes and mess things up more often," he says, adding people wind up only doing what is necessary or required of them, rather than doing their best.

Kirschner is a speaker and best-selling author of Dealing With People You Can't Stand (McGraw Hill). Check out TheArtofChange.com.

According to Hamilton counsellor Heidi Cowie, "Prolonged exposure to a difficult person can affect a person's self-confidence and self-esteem. The ability to divide pressures at work from a person's home life is tough. We usually bring home our problems to talk about them, which puts stress on the family members.

She says that many people, who are not able to cope, find themselves on stress leave and can then be further stigmatized and harassed by bad bosses upon their return to work.

"Bad bosses are energy drainers, which means you need to surround yourself either at work or play, with those who are energy fillers," she says. "If they treat all employees the same way, realize that this is a problem with the boss not you. Being hurt is a choice -- we choose to give the bad boss power by allowing them to be hurtful."