Navigation

Key Books

Managing Up : How to Forge an Effective Relationship With Those Above You

The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense

Controlling People: How to Recognize, Understand, and Deal With People Who Try to Control You

[Back to message list] [Reply to this topic] [Start a new topic]

Bullying Boss has scared away numerous employees.

Posted by: EliseJones
Date: 11/29/2008 12:03:07 PM

I work for a government agency in the engineering section where the turnover rate is high primarily due to a boss who has an explosive temper. The situation gradually gets worse with time.

From what I have observed, my boss has treated new employees very well and spends a lot of time forming very close friendships with other managers, and he turns on his very likable charm for upper management. Those people who experience the brunt of his temper the most are typically non-management staff that have worked with him for over two years.

Upper management places high value in him and views him as an aggressive boss who is great for getting things accomplished. Those who have dared to defy management (combination of men and women), go to EEOC, or complain at have somehow eventually gotten the boot. (??!!!) This boss is an expert at making people look incompetent as well as making the workplace intolerable for that "loser employee". He will take credit for others' good work and go out of his way to make sure that others are blamed for absolutely anything that goes wrong even if he is at least partially to blame.

I dealt with it by just being the good employee, working hard, and then when he started to bully me around after almost two years, I had to confront him about his behavior. Over the course of a year and a half, I had confronted him about four times to let him know how he was affecting me and let him know that if he would refrain from the yelling (other people can hear this yelling), I could serve him better. The last confrontation came up a couple of weeks ago when he wrongly accused me of lying and defying his orders. After realizing that I was very upset, he quickly calmed down and kept reassuring me reptitively that I was"doing a good job". However, days later, he returned to the same type of bad behavior (This is typical of how my past confrontations have turned out. He behaves better for a stretch of time (usually months, not days), and then returns to the bad behavior).I believe that continuing to work under him could damage my career even though I have a good reputation. (He praised me extensively when I was new and gradually got worse with time. Additionally, he tends to make poor decisions that affect me adversely when he gets in one of his irrational moods.)

Due to the economy, there have been hiring freezes at other places that I would otherwise apply to and I have been advised that this is a terrible time to look for a new job. There is also not a way that I can move laterally within the organization that I am in with my profession. I do not want to complain to upper management or human resources after watching other employees' fate either especially if it will hurt my chances for future employment. I am between a rock and a hard place,amongst a shipload of new employees, and feeling like a target. Any advise?

To reply to this topic or add a comment, just complete our 20-second registration process which is free and confidential. If you have already registered, you need to log in.

[top]

Login

Registration is confidential, free, and has a number of benefits.