In the September 15th article, The trouble with bosses, six types of bosses and their behaviours were examined. We discovered that boss-related issues were accountable for 70-80% of the reasons people leave companies. While organizations need to take responsibility for creating a healthy culture and disciplining inappropriate behaviours, employees also have a responsibility to take action and improve their working relationships. Short-term solutions were offered for the employee who loves the work, the organization, but not the boss.

This article continues the theme of the trouble with bosses and explores solutions and potential problems of a toxic workplace from a management perspective.

What defines a supportive supervisor?

In a 2001 study conducted by Linda Duxbury from the Carlton University School of Business, the results found that supportive behaviour is defined and observed as the following:

• Giving positive feedback to employees
• Two-way communication (good listeners)
• Respect
• Focus on output, not hours
• Consistency
• Coaching and mentoring of employees

In these companies where employees with “supportive supervisors” were cited, significantly higher job satisfaction, trust of managers, commitment to the organization, and less role overload and job stress were found. In fact, there was a marked decrease in the intention of employees to leave the company. Why is this good for business from a bottom line perspective? Obviously, committed workers are more productive; lower turnover decreases costs; less stress and absenteeism reduces the soaring costs of short and long term disability.

While there are many supportive bosses in the workplace, not everyone is so fortunate to work with one. Many workplaces are brimming with poison and toxicity. Bad bosses and supervisors tend to infect their departments with bad attitudes. These toxic managers, and the cultures that enable them, are at the core of today’s job-hopping phenomenon. How do you know if your workplace is in the danger zone? Watch for these signs:

Five Signs of Toxicity in the Workplace

1. Lethargy
2. Absenteeism
3. Verbal and physical intimidation
4. Sexist or racist comments
5. Foul language

In Ann Coombs’ brilliant and futuristic book, The Living Workplace, the author clearly states that there is a mutual responsibility for the toxic workplace. While it is the responsibility of management to provide a healthy work environment and an atmosphere of respect and confidence, they also must be able to recognize toxicity and deal with it quickly and effectively. By the same token, employees must be responsible for modeling healthy behaviours and in reporting toxic behaviours of others to their managers or to someone in a higher authority. Ann Coombs continues and states that her definition of the toxic workplace is “one without honest human relationships. It has nothing to do with the physical environment. It has everything to do with lack of truth in committing to what is important for the wholeness and well-being of employees.”

Can a “bad boss” be changed?

Yes, say career coaches, if both the employee and the boss make an effort. If you are looking for a quick fix, career coach Gordon Miller has three words for you: “Forget about it.” However, he says, there are some steps that both the employee and employer can take to improve the existing situation.

For employees:

• When interviewing with a prospective new boss, ask him or her about the turnover in the department. Why do people leave? How long do they stay? The responses you receive will provide you with some very useful insights.
• Present to the existing bad boss a proposal of work you want to do to help the organization reach its goals and the tools you will need to accomplish the work. Again the boss’s response will tell you what your future will be like working together.
• Ask for a weekly or monthly progress meeting to discuss activities, concerns and problems. Since most bad bosses do not like confrontation, you will see what your future looks like based on their response.
• Understand that there is a difference between harassment and constructive discipline or a bad performance review. Sometimes employees interpret poor performance coaching and disciplinary steps as threatening, yet they are necessary measures to help improve job performance.

For employers:

• Ask your employees what they would like to see change with the company culture – and then see if you can make some of these changes.
• Do not tell your employees that they are the organization’s most important asset and then proceed to treat them as expendable commodities.
• Forget about the gimmicky benefits such as dress up day or bring your dog to work day and focus on real issues.
• Focus on employee retention. Look at your turnover rates. Examine your absenteeism numbers. For a small organization of 50 employees, absenteeism costs at least $45,000 a year!
• Invest in turning managers into mentors.
• Praise and reward employees for a job well done. Recognition has always been much appreciated by employees, and with many employees taking on heavier workloads, a simple thank you is more important than ever. However, only 10% of employees report they have supervisors who say “thank you” for a job well done on a daily basis, according to findings from a recent Maritz Poll.
• Provide a pat on the back. The Maritz Poll, which surveyed 1,002 adults nationwide, found that 26% of employees are thanked seldom or never by their supervisor for a job well done, 29% receive occasional thanks and 35% are thanked frequently.

Employer alert: harassment needs no direct victims

As recently as 1998, the Ontario Human Rights Commission noted that, since 1991, sexual harassment has been the leading cause of complaints. Harassment- whether based on the prohibited grounds of discrimination in human rights codes or simply physical or verbal bullying – remains a major workplace violence issue.

The rule that courts and commissions follow and businesses must comply with is: Do not do indirectly what cannot be done directly. A classic example is the employer’s tolerance of a workplace environment that is labeled in law as poisoned, hostile or toxic. While the employer or even a co-worker, customer or supplier is directing their harassment at one particular employee, the workplace is itself harmed by the employer’s failure to stop the misconduct. For example, if other employees hear sexist or racist comments directed towards others, or even as general outbursts directed at nobody in particular, they feel equally harmed. It is simply no excuse for the employer to state that it did not engage in the harassment or that only one employee was targeted. Indirectly, all employees may be affected.

Therefore all bosses have a responsibility to ensure that the workplace is harassmentÐfree and that they themselves are neither creating any of the toxicity themselves nor supporting it. This includes bullying or threatening behaviour, emotional or verbal abuse or exhibits of directed rage.

If you are working with a boss or coworker who continually makes racist comments, or you work in an environment where intimidation and foul language are the norm, it is your responsibility to report these toxic behaviours to a higher authority. This is one way you can improve the health of your organization and restore “honest human relationships”.

Source: “Work-life Balance in the New Millennium” by Linda Duxbury, CPRN Discussion Paper No. W/12, October 2001

Source: “The Leadership Factor”, by Joan Burton, Accident Prevention Jan/Feb 2002

Source: “If your Boss is a Bad Manager·,” My Career, Home.techies.com, 2002

Source: “The Age of Rage” by Murray Horowitz, Law Spring Newsletter, 2003

Source: The Living Workplace, by Ann Coombs, HarperCollins Publishers, 2002

Teresa Howe, CHRP, is an independent HR consultant and writer. As an HR executive with 15 years of generalist experience, she has contributed to several successful organizations being recognized as Canada’s Top 100 Employers and created meaningful change. As a long-standing member of the HRPAO, she also serves as president of the Board of Directors for Jobstart, a not-for-profit organization, speaks at conferences and creates workshops on HR related issues. Teresa can be reached at tandthowe@yahoo.ca.