A bad job with a Good Boss is Better than a Good Job with a bad boss

• Published on January 14, 2018
• By Prashant Gokool

I just joined a medium size company and we were working on the forecast, I wanted to see how the previous forecasts were made and what sort of template was used. I then requested for assistance and I was briefed quickly and told to attend a meeting the next day at 14:00.

Having only got the figures from the admin team, with various confusing terminology which was not explained nor there was a legend, i done my best. My boss called me in the boardroom and there was my colleague in the same room, she torn us into pieces, stating that nothing was good.

Whilst we argued that changing the forecast to show that you will meet target is not something correctly to be done as there was a fraud discovered in the previous year and that the figures that were being used to calculate the targets for the year was errornous.

But the boss made it clear, we still need to show an increase of sales! & This was wrong and this was a big mistake. I sat through that meeting feeling shocked and disappointed. Although this happened a w while ago. I remember the details quite well.

When we left the meeting she told me, “We recruited you at this level with the belief of the experience you had will help and you should have already known all of this…” I knew I needed to start planning my exit strategy. I loved my job but I couldn’t trust my boss, with no training plan and no strategy of working i was sure that she would throw me under the bus in a heartbeat to make herself look good. In spite of how good a job is, once you don’t have a manager that has your back, you will be miserable in that job.

” A bad boss can take a employee and demoralise him/her, causing the best employees to leave and the remainder to lose all motivation.”

In reality, people don’t leave bad jobs, They leave bad bosses. A boss creates fear and makes work dull. Most of the time an employee has an issue with a company, it is something relating to their managers. You spend half of your life at work, and your immediate supervisor determines the atmosphere. Life is too short to spend 40+ hours a week in constant stress and misery.

A bad boss can destroy everything from team morale to the actual company. A recent study says that 56% of employees would turn down a 10% raise to stay with a great boss. The corporate world is full of managers and lacks leaders. Leaders build people up. Managers pull people down. Leaders are those comfortable and secure in who they are whilst managers are competing with their subordinates.

Studies show having a bad boss raises a worker’s chance of having a heart attack by as much as 60 per cent.

Working for a bad boss was actually more of a risk factor for heart disease than smoking, lack of exercise, or being overweight, the researchers calculated. Working in this company, i had to use reading glasses as i was so stressed i could not see properly.

What was it about a bad manager that increased the risk of heart disease? The stress and anxiety caused by unfeasible targets, lack of support, unfair practices and threats of punishment.

If your manager doesn’t like you, you are on shaky ground. You will always have to keep making sure you dot your i’s and cross your t’s because they can easily set you up to fail or succeed.

High levels of stress is directly linked stress with atherosclerosis, the disease of the arteries that in turn causes heart disease.

Never underestimate the impact of working in a toxic environment. It will permeate into every area of your life. Try to move to a different job in the same company, or another company with more competent management. On the other hand, if you do have a good boss, really appreciate them. Good bosses are capable of taking an organization and people to new heights.

Inspired and adapted by Brigette Hayacinth's  book - The Future of Leadership, Rise of Automation

Please follow and like us: