Why Hating Your Boss is Bad for Your Career

How do most people feel when their boss walks in the door? There is a general belief that bosses and employees are often at odds with each other. This idea is often showcased in the media, entertainment and people’s social media statuses. But is this true? Do many employees find their bosses challenging, even as far as ending up hating them?

Statistics in the Workplace

Statistics don’t lie and in a survey conducted by PlayOJO and Research Without Barriers the results were quite shocking. Unfortunately, it seems to be a global tendency:

• In Britain only 10% of employees believe they’re treated fairly.
• In 75% of cases bosses turn out to be greatest cause of stress in an office environment.

According to Gallup “State of the Global Workplace” study, for 50% of employees in the US, their superiors were the motivation behind leaving certain positions.

But employees feeling like victims aren’t the only problems resulting from these situations.

The Effects of Employee-Boss Conflict

Do you know that to truly be an asset at work, you need to be engaged with your company’s activities? Unfortunately, negative attitudes towards employers lead to only 13% of employees worldwide rating themselves as part of an engaged workforce that can drive organisational success.

Firstly, this isn’t beneficial to the company, but the effects are far reaching:

• Employees have innate desires to find purpose and achieve goals. If your company fares badly because of an unmotivated work force, no one will feel proud or motivated about work.
• You may be the only one experiencing this negativity, feel isolated and suffer because of the added stress. You could end up leaving a job you love doing, purely because of the individuals you need to face on a daily basis.
• When you don’t like your work environment anymore your quality of work and job performance will drop. This could lead to you losing your job even though you think you’re doing your best.

Hating your boss has a bad impact on everyone involved and should be avoided at all costs. But is this even possible?

Hating Your Boss - What Can You Do?

No, you’re not completely at the mercy of this situation. The problem has a root cause and in many instances it only requires the right action to defuse the situation.

Have you tried these tactics yet?

Change How You View Your Boss

Is your boss really so bad or are you viewing him or her through a negative filter?

The hate you feel can be caused by one bad event such as your boss criticising your work. If that creates a negative mindset towards your bosses, you’ll always view them that way, no matter what they do.

You may also project problems you’ve had with other authoritative figures onto your new boss. It’s called transference, it happens subconsciously, and if that’s the case it’s your responsibility to work through those emotions to see your boss in a new light.

Do you realise how difficult your boss’ role is? The stress that comes with having responsibilities may lead to him or her putting you under pressure too. Have empathy, look for positive aspects and consider that your boss may be a good person, but simply a bad leader. This slight adjustment in perspective and focusing on the positive may transform your entire experience in the office.

Find the Problem - Is it You?

Therefore, your boss isn’t always the source of the problem. Are you honest about your role at the office?

• Do your actions make you valuable to the company?
• Are you doing something that may be problematic to your boss that leads to more criticism?

This doesn’t mean you have to change everything about yourself for the sake of your boss. However, you’re bound to be blind to your own mistakes at first. Be honest, ask others’ opinions and ensure you’re doing everything from your side to save the relationship.

Be Proactive - Find a Solution

If you are serious about working towards a better work relationship you may have to take the daunting step of talking to your boss about it. Yes, he or she could retaliate with more criticism, but they could also:
Appreciate that you prioritise the relationship
Not be aware of their effect on you until you speak up
Be looking for ways to improve their leadership

Practical tip: Ask your boss for an informal coffee meeting where you can talk about work and the working relationship. If this happens outside the office at a location you feel safer in, it’s bound to be less daunting.

Don’t Take Offence

No matter what happens you must learn to be less offended of what is said to or about you. Offence is often taken without it even being given. Don’t let it cloud your view of the situation; that means the fault lies with you and not your boss.

Last Resort - Lodge a Complaint

Of course, not all situations have solutions. When you have proof that you’re being treated unfairly, you have the right to complain to higher powers.

Only consider this approach if you’ve exhausted all other methods with no positive results. Remember, your boss isn’t legally required to be ‘nice’ to you. You must be able to prove his or her actions are:

• Unfair
• Untruthful such as taking credit for your work
• Disrespectful for no reason
• Undermining which could affect productivity

To have proof, you need to document all your interactions and always store those emails that upset you.

Turning to an HR official or another superior is your last resort and as you can see there’s a lot you can do before you reach this point. Quitting won’t look good on your resume and why look for another job if there’s a chance you can make a success of this one? Start working at the relationship today and you may end up smiling the next time the boss walks in.