For better or worse, your boss can make or break your experience at work. With a good boss, it’s good times and smooth sailing, but a bad one? They can make a job miserable, and it turns out, a lot of Americans have learned that the hard way.
Harris Poll’s Toxic Boss Survey of 1,334 employed U.S. adults was just released, revealing that six in 10 workers say they currently have a toxic boss. But what does that mean, exactly? According to the research, a toxic boss is someone who “exhibits harmful workplace behaviors, including unfair preferential treatment, lack of recognition, blame-shifting, unnecessary micromanagement, unreasonable expectations, being unapproachable, taking credit for others’ ideas, acting unprofessionally, or discriminating against employees based on personal characteristics.”
- The survey finds that 70% of workers have had a toxic boss at some point in their career.
- That jumps to 75% for LGBTQIA+ workers.
- Nearly half (47%) say their boss’ bad behavior is stressing them out, burning them out, or having a negative impact on their mental health.
- A third say bad bosses have caused them to lose money, from either missing out on financial rewards or stalling their chance at a promotion.
- Most employees deal by trying to work harder, including 66% who say they’ve responded to toxic bosses by trying to meet their demands by working on weekends and days off.
- And two-thirds have changed jobs to get away from a toxic boss.
- More than half (53%) have gone to therapy to get help coping with their toxic boss.
- Some workers admit they don’t report their bosses’ bad behavior to avoid making it worse, but others are pushing back.
- More than half (55%) report doing at least one thing to push back against the toxic behavior.
- Younger workers are stepping up the most, as 73% of Gen Z workers say they’ve pushed back against a bad boss.
- Over two-thirds (71%) blame current economic conditions for high stress in the office.
- And 64% of workers believe better leadership training is the best way to reduce toxic behavior and create healthier workplaces.
Source: Fast Company