In today's high-pressure business world, requirements equivalent to achieving sales goals and managing customer relationships are already a serious challenge. But for some employees, the actual struggle is surviving the toll of an abusive manager.
Harmful behavior from managers—including public ridicule, unfair blame, and temper tantrums—can push talented employees to the brink. Increasing the likelihood of withdrawal and turnover. Just consider that Quiet cessation phenomenon of the previous couple of years.
As Business Researcher interested at work dynamicswe set out to analyze these worrying trends. Our goal was to develop strategies to mitigate the harmful effects of so-calledIdiot, boss“Behaviours, such as Insulting employees as “soft”. for refusing to work on weekends.
Based on a survey of 237 business-to-business sellers from various industries, our newly published work I even have found two inexpensive and effective remedies. The first is to encourage productive use of social media within the workplace. The second is to supply flexible work arrangements.
Social media as a support system
In some workplaces, managers view workplace-based apps and bigger platforms—like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Microsoft Teams—as priceless tools for networking, promotion, and coordination. In others they criticize these spaces for promoting cyberloafing.
However, an underappreciated feature of social media is its role as a support system for workers facing toxic leadership. Journalist LV Anderson once aptly described Slack as a “safe place for light gripes about management, power dynamics, and subtle inequalities in the workplace.”
Our research strongly supports this view and shows how online platforms enable employees to socialize, vent and work around them Formalities of traditional email.
The power of flexible working arrangements
Another essential finding was that flexible working can have a big effect. We've found that personalized work schedules and telecommuting options provide a buffer against the stress brought on by abusive bosses.
It's easy to know how this works: The employees feel valued after they are offered a tailored schedule to suit their needs. This feeling of appreciation helps offset the emotional toll of working under an idiot boss.
It is subsequently no surprise that increasingly more workplaces are introducing flexible working arrangements. An estimated 58% of the American workforce – or 92 million employees – are currently in positions that provide a distant or hybrid setup. in line with a McKinsey survey. The same survey found that 87% of individuals will accept distant work offers if given the chance.
What this implies for business
These findings are a call to motion for firms, especially as disgruntled employees are reportedly costing U.S. firms a whopping $1.9 trillion yearly.
Our work suggests that encouraging using social media within the workplace – together with providing flexible work arrangements – can create a more resilient workforce, higher equipped to satisfy the challenges of even probably the most demanding managers. The combination of each techniques appears to offer the strongest protection.
To be fair, these interventions do in a roundabout way address the behavior of abusive supervisors. Addressing this may increasingly require more complex solutions, equivalent to targeted training and improved recruiting practices.
However, our research suggests that social media and versatile work arrangements, as part of a bigger set of management reforms, can go a good distance toward creating more supportive, functional work environments.
image credit : theconversation.com