A toxic boss is a manager who demoralizes and damages the people underneath them. Their repeated, disruptive behavior drives employees to become disengaged, diminishes their sense of belonging, and takes away their autonomy and sense of purpose—all of which are vital for thriving at work.
Bad bosses are poor communicators.
Bad bosses often have issues with employee communication. They may systematically ignore problems until they turn into significant conflicts. They're often rude and offensive in how they communicate.
Such managers are often intolerant of others, and their actions negatively impact productivity. Toxic managers can quickly turn a team into an atmosphere of intimidation and fear. They can be both verbally and emotionally abusive and often resort to spiteful and underhanded tactics to get their way.
Your Living Situation
No one at work needs to know about your living situation, whether you're at home with your parents or struggling to make your mortgage payment. This is another aspect of your life that could cause others to judge you or create or a problem for you where your boss is concerned.
Insubordination refers to an employee who is outright disobedient or disrespectful to a manager or owner of a business. Examples of insubordination include: Refusal to obey commands of a supervisor. Disrespect shown to higher-ups in the form of vulgar or mocking language.
Here are 10 unmistakable signs your boss wants you to quit
They pretend you've made mistakes even if you haven't. They avoid you and don't reply to your emails and messages. They say negative things about you to your colleagues. They stop talking about your future and forget projects previously assigned to you.
They don't care about your work-life balance.
If your boss is always texting you on your day off or asking you to work overtime, they're displaying a toxic disregard for your existence as a human being. Especially if working during time off isn't a mainstay of your workplace culture.
Examples may include stealing company secrets, aggression and bullying, fraud, vandalism, profanity, sexual harassment, extreme noise, negative comments that might impact the workplace, offensive jokes and disrespecting others and their personal items.
Document Actions. The second tactic to deal with toxic leadership is to document actions. Take the initiative to document the examples of toxic or inappropriate behavior that you notice bad bosses exhibit.
A bad boss doesn't support their team, communicate clearly, or respect boundaries. Here's how upper management can encourage better practices. Having a bad boss can make every day at work feel like a struggle. Communication is hard, individuals don't feel recognized, and their support needs aren't being met.
You have become angry or irritable on the job, lashing out at co-workers or clients. You feel chronically fatigued, exhausted, and both emotionally and physically drained and depleted. You are not sleeping well. You have increasing physical health problems or get sick more often.
The good news is that there is a way to stop this behavior, both in ourselves and in others. The key is to remember this six-word phrase: "Attack the problem, not the person."
It's not always easy to spot someone who might fall into the category of a passive-aggressive bully. Some will sabotage others quietly, when no one is watching, then act innocent when confronted. Others are more sullen and argumentative. These behaviors can help you identify passive aggression.
Types of Mental Abuse
More overt examples of mental abuse include angry rants, screaming or swearing at the employee in front of others, sabotaging work, stealing the credit for work the victim performed or making rude, belittling comments about a co-worker.
Manages time inefficiently, over-scheduling and over-committing you. Badmouths and intimidates employees. Humiliates and bullies you with criticism, intolerant of even minor mistakes. Ignores high performance and shows insensitivity to your personal issues and mental health challenges.
Your boss may be avoiding interactions with you or failing to respond to your emails or messages, which could be a sign that they're preparing to terminate your employment. Alternatively, they may be giving you the cold shoulder because they're unhappy with your performance or behavior.
Here are things any employee should look for, to see whether they are being set up to be terminated: Your boss starts expressing unhappiness with you. One of the earliest signs of a pending problem is when your supervisor starts saying they are disappointed, unhappy or displeased with you or your work.
Quiet quitting is when employees continue to put in the minimum amount of effort to keep their jobs, but don't go the extra mile for their employer. This might mean not speaking up in meetings, not volunteering for tasks, and refusing to work overtime. It might also result in greater absenteeism.