How to be a bad boss and an office j**k

How do bosses make their subordinates’ lives feel like their working hours were scenes straight out of the 1996 cult film, The Office? As if office politics were not bad enough, the existence of bad bosses and office bullies make the lives of workers unhappy and unhealthy. Bad bosses are among the favorite gripes of unhappy employees because aside from causing low productivity, spotty attendance and high attrition rate, they also inspire legal suits and career train wrecks.

According to the National Federation of Independent Business, an advocacy group of small and independent enterprises, the more that a boss displays the following behaviors, the worse he is:

• Berates an employee in public
• Takes credit for something an employee did
• Scares employees
• Has no room for excuses
• Expects employees to know or do without proper instructions
• Yells or shouts at employees
• Belittles or humiliates employees as punishment
• Either leans on or makes life more difficult for someone who displeased him
• Plays favorites
• Constantly checks everyone’s work for quality
• Hardly allows employees make decisions
• Expects employees to do what was asked without question

But are bosses the only ones who merit the tag “bad”? While having authority in the workplace encourages more bad behavior, being less than admired is not the sole domain of the guy who occupies the corner office. Ulcer-inducing behaviors are displayed by people from all levels of the corporate structure.

Last year, Bob Sutton authored the wildly popular book, The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t, which included tips on how to deal with office “jerks” and nightmare managers.  According to Sutton, the first step to address the issue concerning bad people at work—from the boss to the rank-and file—is to spot the asshole. How to do it? Sutton suggests the Starbucks test in his blog, and it goes like this:

If you hear someone at Starbucks order a “decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n’-Low and one NutraSweet,” you’re in the presence of an asshole.

It is not about how complicated the order is, but how unimportant ingredients should be included in the mix as if they would actually make the order taste significantly better.  So if you are a boss who enjoys flexing your managerial muscles by giving complicated instructions that do not improve outputs considerably, stop. You just might be displaying the behaviors of a typical jerk.

According to Sutton, office bullies attack the self-esteem of their co-workers through personal insults, sarcastic jokes or teasing, public shaming or status degradation, and treating people as if they were invisible. Rude comments and flaming emails are also marks of office jerk behaviors.

Being a bad boss and encouraging similar attitudes do not only result in low employee retention but also damaged reputations and diminished confidence in a company.