Page 128 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

The Real Job of Managers C115

: “My immediate supervisor is, unfortunately, to quote our office
manager ‘wound pretty tight and insecure,’ which makes for a
rather interesting challenge on a day-to-day basis.”

Bullying, abuse, disrespect (B-A-D)

: “Many managers employ management by intimidation, and I
personally don’t share the same leadership style.”
: “Coming from a company where I experienced value, good leader-
ship, and employee development, it is sad for me to see that em-
ployees here are not respected by most managers. Promotions don’t
necessarily happen by merit and good work, and there is no em-
ployee development. We lack humanity.”
: “The former manager made employees feel inferior, and she didn’t
trust our judgment. Her attitude toward some of the employees
was extremely poor; it came to the point where she had to be
reported to HR, but nothing was done about it. She discouraged
us to the point that we are still feeling the effects, and it will take
quite a while to recover from her demeaning attitude.”
: “When I first started working for this company I thought it was
going to be great. However, the doctor that I work for treats em-
ployees, as well as patients, like crap, and NO ONE seems to care
to do anything about it.”

In the light of the comments in the previous category, consider a re-
cent study that found the annual turnover costs traceable to manager bul-
lying in a 1,000-employee organization to be $1.8 million (based on a
conservative estimate of $20,000 replacement costs per turnover). Studies
documented that 25 percent of those bullied left the organization, along
with 20 percent of those who witnessed instances of bullying. 3

Managers consumed by self-interest

: “Managers manage to their personal incentive programs. They
care very little about what is best for the business.”