Hollywood excels at horrible bosses: Wall Street’s maniacal Gordon Gekko, The Devil Wears Prada’s icy Miranda Priestly and the scheming Katherine Parker in 1980s classic Working Girl – we love to hate them.
But what if you have a horrible boss of your own? You can’t exactly shut Netflix and decide to watch something a little more relaxing – you actually have to cope with them. While some things bosses do are definitely more irritating than others, it’s still not surprising that 57% of people have left a job to get away from a bad manager, according to a report from consulting firm DDI.
Is there anything more irritating than a boss who Slacks you, then emails you, then texts you, then sends a meeting request? Oh, all in the space of 15 minutes. No, is the answer. Technology has made work, well, work better: it’s faster, more collaborative and it can be done anywhere. But it also means, for those who struggle with boundaries (read: your boss), that you can, and will, be messaged at 11pm on a Friday over that “urgent” report.
“Can you just share that document with me, thanks.” Yes, that’s the document you just started this morning and which is nowhere near ready for your manager’s eyes. Upon sharing it, it instantly fills up with painful edits and annoying suggestions for things you’d absolutely intended to do – you just hadn’t gotten there yet. Is there anything more irritating than a manager who refuses to allow you ownership of your own job?
Managers often forget that they are there to provide support and encouragement to their teams in order to achieve wider business goals. If you need something critical in order to do your job, and have asked for it repeatedly, but your manager is far too focused on internal politics or their own success to help you out, it can be so frustrating that you’re very likely to leave and go elsewhere.
Diverse teams produce the best work: researchers have found that when diverse workplace teams of three or more people make decisions, they outperform individual decision-makers. Diverse teams make decisions faster too, up to a 60% improvement on decision-making. That’s great: what’s not great is when your boss is taking the credit for the exemplary work you are doing.
Everyone makes mistakes. Most of us are fully aware of the slip-ups that happen on our watch in the workplace and are willing and able to own them, and do what we can to remedy them. What’s not helpful is a manager who wants to apportion blame, recrimination and who can’t move past a mistake that you’ve made. After a certain point, it is completely unproductive to keep examining an error, and everyone needs to move on.
If you’ve gotten to the end of your tether with your terrible boss, then a new job could be in your future. We’ve got three to consider below and there are thousands more on The Sun Job Board.
The Job: The Social Media and Content Lead role sits in the eBay UK Brand Marketing team, and is responsible for offsite marketing.
What You’ll Do: As an experienced social media marketing professional you will work with internal teams and an external agency to lead eBay’s organic and paid activity.
You’ll Need: A minimum of five years’ experience in social media marketing, preferably across agency and client side as well as extensive experience managing social channel strategy and implementation.
Apply Now: Discover more on the Social Media and Content Lead role and find more roles at eBay here.
The Job: An entry-level opportunity with Virgin Media, the Quantity Surveyor Apprentice Scheme is a paid opportunity to study, learn and work towards a professional qualification.
What You’ll Do: Quantity Surveyors are problem solvers: saving money, dealing with contractors or working on important reports. You’ll work in the commercial team and communicate and work alongside all areas of the business to reduce costs and enhance value.
You’ll Need: Being comfortable working with high value numbers and a personable attitude is essential, as is a full UK driving license.
Apply Now: Information on the Quantity Surveyor Apprentice job is available as are other roles at Virgin Media.
The Job: As a Team Leader at Heathrow, you will be in one of WHSmith’s most demanding retail locations.
What You’ll Do: You’ll keep well-stocked shelves at all times, have approachable staff on-hand and maintain a clean, tidy store. You’ll be a role model for the team, showing junior team members how it’s done.
You’ll Need: Retail experience is essential, not just interacting with customers, but leading and managing a team too.
Apply Now: More on the Team Leader – Heathrow role is available as are other opportunities at WHSmith.
If you want to go from terrible to terrific boss, then your first port of call is The Sun Job Board
Kirstie works for our job board partner, Jobbio. Based in Dublin, she has been a writer and editor across print and digital platforms for over 15 years.
