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The 10 habits of bad bosses

Working with a bad manager seems to be something almost every worker has to deal with at some point in their career. Bosses with acid tongues are highly unpopular among employees, and they are only the tip of the iceberg of bad bosses and their vicious behaviour toward employees.

A new Glassdoor study has revealed "The 10 Most Common Bad Boss Traits" as voted on by employees in the UK. Do you feel their pain?

1. Disrespectful – 43%Being the boss doesn't mean he or she could treat colleagues like second class citizens. Employees work really hard for their salary, they are not begging for money from the boss.

2. Negative attitude – 34%Most staff understand that bosses uphold high standards and aim for perfection, but there is no need to turn down every suggestion from staff members.

3. Lazy – 23%Micro-managers who breathe down the necks of employees are tough to work with, but managers who don't care and dump all the responsibilities on colleagues are just as bad.

4. Always talking about himself/herself – 16%Maybe they are lonely, maybe they do not have a life outside work - some bosses just can't stop bragging about how they got to the top and other "heroic" performances.

5. Inappropriate humour – 10%The boss might think he has a good sense of humour, but employees often have a different opinion about that. Do employees have to laugh at every joke from the boss? Probably not, so please let everybody enjoy a quiet moment.

6. Comes in late – 10%Always reminds employees to be on time, but is always the last to show up at work.

7.  Leaves early – 10%Leaves a message with the personal assistant, informing the team he or she has a business meeting and will not be back for the afternoon. Most likely that afternoon is on a Friday - is that a coincidence?

8. Swearing – 8%It goes without saying all foul language should be banned from the workplace. Please carry yourself in a professional manner.

9.  Loud phone calls – 8%It is really annoying for colleagues to have to listen to your conversations, stop being a walking foghorn.

10. Sexist comments -7%Time to drop all the gender stereotyping. Stop saying a woman should not work on this, and that should be a man's job.

Despite being such a pain for everybody, on most occasions, bad bosses are able to get away with their behaviour. 40% of the participants in the survey said they would try to "ignore" the bad boss, only 5% would proactively “try and get them fired”.

15% said they would complain to somebody higher up, but most HR professionals would tell you that could be one big career mistake.

ALSO READ: Be a good boss. Try saying these things at work

Photo/ 123RF

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