Bad bosses literally make workers sick
December 16, 2008 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Benefits Law, Best Practices, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
Having a bully in a supervisory position can hurt retention and put companies at greater risk for lawsuits. But new research highlights another negative effect:
Bad bosses may literally make their employees sick.
Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm followed a sample of 3,000 men over 10 years of employment, and examined their health over the years.
The managers they worked for were rated on a competency scale. The men were asked questions such as:
- I have a clear picture of what my boss expects of me, and
- I am praised by my boss if I have done something good.
The results of the study, published in the Journal of Occupational Environmental Medicine: Those with the lowest-rated bosses were more likely to have health problems, including heart disease and high blood pressure.
For men who worked at least four years under an “incompetent” boss, the risk of heart disease increased by as much as 64%.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I’d like to see the complete study. I also would like to determine if these employees were deserving of any criticisms offered by the bosses. Perhaps they were marginal employees to begin with. Just because they don’t like the bosses doesn’t make the bosses incompetent.
We’ve all had bosses who were indeed, competent, but were also a$$es and made everyone miserable.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
No surprises here. This has long been referred to as the “Toxic Boss Syndrome.” It is of epidemic proportions and shows no signs of receiving a magic innoculation. Without this syndrome, Dilbert would have been impossible to produce. So at least one person is healthier because of it, Scott Adams.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 am
I wish more people would acknowledge this massive problem, take it seriously and begin to make the changes that need to be made to help eradicate it. Bad managers cost companies money in so many ways, it continues to amaze me that they are allowed to reign supreme. While some lawsuits are certainly unwarranted, many are a direct result of poor management / leadership skills. These bad managers impact turnover, absenteeism, morale, productivity, attitude, loyalty, engagement and creativity, just to name a few. And now, an organization is actually beginning to validate the fact that they also negatively impact the physical health of the worker who reports to them. Until their back-stabbing, belittling, demeaning, psychotic behavior becomes universally unacceptable, they will continue to use, manipulate, connive, bully and twist their way to the top. I’ve worked for a few like this and the stressful and crazy-making environments they created did greatly impact my health. I hope more is done to lend credence to this problem. If it can be proven solidly enough that there is a financial impact, maybe more businesses will finally take notice and deal with bad managers before they do too much damage.
February 25th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
I work for a Toxic Boss, and like a couple of other companies I’ve worked for, where there were similar bad managers, it seems like no one above him will stand up and remove him from his position.
I don’t understand why, because he has caused at least $100,000 in lost payroll costs to this company!
February 26th, 2009 at 11:04 am
I am with R.B. on this one…bad managers do cost the company in so many ways…the last company I worked at prior to my current job (with a good boss!) had ALL toxic managers. I did not exactly cry when they told me they were downsizing me.
I don’t know why companies continue to let bad managers stay…wish there was a study of why this happens all the time.
Sorry if I sound cynical, guess I have been burned too many times…
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:05 am
I have a boss who is like a roller coaster, everything that person does is correct yet the employee always makes mistakes and the unfortunate thing is that there isn’t anyone above him to go to and forget the HR department, that’s another story. Behind closed doors that person is evil and in the public eye that person is an angel.