Everyone deserves a boss who treats him or her with fairness and dignity, but that’s not always the case. Although laws are put in place to protect employees from poor treatment at the hands of an employer, these laws can only do so much, and in reality, employers can get away with a lot if they’re not held accountable to their actions. Here are 5 signs of a bad boss.
- They don’t listen
Employers are busy people, so don’t take it to heart if you ask your boss to look into something once and they forget. What you should take note of, however, is if they continuously ignore your requests without explanation, or if they fail to address a serious concern that you have like a safety issue.
- They lie
Every caught your employer in a lie? This is a serious red flag. Chances are if your employer is lying to you about one thing, they’ve lied to you about another. Having a boss you can’t trust makes it that much more difficult to have a healthy attitude when it comes to work, and it creates a negative work environment for you and all your coworkers.
- They bully
It is not uncommon for employers to abuse their power and bully workers into doing things such as working longer hours, foregoing previously planned vacations, dropping claims/grievances against the company, etcetera. An employer that uses intimidation in order to get their own way is taking advantage of their position, and is frankly being a bully.
- They don’t respect employees
Disrespect comes in many shapes and sizes, but a great example of disrespect in the workplace is discrimination. If your employer treats and/or talks about the women in your workplace differently than they talk about the men, then your employer is being discriminatory. If your employer treats people of colour differently, they are being discriminatory. And if your employer treats people of different sexual orientations differently, or people with disabilities differently, they are being discriminatory and are showing a lack of respect for their employees.
- They ignore your rights
As a worker, you have rights, and your boss is legally obligated to listen if you feel like your rights are being violated. Whether you have a concern about the safety or your work environment or you want to join a union, your employer must acknowledge your rights and address your concerns.
No boss is perfect, but at Teamsters 987 local union of Alberta we believe that all workers should be treated with respect. If you’ve seen any of the above signs from your boss, don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
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