Supervisor is a Bully - Please help

Lori1

I work for a small organization and I have been having one heck of a time with one of the female supervisors. I have had several complaints and I have complained myself to the president about her attitude. This supervisor is very rude and screams and yells at the employees. She has been with the company for several years and feels that she owns the joint. Also, the president of the company adores her, even though he is very aware of her attitude. How can the employees protect themselves from an abusive supervisor. Please let me know. Thank you

Paul in Cannon Beach

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 12-09-02 AT 12:37PM (CST)[/font][p]My suggestion is that you have to pick your battles with this kind of person. If you screw up, and she yells at you, you don't really have a case. Yeah its rude but some people might say she is "old school".

However, if you are careful and are doing your job well, and she yells at you, that would be the time to say "Pardon me, I will not accept this type of behavior from you or anyone else in this company. If you have a question or comment, you can discuss it with me in a calm manner. If you have a problem with that, I suggest we discuss this with the president right now."

Let her know you won't be bullied. Stand up for yourself. Just make sure you have solid ground to stand upon.

I once had a boss raise his voice to me and I told him calmy that if he continued I would walk out of the room. My personal feeling is that I am paid to work hard not be someone's whipping boy.

Paul

Cinderella

I disagree. I don't care what "school" you're from, yelling is not professional and not a behavior that should be tolerated at work. If one of this supervisor's employees makes a mistake they need to be dealt with as a human being: calmly and constructively show the proper way to do the right thing and avoid the mistake in the future. They do not have to sit there and be yelled at. I would tell the president of the company that by continuing to allow this supervisor to treat her employees as such is a huge liability. What if one day yelling at someone doesn't "get her point across" anymore? What if she "snaps" after someone stops listening / tolerating her hollering and hits someone or does something else violent? You never know WHAT people are going to do, but you can read signs and yelling is a precursor and indicator of someone who does not know how to communicate effectively and has a short fuse because of THEIR inadaquacy. Or she could just be an extremely angry and unstable person who enjoys tormenting others. Either way, she has no business supervising employees with those kind of behaviors. She needs to be counciled on her behavior STAT. I would also suggest sending her to a class about communicating effectively and management of emotions. I would put together an improvement plan and document, document, document! Then if she doesn't comply terminate, terminate, terminate!
Cinderella

System

This is an ugly situation. One option is to compile a list of complaints from employees and present them to the prez. And explain the costs of the bullying: morale, turnover, possible workers' comp for stress. If it doesn't bother the big cheese, then there's not much that anyone can do about it except quit.

James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers

Lori1

One of the employees has asked me if they could collect unemployment if they quit their job due to the supervisor's attitude - does anyone know what the answer is? I told her I didn't think she could because she would be quitting and it is not attributable to the employer - but it is the employers' fault for not correcting the situation. Thanks

Cindy Hanna

Yes, I beleive you can collect unemployment. It's called a hostile work environment.

Call your unemployment agency and ask them.

Pork

Lori1: Get out why the getting is good. She can only act like this because of her relationship with senior leadership. It is a losing propersition, I would follow the 2nd postings advice on standing up to her but be prepared to slam the door on her and the company. It is not worth the fight and you will lose the war and probably the the battle. it does not pay to go up against the senior's friends. Bad, Bad situation. Pork

piano

Lori1,

You are in a difficult situation, but if the the workplace is sufficiently toxic, there is only one option, and that is to leave before it starts affecting your health.

The president should be made aware that the company may be sued by an aggrieved employee for constructive discharge if the employee
has to leave because the stress caused by the supervisor makes it impossible to stay on the job.

Piano

Paul in Cannon Beach

First off, Cinderella, you misunderstand me. I am in no way saying its appropriate or justified to yell at anyone. I wouldnt stand for it. Howevever, when dealing with this kind of behavior it is important to wait for the right time to address it.

If this supervisor yells at an employee for doing something unsafe or losing a multi-million dollar account, its going to be a tough sell to convince management that the supervisor is wrong. Thats just a reality.

However, if you address the issue when your case is strong and the supervisor is clearly out of control, you can focus the attention on the supervisor's action not your own. Its not a perfect world, but its the one we get to live in.

Also I am amazed at those who are encouraging Lori to quit. Should we all bounce around changing organizations every time we encounter a difficult personality? I have been with this organization 10 years and I am proud that I didn't run at the first sign of adversity but stuck around and tried to make this a better place to work.

Would you guys really follow your own advice and quit a good job just because of a pain in the butt supervisor? What guarantee do you have that there won't be someone equally as obnoxious at your next job?

Paul