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Things bad bosses say...

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And the bullying! Check this out. How many at Eisai have been bullied.

Is Your Boss A Bully?

By Kathy Hermes
The Republican-American (Waterford, CT)
January 11, 2006
Have you ever come home from work, wondering why you felt emotionally bruised day after day? Maybe you have a "bully boss." Bullying happens to or is witnessed by about 50% of workers. What we thought was a problem on the playground is still around when we grow up, but as adults, we don't know how to cope. Your work ethic made you look at yourself, to see whether you were performing your job correctly. You started to lose weight or had trouble sleeping, as 94% of bullied workers do. Your family was simultaneously supportive ("The boss is a jerk!") and not supportive ("You're overreacting!").

Workplace bullying is defined by experts as "persistent, offensive, abusive, intimidating, malicious, or insulting behaviour; abuse of power; or unfair penal sanctions. These make the recipient feel upset, threatened, humiliated, or vulnerable, undermine their self confidence and may cause them to suffer stress." (BMJ)

On December 28, 2005, the Republican-American published my editorial about a friend's suicide from bullying. After Marlene died, I surfed the web and clicked a link to the Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute (WBTI). I saw my friend: Targets fall into five (5) general types.Targets are people who: (1) Refuse to be subservient (58% claimed this to be a reason for being targeted) (2) Are technically more competent than their aggressors (56%) (3) Are envied, and thus resented, for their cooperativeness and being liked by others (49%) (4) Report illegal/unethical conduct, whistleblowers (46%) (5) Are vulnerable in some way (38% had been previously traumatized in or out of work) Drs. Gary and Ruth Namie, The Bully At Work, The Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute, bullyinginstitute.org).

Marlene rose in the ranks of her job quickly. She was a GS13 in only 13 years of service; her boss a GS14 after 25. She never hesitated to assert her position. Marlene had strong principles, was a hard worker and believed in fairness. She caught and pointed out his mistakes. Until her new boss came, she never had a black mark on her record. Therein lies the paradox: contrary to stereotypes, it is not the weak who are bullied; it is the strong.

Bullied people suffer from what experts call "mental injury." It is a direct result of the bullying. It produces symptoms that include depression and anxiety, confusion, emotional numbness, and the fight-or-flight reaction normally associated with traumatic stress. Yet it isn't a mental illness, anymore than being punched in the stomach is a disease. Like most injuries, it can heal.

Yet bullying rarely ceases on its own. Unemployment leads to a risk of suicide three times as great as those at risk in the same age group of employed persons. Employees who genuinely fear losing their jobs are also at heightened risk. Marriage and relationships break up, families and friendships are affected. Researchers call this the "ripple effect."

Even the target is likely to blame herself. Only 8% of bullied employees will call the boss a "bully," while over 24% describe bullying behavior directed at them. Co-workers may take the bully's side. The victim doesn't realize she has been chosen less because of who she is than because she represents some threat to the bully. Moreover, the bully needs a victim. If you weren't there, he'd choose another. Management often is no help, though that is odd. The workplace is less efficient and all employees, victims and witnesses, feel sicker when they have a bully boss. Like sexual harassment, workplace bullying costs the places which employ the bullies, and yet targets are far more likely to be fired.

The Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute works for changes in state laws to try to curb the problem. Legislatures need to step up to the plate. We as witnesses also need to step up. One study describes the employment situation with a bully boss as a "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" phenomenon. When we see bullying, we must not avert our eyes. Many people said after Marlene died, "I will lose my job if I say anything." That they are right is appalling. If we want things to change, we must not merely be witnesses; we must be willing to testify.

I opened the Express Mail packet already knowing what was in it-the keys to her car, her house, her mailbox, her letter telling me that by the time I read this, she would be dead. Marlene's employer had already notified me of Marlene's suicide, but I was brought to my knees by the sentence that stood out in that letter, "My boss has made my life utterly unbearable this past year." Even after our conversations about her work situation, I could hardly take in what I was reading. Marlene was anxious and extremely upset, but she was also rational and lucid. Later, I heard from people who wondered whether she killed herself because of medication side effects, or because she was bipolar (she wasn't), or because she was having "relationship" problems. Why were people speculating? Marlene named his name and what he had done. He had bullied and brow-beat her repeatedly, alone and in front of others.

It struck me as strange that so many people preferred to think that there was some other cause rather than the one Marlene named: her boss. Marlene's "My last day" email to her employer was almost a statistical probability. She took her life within the period (16.5 months) when most employees "leave" their jobs after bullying starts. Stress had, predictably, aged her. Co-workers had noticed it in life, and her sister and I in death. She lost 35 to 40 pounds in little over a year, a "diet" she referred to her by her boss's name. She couldn't sleep. Moreover, she was a woman. Women are more likely to be the targets of bullies, though experts say bullies themselves are just as likely to be of either sex. If you come home from work feeling like you have beaten up, you probably have been. Bullies are not just for kids.

Katherine Hermes is an associate professor of history and co-coordinator of the Women's Studies Program at Central Connecticut State University. She lives in Torrington.

The May, 2005 Marlene Braun suicide is chronicled in its own section at the WBTI
 












Does everything EC says count? Famous line... "Not my job to motivate you". Apparently it also isn't his job to lead his team or show any degree of management accumen.
 




























Truly a shame to see what qualifies as a great manager. There are some great ones... CD, DM, AB, CF, CG, PA... Am I leaving anyone out?

I won't list the truly crappy ones. They know who they are and we all wish they would just resign or get promoted to WCL.

But, why would home office do that to themselves? Just hide them in the field field and ignore that they are incompetent fools.
 




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