- There are times in everyone’s career when they feel disrespected by their bosses.
- While this for the most part is a rare occurrence between a manager and employee, at times that lack of respect can be real.
- So what should you do if you truly believe your boss disrespects you?
- Read this article first to first find out the 8 telltale signs of a boss disrespecting their worker and compare them to your own experiences.
We’ve all had them; bosses who don’t listen, ignore us, fail to clue us in on what’s to occur in our workplaces, or are just plain rude to us.
Sure, we want to react, confront and have a conversation, but we would also like to keep our jobs, which leaves us somewhat hogtied.
So the question is should we just put up with our boss’s disrespect, or rethink what disrespect is?
After all, good bosses can come in many varieties of leadership, and granted if we still have our jobs and are being paid on a regular basis, isn’t that enough?
No, it’s not enough. At least not enough to be mistreated, or at least feel we are mistreated.
If you feel this way – mistreated, but aren’t certain how that mistreatment from your boss befalls upon you, check out the following 8 signs of typical managerial impertinence that can give you insight into exactly how your boss may disrespect you.
- You feel you’re wasting your time at your job.
You and your team are working on a huge project for which you have some suggestions to your boss. Problem is he/she keeps shooting down your ideas. In short, you feel your insight is not appreciated, and because of that, you feel ignored.
Make your boss aware of the fact that you feel a lack of consideration when presenting new ideas, and that as a worker who cares about the projects they are involved with you feel your suggestions have merit.
It may be possible your boss is unaware of his/her behavior, and if they are truly considerate of your talents, they will alter their conduct and pay closer attention to your ideas and insights.
- Your boss ignores your needs.
Good managers check in with their employees. They ask them how they’re doing or if they need anything regarding the completion of their jobs.
On the other hand, bosses who aren’t so hands-on or care less for their employees ask nothing. Even when their employees communicate their needs clearly and wait patiently for their smallest requirements like supplies or repairs/updates to office machinery such as a copier or software that would make the work faster and more accurate, their needs don't get met.
Things worsen in this regard as your boss usually controls the budget. If that’s the case, you might want to gather your coworkers and have a larger scale meeting of you and your cohorts with your boss about how his/her lack of attention to employee needs is having a negative effect on everyone’s ability to do their job.
- Your boss doesn’t explain anything to you.
At times you might say to yourself, “Why am I here?” If so, a good reason for this might be your boss’s lack of communication.
The problem with this is a lack of communication doesn’t make your job any easier. In fact, when a boss doesn’t communicate with an employee, that lack of interaction can have a very negative effect on not just your job, but others’ jobs as well.
So in the end, the on-the-job managerial silence can make it seem your boss has no respect for you or your coworkers, which can ultimately make for a poor work environment.
- Your boss suffers forgetfulness and/or lacks commitment.
Forgetfulness and/or a lack of commitment by your boss can be very strong signs of disrespect. In both instances, you are made to believe your points of view, suggestions, as well as requests are less meaningful toward the management than to yourself.
And sure, while you can write down and date all interactions you have with your boss so there is a paper trail so to speak, this however is a burden no worker should have to go through, and in the end just expends time and energy.
Your resolve: Potentially find a new job where the management regards you by not forgetting any ideas or input toward your job, which eventually will lead to commitment by your boss.
- You are told anyone can do your job.
This is a classic sign of disrespect from a boss. What a statement like “Anyone can do your job,” takes away any personal stamp you’ve put on your work. That statement also removes any individualism that you’ve established in the workplace.
Like the other signs of disrespect already mentioned, being told anyone can do your job cheapens you to the point that you will no longer think your effort is worth it, leading you to utilize less care and effort toward your work.
- Your boss discounts your knowledge and experience.
You know what you’re doing at work. In fact, you know your task so well you have mentored others who work closely with you.
The problem is your boss doesn’t feel the same way about your talents as a strong and reliable employee as you do.
Undercutting your importance toward your job and the business as a whole can cause you to devalue yourself, and create unneeded strain on you during your work day.
Another way a boss might discount your abilities is by not seeking your advice or consultation in a field in which you have expertise.
- Your boss steals your ideas.
Idea stealing. In most cases it is not a matter of coincidence or just some notion innocently stumbled upon in which a boss takes claim for an employee’s idea.
On the contrary, it can be out right and deliberate and as an employee, you should not allow yourself to take it.
A boss that steals an employee’s ideas does much more harm than what is usually imagined. Along with the lost idea is a loss of credit and acknowledgement for the employee. You are not recognized for your talent and imaginative thinking. And any upward move in position or increase in salary becomes that much farther away.
- Your boss could care less about your life.
From demands that you work overtime or on weekends to disrupting your private life with phone calls, emails and texts, the boss that conducts himself in a slave driver sort of way toward you and your job is highly disrespectful.
Bosses need to understand that employees are not machines that one switches on and off whenever the opportunity presents it. They have lives outside of work that a boss has to be cognizant of in the workplace.
If your boss mistreats you only once by interrupting your personal time, you should expect it to continue until you finally put a stop to it audibly, in written words, or by simply quitting if it persists.
Conclusion
No one should be mistreated while on the job, employees and bosses alike. Fortunately in most working environments employees and bosses get along fine, are cordial and acknowledge each other’s work.
In work environments where this cordiality does not occur, an employer will have to understand he or she will soon be on that great carrousel of revolving employees who soon quit after only a short time on the job.
This can only serve to cause a malaise of bad feeling in the workplace that will eventually affect productivity and profit.
With that, bosses need to be aware of their own behavior, and acknowledge their employees with fairness and reward. If that’s done, the business will not be one that employees dread going to, but instead look forward to spending their day’s eight hours in.
For more information, look into these articles:
- How To Clean Up Your Social Media For Your Job Search
- 15 Companies With Awesome Pay And Benefits
- 8 Strong Questions You Should Ask During A Job Interview
- Putting First Things First: Self-Assessment
- Long Term Objective – A Factor In All Your Job Search
