There are a lot of bad bosses in movie-land. From the white-collar horror that was Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko to the heart-crushing awfulness of Bridget Jones’s boss/love rat Daniel Cleaver in the Bridget Jones’ films, we’ve also sat through multiple festive repeats of Clark Griswold not getting his annual bonus from scrooge boss Frank Shirley in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
You see, when it comes to bad bosses, art imitates life, but it’s all fun and games until you have to deal with one yourself. A recent survey of 2,100 UK employees, conducted by people analytics company Visier, found that 43 per cent of workers have left a job because of their manager at some point in their working lives, and another 53 per cent of those who are currently thinking about a job move are motivated to do so because of their manager.
If you are in the same boat now, how can you cope with a terrible leader?
Sense check it
Are they truly terrible or just unaware? Not everyone is cut out for people management unfortunately and there is a difference between someone who is trying to torpedo your career, and someone who isn’t a great communicator. If it is the latter, asking for a weekly meeting to catch up on priorities and understand their thought process could really help.
Don’t get overwhelmed
A boss who constantly adds more and more to your task list is a nightmare. You can never catch up, never properly plan and you are always overwhelmed. Learning to set boundaries is essential. Develop a couple of key phrases to use when you are asked to take on more work – asking which existing projects you can drop to take on this new work is helpful as it pushes responsibility back and lets your manager know you can only do so much at one time.
Mind yourself
Proactively deciding to not answer emails or work messages out of hours, taking regular breaks and holidays, even if you feel guilty about doing so (you shouldn’t!), is utterly necessary to help you relax and unwind. It also gives you an air gap from your day to day and can provide perspective.
Ask for a meeting
If things have gotten to a stage where you’re really unhappy and thinking about leaving, request a meeting to discuss your concerns and ask for what you think you need to make work, well, work better. While you might not get the outcome you’d like, you will at least know you’ve covered all bases.
And if you really can’t deal…
It might be time to get a new job. Here are three we like the look of – as always, there are thousands of fresh roles to discover on the London Economic Job Board too.
Sr FP&A Manager – Ecommerce – EMEA, TikTok
With millions of loyal users globally, TikTok is an ideal platform to deliver a brand new and better e-commerce experience. The company is looking for passionate and talented people to join its product and operations team including a Senior FP&A Manager, who will work closely with the business and strategy teams, providing insightful and quality financial advice to support business. You’ll need five to eight years’ of FP&A or related analytical experience in a high-growth tech start-up, or e-commerce experience preferred. A track record of experience with complex financial planning and analysis and xceptional data analytics skills are required, with familiarity with SQL preferred. Apply now.
Oracle Cloud Project Manager, IBM
IBM’s team is expanding and it is hiring an Oracle Cloud Project Manager who will excel at leading complex project delivery of Cloud Oracle solutions to clients in the UK and Europe. You will demonstrate a proven track record of Oracle delivery using techniques for planning, tracking, change control and risk management to ensure successful delivery for clients. You’ll have a track record creating enduring client relationships based on trust, successful business development and credible project execution and can demonstrate strong leadership skills with Oracle technical knowledge and ability to communicate key recommendations to clients. Additionally, experience of delivery in an agile cloud delivery method and experience in working with globally distributed teams is required. Find out more here.
Senior Backend Developer, Thought Machine
Back End Engineering is a key role within Thought Machine as Back End Engineers lead the development of Thought Machine’s Vault product. Development at Thought Machine is fast paced, and you will be expected to develop code to a high standard and production-ready state. You will be involved in design, implementation and development of scalable, performant microservices using best practices. You’ll write automated unit tests and integration tests and will interface with other engineering teams to ensure that features are added in a structured and coherent way. Managing and debugging your deployments from testing environments all the way to production is a core part of the role. Apply now.