Bully bosses nothing new to U.S. workers

Allegations that John Bolton verbally abused his State Department underlings have bogged down his nomination as ambassador to the United Nations. But they would sound like just another day on the job to the many Americans who have worked for a bully.

His defenders say Bolton is a tough manager who gets results, that his accusers should get over it. But victim advocates maintain that bully bosses cause serious psychological and health problems, and should face legal consequences similar to those confronting sexual and physical abusers.

“The effects can be pretty devastating,” said Rich Wellins, a senior vice president at Development Dimensions International, a human resource company based in Pittsburgh. “It can really harm people.”

Janet got sick to her stomach at the sight of her boss’s car in the parking lot. When he was away from the hotel where she worked in the Pacific Northwest, she loved the job. When he was there, she knew that somehow he would make her day miserable.

Janet’s last name and other identifying details, like those of other workers interviewed for this story, are being withheld for legal considerations.

“By the time I quit working there, I had stress headaches, insomnia, depression and anxiety — both of which I was taking medication for — and ulcers,” she said. “It all went away when I left.”

His specialty was snide comments, with a knack for pinpointing his target’s insecurities. Janet, the assistant manager, hated being unable to defend her own staff from his abuse, which included groping female employees and yelling.

As many as 30 percent of employees experience workplace bullying, research shows. A bully boss aims to control subordinates by using demeaning methods.

Screaming and throwing things, as Bolton is accused of doing, are actually rare. More common are covert techniques such as constant fault-finding, changing work schedules and withholding needed resources, said Gary Namie, director of the Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute in Bellingham, Wash.

“They get you behind closed doors and start to chip away at your self-confidence,” Namie said. “They use personal data about people for reconnaissance, just to shame and humiliate the person.”

Often, the only symptoms of a bully boss are a steady trickle of staff resignations, low productivity and the glum faces around the water cooler.

Companies should remember the workplace truth that people don’t quit jobs, they quit managers, human resource experts said.

Almost two-thirds of people who leave a position cite bad leadership, with compensation and benefits “way down at the bottom” of reasons, Wellins said.

Bullying causes stress, which costs corporations $300 billion each year and is responsible for 1 million absences each day, said Kathleen Hall, a stress-management expert based in Clarkesville, Ga., and author of “Alter Your Life.”

“Employers have to understand it is going to kill and take the lifeblood out of their company,” Hall said.

Bullies boost health care expenses and compromise business results by stifling both dissent and creativity, critics say.

“The mythology is they get results. The truth is, they prevent work from getting done,” Namie said. “It’s the highly competent minions who are getting things done.”