Has the bullying attitude taken over companies these days?

falko89

You know the old if you don't like it on you go, or rather than a bit of praise to motivate people they keep them in fear of losing their jobs. Its something that I have noticed taking over especially in manufacturing, people are treated as a comoditiy that can be easily replaced, people aren't valued any more. Perhaps thats why British manufacturing is going to pot?

TrickyWicky

No idea but I've experienced it in many jobs. I've always worked for larger companies / public bodies so no idea about small companies so my experience is based on that.

These days it seems that companies are actually more grateful to have a higher turnover of staff than they are to have loyal hard working staff.

I used to go right out of my way for previous employers, anytime they wanted cover at short notice I'd do it, anytime they wanted x,y,z I'd do it.. yet I'd also be the one who got the most greif. What I have noticed these days however is that the laziest "happy go lucky" members of staff who do the least possible and have the "thats their problem not mine" attitude seem to get the most respect from the management. I've no idea why but I've observed this time and time again in many different jobs. Using initiative is a bad thing these days it would appear - just do the bare minimum and thats it seems to be the in-thing.

At one place they asked me when i was interviewed, based on my previous experience, would I be interested in career development and promotion with them. Naturally my answer was yes. When I started with them I did everything I could to show that I could handle responsibility and be relied upon and all it got me was a LOT of strife. I left and a couple of years later I heard that they'd started BEGGING people to apply for promotion because no-one wanted to do it - they actually had staff REFUSING to accept forceful promotion too because they'd all been getting it in the neck since I'd left.

To put it bluntly, I'm burnt out now. I've done my best for every company I've worked for and always suffered for it. I've always worked harder, smarter, covered for my lazy colleagues (who then get perks and rewards) and done my best to help the company run smoothly in tough times (eg staff shortages). Will I ever bother again? No way. It really isn't worth it.

falko89

TrickyWicky wrote: »

No idea but I've experienced it in many jobs. I've always worked for larger companies / public bodies so no idea about small companies so my experience is based on that.

These days it seems that companies are actually more grateful to have a higher turnover of staff than they are to have loyal hard working staff.

I used to go right out of my way for previous employers, anytime they wanted cover at short notice I'd do it, anytime they wanted x,y,z I'd do it.. yet I'd also be the one who got the most greif. What I have noticed these days however is that the laziest "happy go lucky" members of staff who do the least possible and have the "thats their problem not mine" attitude seem to get the most respect from the management. I've no idea why but I've observed this time and time again in many different jobs. Using initiative is a bad thing these days it would appear - just do the bare minimum and thats it seems to be the in-thing.

At one place they asked me when i was interviewed, based on my previous experience, would I be interested in career development and promotion with them. Naturally my answer was yes. When I started with them I did everything I could to show that I could handle responsibility and be relied upon and all it got me was a LOT of strife. I left and a couple of years later I heard that they'd started BEGGING people to apply for promotion because no-one wanted to do it - they actually had staff REFUSING to accept forceful promotion too because they'd all been getting it in the neck since I'd left.

To put it bluntly, I'm burnt out now. I've done my best for every company I've worked for and always suffered for it. I've always worked harder, smarter, covered for my lazy colleagues (who then get perks and rewards) and done my best to help the company run smoothly in tough times (eg staff shortages). Will I ever bother again? No way. It really isn't worth it.

I went through a similar thing in my previous job, I gave up things like paternity leave and holidays, I went in and I worked unlike other who saw it more as a butt kissing exercise day in day out and did very little, and what thanks did I get for it? Out the door at the first available oppertunity.

Southend1

While I don't agree that employees should give up their hard earned holiday/leave entitlements etc, I have noticed, since the financial crisis, a lot of managers saying things like "you should be grateful you have any kind of job" or "if you don't like it just leave, someone else will tolerate it" as an excuse for treating staff badly or not managing properly.

AP007

I have always worked where it was well known that 'if you don't like it, leave'.

It cost my old company over £60k just for my team in recruitment fees in 5 years because of their bad attitude, poor pay and no benefits.

bluenoseam

I guess it's symptomatic of the times we live in - and don't take any of this as a dig at you personally, it's just some observations of recent times!

When there's 2m + unemployed people in the UK you are essentially something that can be expendable, companies no longer need to keep you sweet because they know that if you leave they can replace you quickly!

People these days are a lot less "tough" than they used to be - just because someone's harsh, doesn't mean they're bullying! There's also a shift change between the way things go, in years gone by people used to bring up bad backs, these days it seems the in thing is depression & stress! As soon as work gets "difficult" for some people they start to come away with stuff like that and ultimately that has the effect of bringing a "boy who cried wolf" attitude in to employers.

We're also in a time whereby there's a crossover between "old school" thoughts on workplace ethic & "new school" thoughts on it. The old school way of thinking is a little more "hard" where new school tends to err on the side of being soft & creating a "nice" workplace.

I dunno if I've been lucky or if it's just down to the fact I'm not wired "properly" in so much as at work, I go in & if I can do what's asked then I'll do it. I've only ever had maybe 1 workplace where I felt it was overly "abusive" and even then I'd say that was more lack of professionalism than anything else. The rest of them I've been asked to do things politely & any negative feedback is because well, I'm not perfect so every once in a while it happens to be the case I screw up! I have noticed though that over the last few years employers have been a lot stricter when hiring people - no two ways about that, any sign of "imperfection" is dumped in the "no chance" pile.

Good managers will always respect good staff, that's a given, but the problem is in this economy where managers are hearing it from above they'll be under pressure to improve no matter what the cost. That's where average managers are often being pushed down to being poor managers instead of maybe 10 years ago being allowed to mature into being "good" managers. Bad managers will always be jerks, but that's not a new thing, they'd exist no matter what, just so happens in 2013 they have considerably more "reasons" to be bad than they had in 2003!

BurnleyBob

These are halcyon times for government and so many other employers who know that with a massive surplus of idle labour those in jobs will work for less in real terms year on year.

It'll get worse as the flow of wealth accelerates from West to East.

Coraline

I think part of it is that the prospect of losing their own jobs brings out the worst in managers who already had a bullying personality inside of them. Or exacerbating the bully even more to epic levels.

The thing I've been hearing a lot from a certain individual in one-on-one meetings or behind closed doors is screaming (yes screaming) "my job is at stake here!"

Any time anything goes remotely wrong (even if inconsequential), the first thing that happens is finding someone to blame and relaying that it isn't their fault loud and clear.

TrickyWicky

@Coraline my old boss was like that too. He was half european and you could tell - he couldn't cope with anything that he thought might cause problems for him. Anything from loosing a set of keys to a member of staff going sick was a massive problem for him and the sky would turn red for days. Every day was hell - he'd walk in at 8am and just start mouthing off about how everyone was a f**king c**t, he was one, she was one, them over there were, so was so_and_so etc. He simply couldn't cope with the responsibility at all and the only way he could was to accuse everyone else of trying to cause trouble.

The reality is that he couldn't cope and two of his best mates that worked with us under him also said the same. One even told me he reckoned the guy simply bullsh*tt*d his way from one job to another, stayed a max of two years before getting the shove and then moved on BS'ing it again.

Needless to say I saw an old colleague from that work place the other day who confirmed that the nasty little man has now gone - got the shove and told to go or get fired. I wish I'd stayed there now as I never actually thought it would happen to be honest.

lincroft1710

falko89 wrote: »

people are treated as a comoditiy that can be easily replaced, people aren't valued any more.

In most cases people are a commodity that can easily be replaced.

The truth is that only the best people have ever been valued, the rest were either desk or assembly line fodder.

ILW

Does seem that actually telling someone to turn up on time and get to work is considered bullying by some.