Steps to Take If You’re Dealing With A Toxic Boss

by Clare Reynolds, Marketing Executive, Sigmar Recruitment

We know the perfect boss doesn’t exist, just like the perfect employee doesn’t, so you shouldn’t be too hard on your boss. However, once you are sure your manager is toxic, it’s important to know what to do

Try Not Take It Personally

Whatever is going on with your boss, it has nothing to do with you. If this is their managing style they more than likely have treated people like this before and will probably continue to treat people like this in future. Try to remind yourself of this as often as you can so your self-confidence doesn’t become affected by your toxic boss.

Know That You Don’t Need Them To Succeed

Your boss may make you feel like they are the reason you have a job and you would be useless to another company, they’re wrong! You are more than capable of being successful in your career and that has nothing to do with your boss.

Karma

This is always a sweet little reminder when your boss is treating you badly. Things come back around on people and the same goes for you. You’re having a hard time now, but things will improve for you and as for your boss, they will probably get what is coming to them sooner or later.

Write Down How You Feel

This is a great way to get things off your chest. Write it all down. Everything! It can even be as inappropriate as you like, ‘cause your boss will never see it. That’s the beauty of it! Say everything you need to and destroy the evidence. I can guarantee you’ll feel a lot better after it.

Keep Records

Try to document as much as you can. If your boss is treating you unfairly, it’s best to have documents to prove it. Even if your interaction with them is mostly face to face, ask them to follow up in an email.

A lot of the misbehaviour of a toxic boss is going back on their word. For instance, they tell you to do something but then deny it or grant you permission to do something, like take annual leave and then they deny ever being asked.

The best thing to do is always follow up on verbal conversations with an email and to keep a diary. Write everything your boss asks you to do in a diary and if they ever accuse you of not doing something you can check back in your diary afterwards.

Arrange A Meeting With Your Boss

Sometimes just sitting down with your boss and explaining that you feel they are unhappy with you can really make a difference. Having a face to face conversation about the issues you have could solve things. It might not be the case but it’s the first step before approaching HR.

Speak to HR

If you have approached your boss or have at least tried to but felt it was unsuccessful, the next step is to speak to HR. After you have prepared your records and can explain your bosses misconduct clearly and accurately you should have a strong case for your HR department.

Know When to Leave

Sometimes the only thing you can do to fix the situation is to find a new job. Life is too short to sit in a job with a boss who makes you miserable. If HR couldn’t solve the issue and you couldn’t move departments, you may wish to start applying for new jobs.

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