Media Coverage: Bully bosses making life miserable in workplace

2015/03/25

If there's one thing that gets employees peed off it's having to seek permission from superiors to go to the toilet.

They also feel uncomfortable in workplaces where CCTV cameras are installed, according to a survey commissioned by human resources firm Vital Employee Service Consultancy and conducted by Baptist University.

The pollsters interviewed 800 employees to find what they hated most in their workplaces and what they would like to show off to their peers.

Interviewees were given 15 choices of hated things at work and asked to rate them in order of hate with business malpractice topping the list followed by the need to report to superiors when answering calls of nature, and having CCTVs installed in workplaces.

Also high on the list were being scolded by their bosses in front of colleagues and being sent to the mainland on business trips.

Some 77 percent said they would consider quitting their jobs if they had to endure one or more of the top five hates. They also said they hated being asked to help their bosses handle private matters.

Tommy Wong Kam-cheung, a training consultant at Vital, said in one case a middle-aged man, Philip, had worked for a logistics company for several years and was a mid-level employee.

He was recently placed under a new superior who liked scolding employees loudly in public. The boss embarrassed Philip by blasting him for going to the toilet too often.

Philip said that as a result of the superior's behavior, employee morale was at an all-time low.

He also sent Philip to work in the mainland three to four days a week, seriously affecting his family life. He decided to put his family first and quit.

Wong said it is a loss to the company when an employee with vast experience if forced to leave because a superior lacks emotional control.