Guest Author - Sharlene Thomas

Mention "battered boss" and most people look at you as if you just stepped off a Martian airship.

Entrepreneurship is not an easy ride, by any stretch of the imagination. It's like riding a roller coaster, 24/7. And, it's a front-seat learning process. How well you can project and integrate customer needs with quality service, products, and staff, determines how long and smooth the end of the ride will be.

It's my feeling that most personnel problems arise from misunderstanding the total employer-employee relationship as an integral part of any business. When understood, it's a powerful combination. The smaller the business, the more general the work -- but, everyone's time, effort, skills, and cooperation, are needed for success.

Employers are not the enemy and owning a business doesn't mean they are automatically "rich." But, it does mean they have to wear all the hats -- service, purchasing, and administration -- to keep the doors open. Bosses can't punch out at the end of the day.

Ownership or Support -- a Career Choice

For any business to prosper, it must have team work with a capital T. Bullying bosses create clockwatchers not right arms and miss the point, entirely, in my opinion. Without help, the "boss" doesn't exist. It's as simple as that. A healthy work environment, where everyone is treated with respect, is the foundation for profitable growth. Long-term right-arm employees are the goal of every employer.

That's you -- unless you have a fantastic trust fund. You either dream of having your own business or prefer working for someone else. Just knowing that will help you find your niche in the business world.

Prefer working for someone else? Great. Plan on being the best right-arm support in your field -- and steer clear of malcontents.

Bashing the Boss Starts with One Employee

A quick Google brings up any number of tales of woe from unhappy employees. "World's Worst Boss" contests are inundated with entries and some very scary stories.

But, what about a World's Worst Employee contest? Surely, it's not that one-sided. Both employers and employees want to earn a decent living, support themselves, and build a comfortable retirement. More importantly, we all want to take pride in our work while enjoying the fellowship of coworkers.

Just one malcontent can start the pattern of tearing down the boss, before everyone adds their own two cents. The poison is insidious (making embezzlement look clean by comparison).

Before long, the environment is hostile and disruptive, with little work accomplished. Studies have shown that disgruntled employees are almost 50% less productive that those happy in their jobs.

If only there was a way to preview employees talking with friends and family. We could weed out compulsive faultfinders, rather than give them another forum for their poisonous chatter.

Highlighting the "No Gossip" clause in their employee manual may slow them down, but it won't stop it entirely.

Losing the Battle for Business Balance

A business in balance has clean and attractive work areas, with personnel performing in quiet confidence. Customers feel comfortable and are happy to return.

Unfortunately, even that ambience can be shattered through non-stop carping by disgruntled employees. Before long, the balance bar is tilted toward attacking the boss -- an easy target -- in every conversation. No one thinks to stop the instigator.

Resentful employees use subtle war tactics by:

- Working less and expecting the same pay. They arrive late, stretch lunch time and breaks, and pack up 15-20 minutes before closing. Eight hours is reduced to six and a half.

- Abusing required trips to the post office and bank. They include personal errands and expand ten-minute round trips to almost an hour.

- Refusing to recognize their job relationship with another employee's. If they are Step Two in the process, Step Three has to wait, reducing daily output and creating backlogs.

In addition, unhappy employees make costly mistakes, having to repeat work done carelessly, using additional time and resources to complete a basic task. They rarely, if ever, get caught up.

A business's life depends upon new work and completing current projects. No new business leads to no business. When more time is spent getting less done, customers run to the competition.

Because it happens slowly over time, the full consequences of backbiting is cloaked in a false busyness. It takes a while to realize there's no new business scheduled. Word-of-mouth by unhappy customers has taken root and, sometimes, it's too late to recover.

Without proof, it's very difficult to get rid of boss-battering employees. They'll watch the doors close, with everyone else, scratching their heads, wondering why, after all their hard work, the boss couldn't keep the doors open. Do you work for a battered boss? Where do you stand?