Boss bashing is becoming an epidemic

“The average American spends fifteen hours a month criticizing or complaining about their boss.”

–Recent research from DDI

I learned this factoid from Marshall Goldsmith’s book Mojo: How to Get it, How to Keep it, How to Get it Back if You Lose it.  As Marshall explains:  “I initially chose to believe that this research was wrong, but when I conducted a similar study of two hundred employees, my results were exactly the same.”  He elaborates:

Many of us bash the boss at work, after work, even on weekends when our only audiences are our partners or captive family members.  That fifteen hours is more time than Americans devote to watching baseball which suggests that our real national pastime is bashing the boss.

A little bit of boss bashing may be understandable, in the same way that stepping outside to scream at the top of our lungs releases some of our pent-up frustrations.  But whatever therapeutic benefit we derive from this form of complaining is far outweighed by the negatives.

For one thing, it’s not particularly attractive.  Trashing the boss when he or she is not in the room to put up a defense makes even the most eloquent whiner appear small and cowardly.  People wonder why you don’t say it to the boss’s face.  They may also wonder what you are saying about them out of earshot.

It’s futile to critique people who aren’t even in the room.  They can’t hear you talking or respond to what you are saying (although trust me, through boss’s intuition, he or she senses your disdain).  Nothing constructive will come out of it.  You won’t build a better boss with your jibes.  You’ll only tarnish your own reputation, plus risk that the boss may hear about you through office gossip (or overhear you when you think no one’s listening).

More than anything, boss bashing is unproductive.  Imagine what you could accomplish if you dedicated those fifteen hours to something of consequence (like going to night school or being with your family)?

The next time you start to bash the boss, think about what you may be doing to yourself and those around you. If you really have a problem with your boss, talk to him or her about it.  If you feel that you cannot talk with the person, leave.  If you cannot talk with the person, and cannot leave, accept the situation and make the best of it.

Thanks, Marshall, for showing us how better to channel a common work frustration!  Read more on Marshall's website.

Bob Nelson, Ph.D.

President, Nelson Motivation Inc.

Multi-Million Copy Best-selling Author

1501 Ways to Reward Employees

(858) 673-0690 direct

www.drbobnelson.com

Based in San Diego, California USA
Named as a Top Thought Leader for 2013 by the Best Practice Institute

Emails do not create a fixed-term contract

With the increasing use of email during the recruitment process, it is possible that certain terms of an employment relationship will be first discussed, if not finalized, over email before they are ever (ideally!) put into an employment contract. So, can the items discussed over email constitute terms of employment if they do not make it into an employment contract?

This was the key question in a recent Ontario case.

The facts are brief: the plaintiff was appointed to a position that was understood by the company to be for a temporary period. Three months into the appointment, another individual was appointed to the position on a permanent basis and the plaintiff’s appointment was terminated. The plaintiff sued for, among other things, wrongful dismissal. During the trial, the plaintiff sought to present email evidence setting out pre-contract discussions leading up to the appointment in order to suggest that the contract between him and the company was for a fixed three-year term.  Specifically, he sought to enter into evidence emails in which he committed to a three-year engagement with the company. The company called into question the authenticity of the emails, and their witness, from whom the emails were purportedly sent, denied ever sending the emails to the plaintiff.

Faced with a “he said/she said” situation, the Court’s conclusions were based on credibility. The Court found the plaintiff’s late disclosure of these emails troubling and, coupled with the company’s evidence challenging inconsistencies and errors in the emails, held that the emails were inaccurate. Without the email evidence, the Court concluded that there was no discussion regarding a fixed-term for the contract and thus none existed.

The Court went on to assess the nature of the plaintiff’s services, which it found were contemplated and discussed to be of a temporary nature. The Court went further and held that, based on the fact that the plaintiff invoiced the company for his services, the relationship was that of an independent contractor, disentitling the plaintiff to any reasonable notice of termination.

Had the emails in this case been found to be accurate, they could have been read in as terms of the contract and provided the plaintiff with damages of $262,800 representing the three-year term the plaintiff was claiming. The Court was clear that “correspondence engaged between parties is admissible in evidence regarding the issue of formation of a contract” even where the correspondence is contrary to the employment terms set out in a subsequent contract.

While email correspondence can speed up the recruitment process, it can just as quickly be utilized as a written record against the interests of a company. For this reason, recruiters, human resources professionals and employers in general should exercise caution when relaying proposed terms of a contract to a potential employee online. It should not be assumed that discussions (verbal or via email) prior to the provision of a written employment or independent contractor agreement do not count in defining the relationship between the parties.

Byline:

Parisa Nikfarjam is an employment lawyer with Rubin Thomlinson LLP, a Toronto-based employment law firm. She supports both employee and employer clients with legal counsel in all areas of employment law and workplace human rights. http://www.rubinthomlinson.com/  pnikfarjam@rubinthomlinson.com

Bio:

Parisa Nikfarjam is an employment lawyer with the employment law firm Rubin Thomlinson LLP. Parisa assists clients with challenging workplace issues including: recruitment; accommodation; employee discipline; workplace human rights; workplace harassment and violence; and termination.