Toxic workplace – My boss gets away with murder

Dear Mark,

Hi Mark!
My place of work is a toxic environment. The manager of our office is a minimum of 10 minutes late every day, and takes 75-80 minutes for lunch daily, when only 60 minutes is allotted; she does this even if it means someone else waits for their lunch. She spends countless personal hours on the Internet and text messaging, she will refuse to answer the phone or get up to help clients (I work in a retail environment). Then, she will boast to the boss that she works late into the evening every night, and she has way too many files on the go, but she maybe has 1/4 of the workload we do. She also belittles other employees in front of the owner. Is there a way to let the owner in on all of this in a tactful way?

Thanks,
Jen S., Lethbridge, Alberta

Dear Jen,
What a predicament: it sounds like your boss may be lazy and insecure, yet the company's owner only gets to hear what your boss has to say about you and the other employees. This allows your boss to brag about herself like crazy while putting you and the other employees down if she wants - not a healthy situation.
You haven't mentioned the following details: how long this has been happening, if the company's owner thinks well of you, or whether you scored high on your most recent performance review. All of these are important factors in deciding how to approach the main problem.

No matter how you try to resolve this issue, there are risks involved. Here are three ways you could proceed:

1. Enlist your co-workers as allies. Speak to each of them to see if they agree with your perception of things. Ask if they would be willing to go as a group to meet with the boss or the owner, in order to explain what's been going on and request improved conditions. This deflects the pressure off you as a single employee, and gives more weight to the complaints. But if someone tattles to management that you're organizing behind their backs, you could be in trouble.

2. Have a civilized discussion directly with your boss. Invite her to lunch or schedule an appointment with her. Begin the talk by pointing out some of the good things your boss has done. Then, ask if she can help you out with something: you've noticed that she has a tendency to speak negatively about people and delegate a lot of work, it may be affecting morale, so can she think of ways to improve the situation? This way you get a face-to-face conversation that isn't confrontational. However, the spotlight is entirely on you as the person raising these delicate issues.

3. Speak to the owner directly. You could do this by yourself or with that group of co-workers you've brought together. Here you'd have a chance to inform the owner of your complaints, hoping that they would then instruct your boss to improve her behaviour - except you'd be going over your boss' head, and when she finds out, she's likely to be hopping mad. If the owner favours your boss over you, then your days at the company may be numbered!
You might also consider transferring to another division, or simply biting your tongue for now and hoping for a positive change at some point in the future. If nothing else can be done, you may have to look for a more rewarding job somewhere new, with the goal of finding a work environment that is more fair and not toxic.
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