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Now the rank and file are ranking

A new Web site lets workers sound off on bosses - not the good, but the bad and the ugly.

By Christina Rexrode, Times Staff Writer
Published August 18, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [John Corbitt | Times]

They're the topic of discreet watercooler rants, the ordainers of an office's ambience and often the main reason why people leave their jobs.

We're talking, of course, about the boss.

And thanks to the Internet, employees with a bad one can vent to a wide audience, not just in undertones to the person in the nearest cubicle.

A Web site called eBossWatch.com, which launched in June with the rousing slogan "Nobody should have to work for a jerk," is one example of this phenomenon. It, like blogged tirades and the AFL-CIO's annual My Bad Boss contest see box, probably won't improve a worker's position. But it sure can make her feel better for a while.

The premise of eBossWatch is this: Workers rank their bosses by six criteria (e.g., "I feel like my boss cares about my career development"). Then, job seekers can check out those rankings before agreeing to work for someone. Ranking the boss is free; seeing a report about one is $3.99.

So far, the site is so new that there are very few rankings. (The company won't release any specifics on the numbers of hits or users. Founder Asher Adelman, 33, will say only that "It's growing very quickly.") The rankings are anonymous, so their credibility is suspect. And there's no room to leave extra comments.

But eBossWatch does hit on an important point. Bosses can't afford to be jerks, not when the economy is in a "war for talent" mode. Unemployment in Florida hit 3.9 percent last month, below the national average. That means that if a worker hates his boss, he can still pack his things and get another one down the street. It might be fun to watch Donald Trump chew out hapless sycophants on The Apprentice, but most people don't actually want to work for someone like him.

Yelling at employees, or ignoring them, or publicly criticizing them, isn't enough to land a boss in the middle of a lawsuit. But it is enough to make employees feel demeaned, and that affects the long-term bottom line.

"Bad bosses are too expensive to keep," said Gary Namie, the president of Work Doctor Inc., a firm in Washington state that advises businesses on how to prevent bullying. "They cost the companies turnover, absenteeism, lawsuits, workers' comp claims and a tarnished reputation."

Wayne Hochwarter, a Florida State University business professor who has studied workplace dynamics extensively, has a theory on why there are so many bad managers: A lot of them were promoted because they were competent at their former job - say, selling cars - but don't have a clue how to manage other people selling cars.

Then, most of the training they get to become managers - which isn't a lot, because training budgets are shrinking everywhere - is futile.

"They do not train them to effectively interact with people," Hochwarter said. "They train them to know who to call if Charlie slips in the warehouse and breaks his ankle."

Fast Facts:

What the study found
Wayne Hochwarter, a professor at Florida State University's business school, oversaw a recent study of more than 700 workers and their opinions on how their bosses treated them.
Among the findings:
- 31 percent said their supervisor gave them the "silent treatment."
- 37 percent said their supervisor failed to give credit when due.
- 39 percent said their supervisor failed to keep promises.
- 27 percent said their supervisor made negative comments about them to other employees or managers.
- 24 percent said their supervisor invaded their privacy.
- 23 percent said their supervisor blames others to cover up mistakes or to minimize embarrassment.

They're the baddest of the bad
Voting ends next week for the second annual My Bad Boss contest, sponsored by the community arm of the AFL-CIO. Vote for one of the six finalists at www.workingamerica.org/badboss. None are from Florida.

Christina Rexrode can be reached at crexrode@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8318.

[Last modified August 17, 2007, 22:34:30]