A recent Gallup poll of one million people identified abusive or incompetent managers as the most common reason why workers quit their jobs. Public indignation at bad bosses in general is starting to peak. According to the article at the link below, "Nasty, insensitive bosses...have always been out there, but in the past several years, stories about them...have reached a kind of critical mass in the media, as more and more working people vent about maltreatment in the workplace." Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, has been running a Bad Boss contest on its website for several weeks now and has received an unexpectedly large volume of entries. The director of Working America, Karen Nussbaum, cited some examples. One man, a recent winner, related how he was allowed no time off when his father died, and was even billed $200 for the flowers that his company perfunctorily sent to the funeral. Nussbaum emphasized that the "bad boss" tales of previous years had generally been light and humorous. Recently there have been not only more such tales, they were also darker and angrier, expressing true grievances. We can only hope that the tide is turning in the public consciousness, and that mounting outrage at managerial abuse will eventually force changes in the corporate world.

"Bad bosses take toll on workers' health, sanity" from Times Herald-Record