Bad boss 'may ruin your family life'

Melbourne, Mar 5 (ANI): Having a bad boss not only has negative impact on mental and physical health of employees, but also on the well-being of their family, researchers say.

According to a study by Dr Nicolas Gillet and his team from Universite Francois Rabelais in France, over-controlling managers who use threats as a way to motivate employees frustrate our basic needs for autonomy, a sense of competence, and how we relate to others, the Age reported.

This, in turn, is likely to have a negative effect on our wellbeing.

Even though these findings may not be surprising, but it is apparently the first study that gives evidence for the mediating role of need satisfaction in the relationships between perceptions of a supervisor's inter-personal style and a worker's wellbeing.

In certain cases, a worker can become so ill as to be at risk of a heart attack.

A Swedish study revealed that the more a worker feels their boss is incompetent, the higher chance they have of having a heart attack.

Clinical Psychologist, Jo Lamble insisted that she sees a number of patients suffering as a result of supervisor workplace bullying.

"They are showing all the signs of stress including sleep difficulties, irritability, poor concentration and decision making, drug and alcohol abuse (to self-medicate), loss of confidence and anger," she said.

And a recent study from Baylor University found that the stress and tension caused by an abusive boss at work filters through to an employee's personal relationships at home.

"Our study showed how the job incumbent carries that over to the family through greater work-family conflict and by experiencing more relationship tension with the spouse. As a result this harms the family as the job incumbent is more tense and less able to engage fully in the family life," Dr Dawn Carlson author of the study, Professor of Management, said.

Jo Lamble insisted that the findings come as no surprise.

"We spend so much time at work, so if work is unpleasant, then it will affect our mood and can make us irritable and intolerant when we get home," she said.

"Many people who work for a bad boss will feel the need to vent about it when they come home, which can become very tiring for the family who start wishing you would talk about anything else," she added.

The study has been published in the Journal of Business and Psychology. (ANI)