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What do I do if my boss is a jerk? Well, that’s a great question and it is obviously the topic of this week’s show. We found some pretty interesting research on this topic and one thing that was fascinating is that this topic itself is being researched more now than ever in history. Fascinating! You can hear Katie’s theory as to why she feels that is but for now, let’s talk about this jerk boss of yours.

We talk about a few key points in this week’s show:

-First, what do we mean by a “jerk boss”? This is an important distinction because who doesn’t have a bad day from time to time. Assuming that your boss is human (so many jokes could be made here), then suffice it so say, they are going to have a bad day at some point. But, we’re talking about the more chronic type is scenario in which the boss participates in regular practices of raising their voice (i.e.yelling), ridiculing and being hostile.

-Next, if our boss is in fact a jerk and fits this category, then what do we do? The easy response to tell someone would be to go get a different job but, maybe there are other options.

-And this is the big point. We have options but what we found in our research is that they typical reaction is that employees tend to fight fire with fire and become just as “jerky” as the boss themselves. The other reaction is that people try to avoid their boss. These are normal reactions of course when someone acts hostile towards us and has a lot to do with protecting our psychological well being however, they aren’t the only options. You can read more about the research conducted by Dr. Bennett Tepper from Ohio State University right here.

But we would love to know how you have managed it when your boss was being a jerk? Did you fire back, avoid them or find a way to manage it that made your work more enjoyable?