Do you feel like you are dependent on the whims of your boss, manager or supervisor? Are you taking too much work home with you? Do you use your break to continue working? Do you do nothing but work to keep your boss happy? Do you still enjoy going to work or do you feel sick when you go to work? Are you afraid of your boss? Is the balance between work and free time completely out of balance? Do you suffer from a major increase in stress at work?
What is it?
What is boss stress? Boss stress is stress that you feel arising as soon as you have to deal with your boss (or manager). Boss stress is the stress you feel coming up because you are too dependent on the whims, anger and dissatisfaction of your boss. Boss stress is stress that is caused because you have no idea (anymore) how to protect yourself against your boss.
Stand up to the boss
When do you know it’s time to stand up to the boss’s whims? If:
- You are too dependent on the whims of your boss,
- You take too much work home, every day,
- You use every break to continue working,
- You have so much work to do that you have to ask which work is most important,
- Your boss does nothing other than give you the idea that everything you do is wrong,
- Your boss does nothing but criticize you and your work (even if you do good work!)
- If you suspect your boss is a narcissist,
- You are given too many responsibilities in the workplace,
- You still have the greatest difficulty getting out of bed,
- The workload is too high and your boss thinks you are doing too little,
- The deadlines are really too short and are actually inhumane,
- You do nothing but work late instead of being at home,
- You are drowning in the chaos and confusing disorder that prevails in the workplace,
- You have the greatest difficulty concentrating,
- You don’t really care about your work anymore,
- You get nervous when the boss enters the workplace,
- You get palpitations when you have to deal with your boss,
- You don’t get promotion opportunities despite your hard work,
- You don’t get any recognition from your boss,
- You will indeed, out of sheer misery, make more mistakes at work.
Characteristics
What are the first signs that cause you to become stressed as soon as you have to deal with your boss?
- You get nervous when you see the boss,
- You get palpitations when you see the boss,
- You break out in a sweat when your boss enters the workplace,
- If you start to have major concentration problems,
- If you start making more mistakes with your work,
- If you start to become more forgetful,
- If you notice major changes in your behavior and emotions,
- If you start worrying about your boss,
- You need more hours to complete all the work,
- If you go out of your way to avoid your boss,
- You don’t dare say no to your boss.
Solution
What are the solutions? What you need to do when you are dealing with real boss stress is to arm yourself against:
- Take extra work home and
- Overtime.
How?
How do you do that? You do this by:
- To spend your precious time honestly between your family and between your boss and work,
- By asking your boss which tasks should be completed first. This way, your boss cannot expect you to hand in other work first!
- By realizing that you as an employee have obligations but also rights! If your working day ends at 6 p.m., you can be at the gym with your friends at 7 p.m.!
- Improve the relationship with your boss.
Improve relationship
Ok, that sounds logical, but how do you improve the relationship with your boss, while you can actually shoot the boss?
- By meeting your boss’s expectations: you should try to find out what exactly your boss wants from you, what does the boss want from you? Does he want that specific report on his desk on Monday? Doing!
- An open door, but changing departments is a way to improve the relationship: to work in another department you no longer have anything to do with him or her,
- Another open door: change jobs, although this is not always easy,
- Discuss with a coach (is there a coach present at work?) whether there are ways in which the boss can change the working method (especially if there are several colleagues who have the greatest difficulty with the boss, the alarm should be raised). become!)
- You can’t change the boss, but you can change your behavior: ask him or her open questions and stay calm. If the boss does not answer, repeat the question again and indicate why the question is important to you.
- Ask yourself why it is so difficult for you to receive criticism. Is it difficult because the criticism is unfair? Is it difficult because you don’t dare to stand up for yourself? You can always stand up for yourself, but stay calm!
GP
If you develop unpleasant physical complaints when dealing with your boss, making an appointment with your doctor is recommended! Sound the alarm!