Has a long history of treating people badly, imposing his ideas on everything, poor communications, inadequate briefs, rejecting anyone else's ideas, snidey undermining comments. Is publically acknowledged he's a problem child but sadly he's a good salesman and the company needs the money. No-one will work with him any longer. sadly he's my boss so if I refuse to work with him, I have no job.
have spoken to head of dept before but he's taken very little action. It's starting to come to a head now as a very well respected member of the dept has joined the team and has also got major issues. The guy pushed someone to tears last week which has also raised the profile of the problem. He also walked out of my appraisal last week to run some errand. I've raised this with the Head Of and asked to report into him instead.
The essential problem is the guy's being a control freak bully and senior management are scared to do anything about it as the guy brings in a lot of money. However I've had enough and need to find a way to get senior management to help me out. going in there and telling them the guy's a total c&nt is obviously not goign to help me… 🙂

HR department?

we don't have an HR dept :-(. Only 50 people in the company.

Point out that he may be good, but the wider loss of productivity from the people he upsets is greater.

give clear evidence that without his interference/behaviour, the workforce would cover the revenue he brings in and the company would be a more pleasant place to be for everyone

It sounds like things may sort themselves out if you can bide your time as other members of staff are slowly getting fed up and may revolt. Similar situation with me(he isn't my boss and works in a different department). As a last resort, you may want to look into getting signed off with "stress". If a number of people do this, then the management will be forced to investigate.

It sounds anal, but everyone affected needs to document as many instances as possible where his behaviour has been unprofessional. The only way for action to be forced upon him is if you can provide evidence of the problems.

Sorry but I have to say it – JOIN A UNION!

Document everything and encourage your co workers to do the same. Report formally in writing every incident but the most minor.

Check your companies policies – if they don't have any to cover this then that alone might get cause the company issues

Confront him but only with a witness. Never ever be alone with him – always a witness – explain to his boss why you are doing this.

http://www.worksmart.org.uk/rights/viewsubsection.php?sun=22

Find a Leadership training course which deals with managing behaviours and send a suggestion to him that he should go on it.

If he asks why, tell him that everyone thinks he's a c***.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLcsPgYrZ9Q

brooess how does the Manager interact/act towards female members of staff?

My advice is be structured in your approach as the law is most definiely on your side.

1. build a portolio of evidence, keep a diary and be specific about what it is you're objecting too. Simply saying he is a tool is not enough. Get witness statements to support your case. Relate your evidence where possible to failures to follow procedure or contraventions of your T&Cs or role description. Review you're notes regularly, after the heat of the moment and ask yourself are they really that serious, if the answer is yes, proceed.

2. Lodge a formal grievance. Check out the ACAS web site for the guidelines. They are not forced to follow these guidelines but if they don't and lose in a tribunal, the penalty is increased by 25%.

3. If you lose the greivance, appeal. If they deviate from the guideline procedure, appeal. Again the appeals process is on the ACAS site.

4. If you are treated differently after the greivance (negatively) then repeat the greivance process.

5. If it is still doesn't get any better and you resign, you can sue them for constructive dismissal, citing the failure to follow proper procedure and failure in theire duty of care as an employer. Even if you have another job to go to you can still sue for contructive dismissal.

6. If you are dismmissed you can sue for wrongful dismissal. Again citing failure to follow procedure and, using all your documented evidence, bullying and a failure in their duty of care.

My advise is make sure your greivances are well founded and not just you don't like the guy. If there is real evidence that you are being poorly treated you have a could case.

Look for a new job. When you get a new job, quit and make sure that the manager's manager is clear that you are quitting directly because of this guy.

I had a job like this once, and of a team of 6 when I started, 4 of them (plus me) quit in the year that I was there, all directly due to the boss being a ****. The bosses boss didn't work this out (despite it being made very clear to him why the people were leaving). In my experience senior management tend to be pretty useless in this kind of situation, because management people don't think in the long term, like 'how will our software development team work if we have a 70% turnover rate each year, and are more focused on avoiding the immediate hassle that having to sack or discipline a member of staff would cause. Unless the job is the best job in the world, I'd be sending out my CV.

Joe

There is a better way and less damaging to you or your future standing.

Send an anonymous email to the MD laying out your case, stating you feel it would be damaging to the company (fighting unfair dismissal etc etc can cost circa £10k+ in legal fees).

I'd try that method first.

@ joe

A little bit of a seeping statement there.

Having handled countless disciplinary and greivance meetings I'd like to think I manage these situations to the benefit of both the business and the individuals involved. Please don't tar all managers with the same brush. (although I do agree with the sentiment that MOST managers are pretty crap at this kind of thing.)

Disagree with Hora, anonymous letters etc could be seen negatively if it went to tribunal and would more than likely piss off both the manager and his boss.

Be open and honest and follow the correct procedure as that is what you are expecting of them.

i had a very similar problem, if you dont have aHR dept like us, just go to the next senior manager and put a formal complaint in, they HAVE TO follow strict guidelines.

they thought i was taking the p*ss and just 'spouting off' until i produced a 12 page word doc with a list of 'events' with the problem manager.

once they realised i was serious they had to follow a set plan, the manager has been told not to contact me directly which suits me fine.

if you havent already, start writing everything down and keep examples of emails etc.

it s matter of time before a- the company goes down or b- i find the right job (cant afford to jump form the frying pan into the fire baby on the way)

email me if you want and i can send you a few things

Good advice from poisenspider

poisonspider – agree but they dont have a HR dept etc. The OP could easily be seen as a troublesome employee compared to this 'cashcow'.

Going to a tribunal is not easy and they can take their time to be resolved. I know one lad who took his employer to tribunal for unfair dismissal back in the beginning part of 2009 and only now has the wording etc been agreed to his satisfaction. I'm not sure on the legal ins and outs but he couldnt have a reference before it was resolved and had to make us aware that he was in the tribunal process etc.

Ps. He didnt get 'compensation' or a big payout either. Just some form of costs/settlement. I dont think this is anywhere near his lost year of employment or the stress he suffered.

I can't see this ending well.

Life is too short and if there are that few people in your business it's likely that the management team know exactly what the issue is and are choosing not to deal with it.

They are most likely regarding their sales guy as the goose that lays the golden egg and are unlikely to want to get rid of him.

My advice is if it is so unbearable that you can't stand it, leave and tell them why upon exit.

If you cause them to have to deal with it it's likely to result in a reprimand for him, no satisfaction on your part and the making of an influencial enemy.

Your colleagues are likely to melt away if you ask them for backup and it will probably end being up your word agaist his.

Life isn't fair, business is even less fair and I think you know what is and isn't realistic.

Sorry to be a doomsayer but I've seen enough of this crap to know it's not worth pursuing unless the individual in question is rubbish at what they do giving management an incentive to get rid, not the case here.

Simply put if he brings in the business they aren't going to bin him.

A tribunal is a last resort. If the OP has good solid evidence then he should start with a grievance first. The fact that there is no official HR department doesn't mean you can't follow this procedure. The greivance can be submitted to anyone in a senior position. They have a legal obligation to consider it, HR department or not.

@jools

the objective shouldn't be for him to be sacked. It should be for him to modify his behaviour. If the OP initiates a greivance with the intention of getting this guy the sack then it will most certainly fail. He must make it clear that his objective is simply for him to be treated better.

Join a union, please. Business ain't fair and typical of a small firm in the UK things get ignored, move on to pastures new as joolsburger suggested.

If I joined a union at my place (similar sized place) the boss would just laugh at me as he drove by in his Bentley or Range Rover chav sport!

freeridenick – a union gives you access to professional support for the cost of your membership up to legal representation. In situations like this they can be very useful no matter the size of the organisation.

Joolsburger, you're right and everyone in the business knows it. I'm having a stab at getting senior management to change my line of reporting so he no longer has any direct control. If not then I'll start looking. I was looking a few weeks ago but stopped cos it looked like things were getting better. But people don't change that easily, I've worked with him for years, he's plenty of previous, his last employer set the lawyers onto him because he stole business from them!

PoisonSpider, as angry as I am that he continues to be allowed to treat people so badly, my objective is to be allowed to do my job – this is supposed to be my dream job. No desire to destroy him. Although I know from a previous conversation he likes the idea of destroying people!

Moving job solves nothing – the idiot remains a PITA for everyone else as well. The only option IMO *is* to put in a grievance, etc as PS has described, and force the management to get their hand out of their arse. That's why the legislation's there, ffs..

brooess – poisonspider' reesponse is spot on. Lodge a formal grievence with HR, but only after you collected the evidence (again poisonspider's advice) is spot on. You have to be 'crystal clear' of evidence of bullying and intimidation. It is a serious offence.

If you do lodge a grievence it won't be a pretty, so be prepapred for repercussions; counter accusation of poor performance or other such disciplinary issues he'll dream-up.

Understand who your facing as well e.g. visit bullyonline.org to assess the personality traits and prepare yourself.

You have to think of this from 2 perspectives:

1). long term in terms of your health – stress. Persistant confrontation with and individual conducting this sort of behaviour will cause negative stress and will make you ill! The company has a duty of care to protect you from such individuals. You'll find many companys, as many here have already stated, are crap at it. Unless the company is large the precedures, and due process will predominantly be weak, as most people don;t get it, are weak, or don't know how to deal with it appropriately to protect their personnel and it gets gets complicated.
2). Unless you love your company and intend to be there for the rest of your life, commence the process to leave by your own accord. Trust me, no job is worth the ill health casued by bullies. Depression, caused by stress is destructive not only on you, your health, your confidence and your reputation, but also on your family and friends.

If you wish to know more drop me a line on n-price@btconnect.com
as I have direct experience of removing such an individual. it was painful to say the least.

Be strong, keep a record and encourage others affected by this individual to do the same. Evidence of a pattern formed across a range of individuals is proof and the company will be forced to act. Use your rights the law is on your side!

Regards

Nigel

Keep in touch and let me know how you get on.

Nigel above is probably right in that you may encounter accusations of poor performance etc. However, this would only strenghten your case for constructive dismissal if there is no evidence of these issues being raised previously through formally documented performance reviews. They would also have to prove that his behaviour is reasonable and appropriate to trying to manage a poorly performing employee (this would be VERY difficult for them to prove as bullying and intimidation are not acceptable means of managing performance)

Sorry to be negative again. I worked for a company for five years and was their top performer every year. The owner was a confirmed man-hater and made my life very difficult in the 5th year. She abruptly fired me and I had great grounds for unfair dismissal. However I took legal advice and thought better to just move on as there were potential ripple-effects short-medium term and I wanted to move on asap rather than dwell in negativity of the situation.

Agree Hora but I like my job. it's supposed to be my dream job, i've been wanting to do it for years and don't give up so easily. Plus the market ain't too good at the moment.
re female employees, not liked in the slightest. We have a lot of very bright and capable female employees here, he doesn't get on with them v well but other than this crying incidence last week, no pattern of outright prejudice or misogyny

In the last company I worked for one of the senior Managers (in a different part of the business, but I did witness it) was very abusive to a junior in public (he also had history). I had a quick chat with one of the Directors, along the lines of "we need to be careful as he's overstepping the line a bit – we may get HR problems from some of the younger ladies".

He is/was a great asset to the business, but the Director needed to know, and I know (from his PA) that they had a quiet 'chat' – and he calmed down just enough. But he will do it again…

So for me, maybe if you don't have a relationship at a very senior level, talk to a Directors/Owners PA?

Seems as if he is suffering from STRESS,or strangely he may be haveing problems with his sexuality,he trys to control the men as he doesnt want to be seen as weak by them,and doesnt like the women so much as he likes the men,so uses the shouty agressive behaviour as his shield to stop getting to close to anybody,he sees customers not as workmates but as aqauntances,that provide him with support and agreement, he does deals for them and they place orders.

Is he married,has he a girlfreind, and does he have any mutually ameanable hobbies you could chat or partake in.

One word: constructive dismissal

If you want this job that badly then I would buy a voice recorder and record all private meetings ( Dont use this unless you have to but it's handy to have), keep a log of all the shitty incidents for a month and any you can clearly document from the past including dates and times. Most importantly get your affected colleagues to sign the letter.

I anm very serious about the fact that all your backup will disappear when they feel their jobs under any threat and unless your indispensable why go it alone?

It's a fact that workplace bullies exist and it's also a fact that they usually get away with it unless it's a very large corporate.

I had something where subordiante colleague was physically attacked by their line manager on a works do and came to me for help, management got rid of the attacked and kept the attacker. Oh, And I got in in the arse for supporting him.

Small companies are not the same.

Brooes .- You dont work for the same insurance company as my brother? A high flying salesguy got smashed at a christmas party and ended up fighting with his collgues and had to be ejected by the door staff. He ended up getting a promotion , pay rise , better company vehicle . You can imagine how the other members of staff felt / feel .
I got called an 'ignorant c*nt' twice at work yesterday because I didnt know the answer to a question , and apparently 'I don't know' is not an acceptable answer.
I would try to build a case against this manager. Does he have a temper? Try to just annoy him a little , not in a nasty way. Maybe he will loose it infront of your collegues. Write everything down, do you have cctv, or webcams to record him, as it might come down to your word against his. Then at least you can say "well, if you dont believe me take a look at this "

not an insurance co, no. There is a school of thought which says promote the idiots out of harm's way, which sounds applicable to your brother's co 🙂

I am building a case. There's a huge body of evidence from the way he treats people across the company, there's no way it's me vs him. He was forced to apologise this week for making someone cry cos he was so rude. I was asked to participate in his 360 review and I've spoken to the Head Of before so it's been given to them in writing before, just not as forcefully. When I put the body of evidence in front of them they won't be able to deny it. but previous tactic was simply to do f*ck all. This time I'll hopefully force them into acknowledging they have a problem and they have to help me with it

I got called an 'ignorant c*nt' twice at work yesterday because I didnt know the answer to a question , and apparently 'I don't know' is not an acceptable answer.

Wow. I used to have stand up balling-out arguments with a boss I worked with. Afterwards we were fine. I don't know how I'd react if someone said that to me. Thats bloody terrible (and I work in sales!).

I don't work in an IT environment, I work for a small engineering company with no HR dept. If you don't pull your weight your sacked, not out of malice but because the company is not in a position to carry anybody. If anybody called me an ignorant cu#t for any reason even the MD I'd tear his #ucking head off. It's time for some people on here to MTFU!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sheeps-Clothing-Understanding-Dealing-Manipulative/dp/096516960X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265486091&sr=8-1

for anyone reading this thread cos they're in a similar situation, I've got this book on the way from Amazon. should be interesting reading1

Keep all your mailings and replies of complaints.

Then record him on camera.

Sue work later on.