Let’s pretend you are a supervisor and for some odd reason you want your employees to eventually freak-out, have a nervous breakdown, and/or suddenly quit without notice. With much hesitation, I am providing 21 steps to lead your employees down the road to burnout and the need for a mental health professional.
#1 When interviewing candidates for open positions, provide an unrealistic picture of how wonderful life is in your department.
#2 Disregard all work/life programs in the employee handbook once candidates are hired. Besides, work is their life.
#3 Expect employees to work late every evening, just to make you look good to your supervisor.
#4 Schedule umpteen unnecessary meetings about insignificant issues.
#5 Habitually schedule meetings during the lunch hour just to keep them in the office.
#6 Require your employees to be flexible with company deadlines but don’t allow flexibility around their personal lives.
#7 Treat your employees like company property. Besides, the CEO says employees are the company’s most important asset.
#8 Micromanage your employees.
#9 Rarely provide performance feedback unless they make a mistake.
#10 Yell at your employees. Even better, yell at them when other coworkers are around.
#11 See yourself as the boss, not a leader.
#12 Keep company information a secret from your employees.
#13 Don’t allow your employees to understand how their job fits into the big picture.
#14 Deny most vacation requests.
#15 When employees finally take a vacation, expect them to check-in every day.
#16 Text your employees on Saturday nights and expect an immediate reply.
#17 Expect employees to always answer their cell phone, even on Sunday mornings when they are at church asking God for mercy.
#18 Turn every small issue into a crisis so that every day is like a fire drill.
#19 Delay decisions on important employee issues.
#20 Never discuss your personal life or ask employees about their family.
#21 Act like you really don’t care about the employee as a person.
