A toxic work culture is the biggest reason why people quit their jobs, but the red flags aren't always visible. According to a new survey by job site Monster, 73 percent of professionals consider micromanagement as the number one sign to watch out for when it comes to toxic workplaces.
Another 46 percent identified it as a reason they would quit, the survey conducted on more than 6,000 workers in the US, found.
Micromanagement often stems from a manager's lack of trust and confidence in their colleagues, Monster career expert Vicki Salemi told CNBC Make It. And trust issues between the two parties “have only worsened” as remote and hybrid work gain popularity, she added. Moreover, research suggests that bosses don’t always trust employees to be productive when working remotely.
But micromanaging can happen on different levels at a workplace and confronting a micromanager can get “messy, fast” if you aren’t tactful in your approach, Salemi said. Instead, she suggested a compromise.
For example, if your boss demands you send progress reports on a project every day, or asks to be copied on all emails to a client, you can request a weekly report instead. Here's a career expert-approved way to go about it, as per CNBC Make It: “With all due respect, that would create additional work for me and means more time spent away from the project. What if I send a weekly progress report instead of a daily report? That would help me focus more. I also hope that you trust me enough to do well on this assignment. If anything urgent pops up, you’ll be the first to know, but I’m sure you get a ton of emails as it is, and I don’t want to inundate you with more.”
Another way of going about it if you're not comfortable bringing this up with your boss is to set up a meeting with a trusted contact in the HR department. “Outline some of your concerns and tell them, ‘I believe my boss is micromanaging me, and I’m hoping to alleviate that as I love working here. What do you recommend?’” Salemi told the publication.
Meanwhile, Suzy Welch, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, offered a third approach: Over-communicate with a micromanager until they trust you more, and give you more space to work.
“Tell them what you’re doing all the time,” she told CNBC Make It in 2019. “Eliminate every possible surprise.. and most important of all, don’t screw up.”
Read more: Indian employees experience low levels of wellbeing at the workplace: Survey
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