Worker Explains The 6 Things Her ‘Micromanaging’ Boss Did That Made Her Quit
She liked every other aspect of her job apart from her micromanaging boss.
Ground Picture / Shutterstock When it comes to working a full-time job, the relationship that you cultivate with your boss can have a drastic impact on your overall productivity and happiness at a company.
Kate (@8kateee on TikTok) shared that she loved the company she previously worked for but ended up quitting entirely because of her boss's tendency to micromanage.
Here are the 6 things her 'micromanaging' boss did that made her quit:
1. Her boss emailed Kate whenever she left her desk.
In Kate's video, she explained that micromanagers have the ability to completely ruin your experience at work and even your life outside of it.
"I quit my last job solely because I had a micromanager even though I liked the company," Kate said in her video. "I liked the work, I liked every single other person I worked with, but I had a micromanager."
One of the first signs of micromanagement from Kate's former boss was her practice of sending emails with "read receipts" on Outlook if Kate's status on Teams ever went yellow, indicating that she had stepped away from her desk.
Whenever Kate stepped away from her desk — even just for five minutes to go to the bathroom — she received an email from her boss. “She would send me an email and be like ‘Hi Kate, just checking in. And it would have a read receipt on it, which means that it sends her a notification when I opened the email, so she would know exactly when I got back to my computer,” Kate recalled.
At some point, Kate's boss even made her employees log their bathroom breaks too.
2. Kate's boss monitored how long she stayed at events, even outside of work hours.
Because Kate's boss was fully remote and not in the Florida office, "she had to get creative with her micromanaging."
"I was at a [work] party that was after work and I stayed for an hour and left. On Monday, she emailed me and was like, 'We need to talk about how long you stay at events,'" Kate said. Her boss had asked Kate's coworkers and people at the party how long she'd stayed before leaving.
3. Her boss asked to be CC'd on every single email Kate would send.
Kate worked as a project manager for the unnamed company, and a lot of her role included sending emails to various recipients. Her boss required Kate to CC her on every single email and called her out if she didn't abide.
"I was sending a lot of emails to team leaders and other managers," Kate recalled in her follow-up video. "Also at this point, I was two years post-grad, so I was trying to establish some credibility. I was the youngest person working there and I looked like a little [expletive] who had to CC her mom on everything for help."
4. Kate's boss implemented 'core hours' that she couldn't ignore.
Kate was told by her boss that she needed to adhere to something called "core hours" which were from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Those were the hours that Kate was required to clock in and out every day.
"I'd never even heard of core hours," Kate admitted. Nevertheless, she agreed with the implementation, and usually, when traffic was lighter, she'd get to work at 7:15 a.m. and leave by 4:15 p.m. However, if traffic was heavier and she got to work at 7:40 a.m., then she'd stay longer to make up for it and leave by 4:40 p.m.
Unfortunately, her boss found that unacceptable. "She sent me an email and said we needed to discuss my core hours," Kate shared.
When Kate went to discuss the matter, her boss informed her that she noticed some days Kate would leave at 4:15 p.m., and others she'd leave at 4:40 p.m. Her boss emphasized that it didn't matter how early she arrived at work, she was required to stay until 4:30 every day.
Kate compared this to her previous jobs, where her bosses expected her to get her work done but didn't care beyond that. "I mean, they were paying us to be there full-time, so they expected us to be there eight hours, but the exact eight hours didn't really matter,” she said.
5. Her boss allegedly checked her badge swipes into the building every day.
After being told by her boss that she wasn't allowed to clock in and out past her "core hours," Kate questioned how she even knew what time she was arriving at the building since her boss worked fully remotely. After talking with some of her coworkers though, they deduced that their boss was likely checking their badge swipes.
"We had to badge in and out of the office like literally every single time we came in and out," Kate said. "They said it was for security, but people had warned me that she was checking our badge swipes and seeing when we were coming and going." There were also cameras that some of Kate's coworkers claimed weren't just for security.
6. Her boss read some of her employees' text messages.
Kate recalled the first time that she had bonded with one of her coworkers over some of their boss' tendencies. It was on a team call when Kate was informed about an alleged thing that her boss had been doing.
"He warned me and said, 'Yeah, I don't know if this is true but I've heard she reads our messages. I've been wanting to talk to you about this,'" Kate said.
Micromanaged employees are much more likely to quit.
According to HR Drive, nearly three out of four workers say micromanagement raises the biggest red flag about a workplace. No one wants to be micromanaged, and 70% of employees consider changing jobs if they experience this behavior.
Per LinkedIn, 70% of employees say that micromanagement has decreased their morale and 55% say micromanagement hurts their productivity.
Furthermore, micromanagement causes burnout. Employees want to feel as if they are trusted in the workplace and strive for a sense of independence, which micromanagers don't tend to provide.
All a micromanager does is erode trust between them and their employees. The costs of micromanagement, in terms of talent loss and a decrease in workplace morale, are simply too high to ignore.
According to Kate, "You’ll never regret leaving a toxic manager."
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.