More Evidence of the Total Cost of Assholes: Abused Workers Make More Mistakes, Slack-off, and Hide From Their Bosses

The evidence that workplace assholes generate a host of costs for organizations keeps piling-up.  A new survey of 180 employees by Professor Wayne Hochwarter and his colleagues at The University of Florida adds more items to the "Total Cost of Assholes."  A recent summary of this research by Jenna Bryner at LiveScience reports:

"Employees with difficult bosses checked out in the following ways:

• 30 percent slowed down or purposely made errors, compared with 6 percent of those not reporting abuse.
• 27 percent purposely hid from the boss, compared with 4 percent of those not abused.
• 33 percent confessed to not putting in maximum effort, compared with 9 percent of those not abused.
• 29 percent took sick time off even when not ill, compared with 4 percent of those not abused.
• 25 percent took more or longer breaks, compared with 7 percent of those not abused."
  

Sure, I suppose, employees shouldn't make mistakes on purpose and they should put in maximum effort. But this research -- like it or not -- is consistent with a huge body of research on justice and fairness in the workplace, which shows that when employees feel "cheated" or treated unfairly (e.g., getting unfair pay cuts) they "get even" by doing their jobs less well, even stealing more according to some studies. In addition, hiding, taking sick time, and taking longer breaks are all ways that people use -- and are sometimes wise to use -- to cope with abusive boss that they can't escape, as I imply on my list of tips.