Write a Letter of Complaint about Your Bad Boss?
Don’t even think about it!
Organizations will almost always support the higher level employee to avoid legal liability. If they agree or side with you, they admit their guilt in not managing your boss—and that ain’t gonna happen.
Instead, write your complaint memo to your boss. Include description of incidents (what actually occurred), dates, times, actual quotes of things that were said, and the impact your boss’s behavior has on business results. This last point is the most important. Don’t make it about you—discuss the issue in terms of how it hurts the company.
If your boss continues to be a problem, write a second memo (keep copies of all of these memos in a secure location away from your workplace). If you must write a third memo, include a note on the memo that a copy has been sent to a Human Resources Manager (name the manager)—and send that manager a copy of the letter. Make sure it says “this is my third request of you to address this issue” or words to that effect. Always demonstrate that you are trying to work with your boss to resolve issues, not against your boss.
For an example of this type of memo, go to the Tips for Dealing with Bad Bosses page at the BigBadBoss.com Web site and read Tip #2, "How to Writer a Letter of Complaint to Your Boss."
