By LUKE ANAMI

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To some employees, the thought of going to work next year makes them depressed, tired and angry, courtesy of working with a toxic boss. While it may have been a relief to work away from the office due to Covid-19 restrictions, some employees fear going back to work come January due to the toxic work environment.

“Every Monday morning, I would hide whenever the CEO walked in,” said executive secretary, Agatha.

Though it may be a relief, a boss who loves to micro-manage is likely to do the same at home.

“She would pick unnecessary quarrels on a Mondays, ranging from how I dressed, my hairstyle, shoes, and why I did not complete office assignment on Friday night.”

Agatha who works in a blue chip firm hates attending meetings with her boss.

“Of the 50 minutes in a meeting, my boss talks non-stop for 49 minutes. It is a ‘top-down’ meeting, with no room for discussion. Your opinion does not matter.”

To Agatha, the Covid-19 restrictions had offered a reprieve, working from home, physically away from her boss.

But she is now worried that come 2021, she will have to face her overbearing boss again.

While many factors contribute to toxic workplace behaviour, Kenyan employment laws are defective, silent and allow workers to suffer toxic bosses.

“Covid-19 has exposed the ineffectiveness of our labour laws. For instance, there are few sections in the Employment Act 2007 catering for employees in a toxic work environment,” said Betty Opolo, a Labour Law expert and Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.

Section 12 of the Employment Act 2007, requires that an organisation with 50 or more employees should have grievance handling procedures.

“The essence of having such procedures is that an employee who experiences harassment at the work place can document the events and seek redress with the HR department and the courts,” Ms Opolo explained.

While employment laws do not adequately address how to deal with a toxic boss, an employee can still seek redress after leaving his or her job. The onus of proof in this form of employment termination, unlike in other termination, lies with the employee.

Available remedies

“The current labour laws are the most progressive that we have and there are remedies for employees who work in very toxic environments,” says Boniface Masinde, an advocate.

- A characteristic of toxic bosses is that they don’t want to go on leave. They love to micromanage and delegation is a disease worthy to avoid!

- It is often said that an employee quits a bad boss. Employees are more likely to leave when the workplace culture doesn’t offer anything good except for negativity, stress, poor morale, and miscommunication.

- If you have been at your workplace for nearly a year now and you have seen countless people leave the job, thus a high employee turnover, it is a sign of a toxic workplace.

- Terrible corporate values that completely disregard work-life balance could contribute to a toxic environment.