Bottom up employees: a study of workplace incivility directed towards managers

The management of difficult employees poses a challenge to today's organizations. A phenomenon which is rarely touched upon is that of the difficult employee in a subordinate position who directs his or her workplace incivility towards the manager (in this paper referred to as the Bottom Up Employee ). Eight managers were interviewed to gather and present qualitative data on the perceptions by mangers of a difficult employee within the workplace, the direct psychological impacts on coworkers and managers and the indirect psychological impacts on innocent bystanders caused by the constant contact or indirect relationship with the Bottom Up Employee, respectively, and the best practices to employ within an organization to handle the Bottom up Employee. The results of the interviews confirmed the existence of the Bottom Up Employee and the devastating impacts he or she can have on the manager. The consensus from those managers who dealt firsthand with the Bottom Up Employee was to dismiss rather than to retain the Bottom Up Employee.