Editor’s note: A master’s student from Carleton University in Ottowa, Canada, is researching psychopaths in the workplace. She invited Lovefraud readers to participate in her research, and many of you did. Below are her preliminary findings.
Backstabbing bosses and callous co-workers: An examination of the experience of working with a psychopath.
Very little research has been conducted on the phenomenon of corporate psychopathy or victims of psychopaths. This study was one of the first to take a victimcentric approach to study how psychopaths behave in a workplace.
The purpose of the study was to better understand the effects (mental, physical, financial, social) of working with an individual who possesses psychopathic traits. We also wanted to determine how psychopaths interact with their peers in a work environment.
Several research questions were created prior to data collection to help understand the experience of working with a psychopathic colleague. Based on these questions, we found:
1)Â Â Â Â Emotional harm was the most common type of harm reported by participants, followed by physical consequences as a result of working with the psychopath, and financial harm.
2)Â Â Â Â The psychopath most often used relational manipulation to harm their colleagues. This refers to any social means used to undermine or control the victim and included behaviours such as: lying, manipulation, deceit, spreading rumours, public humiliation and turning colleagues against one another.
3)Â Â Â Â Most participants had a good first impression of the psychopath and described him or her as charismatic, outgoing, sociable, engaging, good looking, and articulate.
4)Â Â Â Â Most participants suspected they worked with a psychopath after witnessing the psychopath interact with others in the workplace. Others knew their colleague was a psychopath after being victimized or researching the behaviours they observed.
5)Â Â Â Â Most participants reported receiving support from their friends and family. Receiving support from work colleagues was the second most common source of support.
6)Â Â Â Â Emotional support was the most common type of support received and other types of support included: tangible support, informational support, spiritual support, and financial support.
7)Â Â Â Â Participants with psychopathic superiors have lower job satisfaction than participants with a psychopathic peer or subordinate.
8)Â Â Â Â High rates of workplace bullying, perpetrated by the psychopath, were reported by study participants.
The findings revealed that the experience of working with a psychopath is negative and has the potential to be very emotionally harmful to victims. These findings have important implications for human resource personnel as they emphasize the consequences of employing an individual with psychopathic traits. Almost all survivors reported some level of harm due to their relationship with the psychopath, however, coping and support helped to alleviate some of the effects. The results highlight the heterogeneity present in the experiences of victims of corporate psychopaths.
I would like to thank you again for your participation and for bravely sharing your story.
G1S:
Hmmmm, your workplace sounds somewhat like my former workplace. It’s enough to make your head explode. I was so fortunate to get out of there and leave it all behind. I’m so very sorry you have to work under those conditions. It is extremely stressful.
I will write more tomorrow about Andrew Bagby and Shirley Turner. She was a complete psycho. Very tragic story. I thought you may have heard of it since it was out of Canada.
G1S,
It sounds like you should be promoted to me. You have the right mindset. Is it possible?
I am such an underutilized resource there. I doubt they’re going to promote me. They don’t really understand what I do for a living.
I’ve been filling my time writing letters and assembling documents for agencies investigating my son’s P father and for the child support enforcement people.
It’s been a blessing. Can keep that toxic stuff out of the house and go home to down time when I get there. And, I look busy! Saves on printer ink, too.
G1S,
Well you are seeing the silver lining! Good for you!
Yes that toxic stuff has filled my home as it was where my business is/was. That has been a very destructive part of my yuck but it has also been one of the only reasons I am not homeless so it’s a double edged sword. I did get a lot of it organized again recently. I had to move my home and business twice since psycho was released from prison as I was on his no contact victim notification list. So I ran from my home of 15 years (child in tow) at the time and then after almost 2 years, I came back defeated, spent and unravelled. Once I realized the no contact order meant nothing in family court and family law was not law, I just came back. I’d like nothing more than to have a large bon fire in the backyard as I have boxes and notebooks full of legal documents but I can’t………..YET.
Somehow, I missed this but since the findings are preliminary, I will reach out to the researcher.
My last manager is a sociopath. He will lie, cheat and manipulate to advance his career. His favorite mode of operation is blame.
This person is so vile I have seen him praise a person to his face then back stab that person immediately when out of hearing range. He does not challenge senior management and only tells them want they want to hear. While ultimately forced into a voluntary layoff, he did quite find and now is the chief technology officer of a company in Seattle.
His incompetence directly cost my former employer millions, some of that being the money I won from them over an illegal termination. However, I bet his golden parachute was far more than my settlement.
G1s,
You said:
“I’ve been filling my time writing letters and assembling documents for agencies investigating my son’s P father and for the child support enforcement people.
It’s been a blessing. Can keep that toxic stuff out of the house and go home to down time when I get there. And, I look busy! Saves on printer ink, too.”
I’m glad that you have time at your paid job to work on your personal issues, but I would not think that would give you any feeling of job security. While you may indeed be an “under utilized resource,” I think I would be out looking for another job. I doubt that the company will keep on paying you to do your personal research forever no matter how “busy” you are able to look, so either you will have to start being UTILIZED by the company or they will let you go.
No, Oxy, I do NOT have any feeling of job security. Nobody does.
People have been bailing out when they can find something else. Our financial person gave her notice after six months. She can’t handle the place.
I have been looking for work elsewhere for some time. I have a lead. I also applied for three jobs elsewhere in my company at a different location.
It’s part of how badly managed this place is that they aren’t keeping me busy. I go nuts just sitting there doing nothing. If they want something, I deliver.
Rumor has it that they are going to shut the whole place down. I heard the guy that they replaced the top guy with is there only on a temp basis because that’s what’s he’s doing, shutting our location down.
Most of us feel it is not a question of if we are going to lose our jobs, but when. Wednesdays are very tough because everybody knows if they are going to let you go, they do that on Wednesday at noon.
I am lucky that I am in a remote location with very little foot traffic going past me. If two people walk past my office during the day, that’s a lot. Otherwise, I am all alone. The people who used to work around me are long gone. I feel like I’m working in a graveyard.
I’m on the top floor in the executive/operations area. The production and technical people are on the floors beneath us.
I assume they’ve kept me for some reason.
But, if they are going to keep us, then they might not need me until they get other things are more re-organized. I hope that is what is happening.
I’m not happy there. I’d rather be elsewhere. I have to feel productive.
As far as getting paid to do my personal stuff, God knows what I need. I work according to God’s plan. I could be wrong, but I think my case with Daddy Dearest might help many in the long run. That could possibly be my “real” job, at least in God’s eyes. This may be exactly how God wants things to be. I’m open to that possibility.
I consider this a gift and a blessing. I’ve had enough stress in my life.
If they let me go, because of this or simply because they’re letting everybody go, then God will provide.
All I can do is take things one day at a time. I am grateful for the paycheck. Other companies that I have been with will let employees sit and twiddle their thumbs for a while because they’re getting things together elsewhere.
I’ve let them know that I am available. Just yesterday, one of the managers told me to enjoy my downtime while I can.
I’m also on shakey grounds because of my family of origin right now. My niece contacted me on Wednesday to say that her mother, my older sister, has been diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer. She “should be all right.” She asked if I wanted her to keep me informed because she knows about my NC.
The issue is that my younger sister, the P, and my S mother, aren’t going to be very supportive. My older sister is a widow and has always been a target of their attacks. I’ve been the one who has protected her over the years. I think she is probably scared out of her mind right now. Of course, everybody knows that I was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was carrying my son.
I want to call her and be supportive, but that will be breaking NC. My NC hasn’t really been with her, but trust me, I am not under any delusions that what she hears from me will be kept away from the rest of the family.
I already replied to my niece to keep me informed. I’m afraid if I do call my older sister, then NC will go out the window. I do not want those people back in my life, but my older sister has done nothing. She does have a daughter who is in her 40s who can be supporting her.
My older sister literally lives back-to-back from my S mother. My heart goes out to her. I am a compassionate person. I am her sister and I have had breast cancer, too. I know the h3ll my P sister put me through when I had cancer and how much my mother was on the fence until she decided to support me. My mother will be 90 at the end of the month.
This is just more sh!t that the Ps put us through. Yeah, I can stay NC, safe, but I’m not sure how happy I’ll be. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.
We are able to be as happy as we are determined to be I think, so working through the drama in our lives, the drama around us, and ignoring most of the drama seems to work best for me.
I think if I get side tracked by drama, my own or others’, I am not able to focus on the things I need to do to improve my own lot in life. I find the more I focus on taking care of me, the better I feel.
I thought about what you said.
Drama I can pass on. No way. Don’t want that. I would not get involved with what she is going through.
I am also not the woman that I was 20 years ago when I was pregnant and diagnosed with cancer. I am much stronger, know about Ps, and have my act together when it comes to knowing what is going on in that family. I KNOW what their behavior is.
She is still a human being, an innocent victim of the Ps, who is hurting and is more than likely, very scared. She is very meek and vulnerable. I am still a person of compassion and I am still her sister.
Rather than calling her, I can send her a card to let her know that I am thinking of her and that she is in my prayers.
That will make me happy-because I reached out to her on a personal level, but it will keep the boundaries intact.
When I first participated in this survey, and then read the ‘results’ I felt a bit duped, because we all know that (the results, I mean).
I have worked with a malignant narcissist, if not a spath for the last 2 years. I’m amazed that I spent the first 6 months trying to figure out a way to make it work. I was new, he wasn’t. I knew after a week that I’d made a huge mistake and wouldn’t be able to work with him. I did all the right things, spoke to my supervisor to ‘gently’ intercede…all to no avail. The rest of the staff dismissed my concerns…they’d all been there, but as they didn’t have to work with him directly, they didn’t care.
Until a few months ago, when our supervisor unexpectedly took early retirement and this person is pushing for the job. Now, after two years, the staff is panicking and supporting me…yeah, only because they are terrified of him.
Thankfully, I have a union, however weak it is…and have had my complaint by the Human Rights Tribunal accepted…hopefully I can negotiate a transfer.
I came out of a spath relationship that all but destroyed me, and placed myself in a workplace with another one. This spath/narc was supported by extremely corrupt/weak management…and I beat myself up for all this time trying to make it work, despite knowing that the only true resolution was for me to get out.
Ah well, I do have to admit it’s made me stronger and definitely a lot more cynical…and sad.
Shelley