SINGAPORE: Countless studies are showing that verbal abuse and toxic behaviour hurt employees and eventually hurt the company too. Yet somehow, plenty of bosses still yell, insult, and humiliate staff as if it’s just another item on their to-do list.
So why does it keep happening?
Research published in the Journal of Management suggests there are several reasons this keeps occurring. Sometimes managers lash out because they’re exhausted and stressed themselves. Sometimes they think employees are slacking and believe a verbal smackdown will “motivate” them.
Others feel their authority is being challenged and react by doubling down on aggression, and then there are those who genuinely think shouting at people is somehow good for the company.
The study revealed that some bosses actually convince themselves that their tirades are helping the organisation, not hurting it. In their minds, the yelling has a noble purpose.
According to Joanna Lin, one of the researchers of the study, bosses can even walk away from these outbursts feeling good about themselves. After berating their staff, they may feel “more engaged and more valuable at work.”
But does the shouting actually work?
Career experts say it can, but only briefly.
As Rick Larrick, a professor of management and organisations at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, put it: when you’re scared, and someone is yelling at you, you will work harder.
He explained, “Punishment strategies are good in the short term and kind of bad in the long term, because it leads people to want to get out of the situation, and to try to avoid that person and that job.”
Singapore workers are venting about toxic bosses online
On Reddit forums, many locals have vented about their toxic bosses, asking others if they should just get out before their mental health worsens or bite the bullet, if only because of the brutal job market.
For instance, back in December 2025, one Singaporean woman shared that “she’s been crying for months” because her bosses, who have a strong “my way or the highway attitude,” constantly threaten her with harsh language.
During meetings, she often hears lines like:
“If you don’t like it, you can get out.”
“When I tell you to jump, you ask how high.”
“I don’t trust you at all. Don’t make my life difficult.”
After hearing that on repeat, she said she constantly feels like she has to prove herself every single day. Unsurprisingly, the pressure has left her anxious and drained.
In another case, an employee took to social media to vent after his manager called him “useless” for taking medical leave.
According to him, the manager accused him of “ruining everything,” sarcastically asked if he was “satisfied now,” and even suggested he had calculated the timing perfectly.
Needless to say, none of this magically turned these employees into better workers.
If anything, the constant hostility crushed their morale.
Which raises the obvious question. If the yelling is not fixing performance and is slowly pushing people out the door, what exactly is the point?
They damage the companies
According to Saima Ahmad, a Senior Lecturer in Business Administration at RMIT University’s School of Management, toxic bosses often end up hurting their own companies more than anyone else.
Instead of boosting performance, their behaviour drags productivity down. Talented employees who could have contributed a lot eventually decide it is not worth the stress and start heading for the exit.
Over time, it also kills creativity because staff become too tense or discouraged to share ideas or make bold decisions, and the damage does not stay inside the office. These days, employees are far less likely to stay quiet when they are mistreated. Once they leave, many head straight to sites like Glassdoor to leave reviews. Others spill the tea on forums like Reddit or even post videos about toxic workplaces on TikTok.
As a result, their reputation declines, and fewer candidates apply to their organisation.
If companies don’t want these issues to occur, Ahmad advises higher-ups not to look the other way when they see their employees being mistreated. She wrote in an article featured in Psychology Today: “As a leader, the choice is yours. You can look the other way and preside over a slow, quiet decline—one resignation, one silenced voice, one missed risk at a time. Or you can be the kind of leader who builds something worth staying for: a culture where respect isn’t aspirational, it’s the standard, where people feel safe enough to speak up, take risks, and bring their best thinking to the table every day.”
