I am a Singaporean who has been working for 22 years. Throughout my career, I have encountered many different management styles, but this particular manager from a nearby country is among the most toxic bosses I have ever worked under.
These are some of the issues I have experienced:
1. Complete disregard for employees’ well-being
He shows very little concern for his subordinates’ personal circumstances. Even when an employee is sick, injured or seriously injured, his primary concern appears to be whether work is being completed. He gets upset when employees do not respond to his messages during lunchtime, after office hours or outside normal working hours.
2. Unreasonable expectations outside working hours
He expects employees to give their all, including responding during lunch breaks, after office hours and on their days off. Yet, when employees need flexibility or time off, he treats it as though they have committed some unforgivable offence.
3. Prioritising senior management and taking credit
His apparent priority is to impress senior management, gain favour with the bosses and take credit for the work accomplished by his subordinates. Employees’ contributions and personal circumstances seem to come second.
4. Little recognition during appraisals
Even when employees perform well, their efforts are rarely rewarded with meaningful recognition or better appraisal scores. However, the slightest mistake can be blown completely out of proportion.
5. Discouraging employee benefits and flexibility
There have been several occasions when he expressed unhappiness with my decisions to grant employees reasonable benefits, such as working from home or taking time off in exchange for returning to work during weekends.
6. An outdated management mentality
His management style resembles that of a 1960s slave driver, where employees are expected to obey instructions, sacrifice their personal time and work without questioning anything. There appears to be little understanding of modern workplace expectations or employee well-being.
7. Repeated threats of retrenchment
Over the past two years, he has brought up the possibility of retrenchment at least three times. These repeated threats create an atmosphere of uncertainty and make employees feel that their jobs are constantly at risk.
8. Alleged racial and gender discrimination in recruitment
During recruitment, when I attempted to hire female candidates or candidates who were not Chinese, he explicitly told me that I could not hire someone who was non-Chinese and non-male. This raises serious concerns about discriminatory hiring practices and whether candidates are being assessed fairly based on their qualifications and abilities.
9. Everything is always the highest priority
Under his management, everything is urgent. Every assignment is a rush job, and every task must supposedly be completed immediately. There is constant pressure to be the first in Asia, the first to deliver and the first to impress senior management.
When absolutely everything is treated as a priority, nothing is truly a priority. Employees cannot properly plan their workloads, manage competing deadlines or focus on delivering quality work.
10. Appraisal scores fail to reflect actual performance
There have been instances where he acknowledges that one employee performs well while another performs poorly, yet both receive exactly the same appraisal score.
What is the point of performing exceptionally well when the outcome is identical to someone who contributes considerably less?
This creates a disincentive for employees to go the extra mile, take on additional responsibilities or sacrifice their personal time for the company.
11. Dismissing employees’ ideas before claiming them as his own
There have been several instances where I proposed a plan or suggested a particular way to execute a task, only for him to reject it and insist that my approach was wrong.
Then, approximately a week later, he would return with exactly the same idea, sometimes using practically the same words, and present it as though it were his own proposal.
This has happened repeatedly. It makes employees feel that their contributions are neither respected nor acknowledged.
12. Destroying employee motivation and initiative
When good performance goes unrewarded, ideas are dismissed, personal sacrifices are expected and employees are constantly pressured, there is little incentive to do more than the bare minimum.
Eventually, employees lose the motivation to contribute, suggest improvements or take ownership of their work.
13. This Guy Never Serve NS
Take all our benefit get our nationality never serve NS and the original Singaporeans are the one that suffer.
My overall experience
I have spent 22 years in the workforce, and this is among the most toxic management experiences I have encountered.
He expects absolute commitment, loyalty and availability from his employees but appears unwilling to offer the same level of consideration, appreciation or support in return.
The result is an environment characterised by constant pressure, fear, frustration, poor morale and a lack of psychological safety. Employees are expected to give everything, yet their well-being, contributions and personal lives seem to matter very little.