When you have a bad boss keeping you down, your best way to fight back might be to try "malicious compliance," according to a growing online movement of disgruntled workers.
For them, a maliciously compliant act is a creative form of resistance. You might fulfill what you're asked in order to stay employed, but your actions will not be exactly what the person wanted. It involves any act when people are "conforming to the letter, but not the spirit, of a request."
But if you decide to try this yourself, proceed with caution. Career and legal experts say this can help you survive under a bad boss – – or it can spectacularly backfire. For micromanagers, malicious compliance can give them a taste of their own medicine. Micromanagers can often be insecure, rigid bosses who need constant unwarranted check-ins.
"Malicious compliance can work well against an insecure manager," said Ryan Stygar, an employment attorney. In this case, your malicious compliance is going above and beyond to comply with a micromanager's demands. If they want a list of your daily tasks, you send long, bulleted emails. "When you follow their instructions exactly, it exposes how inefficient those instructions really are," he said. "I compare this [as] holding up a mirror to the micromanager. Once they see how burdensome the micromanagement has become, they typically back off."
It helps to confirm that this is what they wanted. You might reply with, "Thank you for your instructions today. This confirms I will submit every client-facing email to you for approval before sending." This response works because it "creates a paper trail," Stygar said. "It also locks in their expectations... It prevents them from 'moving the goalposts' and claiming you did not comply." If work slows down, you have proof showing why its not really your fault. With a reasonable manager, this may get them to back down. With a toxic one, it will make it much harder for them to twist the facts.
For toxic bosses, it can be a protective response. A toxic boss is a dismissive, demeaning boss that is trying to ruin your mental health. In these cases, your malicious compliance might actually be "protective compliance," said Mary Abbajay, president of Careerstone Group. "All you can do is survive a toxic boss. And if giving them what they want is going to protect you until you can get yourself out of there, then I'm all for it." Ideally, you only do this while you actively job hunt for a better opportunity.
But don't be snarky about it or this defiance will backfire. Stygar said that "malicious compliance works best as a defensive measure, not a revenge tactic." In his view, the "deadly sins" of malicious compliance are if you're sarcastic, if you purposefully slow work down, and if you try to embarrass or mock your boss. "A toxic manager is often looking for 'insubordination,'" Stygar said. "If you give them that opportunity, even by accident, they will take it."
Instead, the safer approach is to maintain a neutral tone and document what your boss is asking you to do. "Keep copies of these exchanges for yourself. Build a record that shows exactly what they told you to do and how you followed it," Stygar said. And don't do malicious compliance that makes it seem like you're not good at your job. "If your malicious compliance is delivering substandard work, then that actually isn't going to reflect very well on you, because it's still your work and your name is attached to it," Abbajay said.