"Bro Culture" in the workplace

I recently lost my temp job due to the "bro culture" that exists and isn't dealt with at the company I temped for. And, when I complained to my temp agency about it in a detailed complaint, the temp agency branch manager went out of her way to paint me as the one who caused the trouble, instead of advocate for me, listen to and support me, and place me in another temp assignment.

It was my first time working for a tech company in a completely male dominated work environment, and it was an absolutely awful experience. And, it turns out that I wasn't the only woman temp to quit this assignment. When I started the temp assignment, for this small dept. of 4 guys, they had a woman temp whom they also completely ignored.

I didn't get a chance to interact with her much, but one day I showed up and she was gone. When I asked my supervisor where she was, he replied, "oh, she had...issues. She didn't work out." Uh-huh. Yeah, right. I know what those issues are now!!

I started another thread about this already, but after a week of processing what I went through there, it helps to post about it here in this forum.

An article about bro-culture in the workplace:

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/s...s/bro-culture/

1) Management is dominated by a group of guys who've formed a close and seemingly impenetrable bond. From always going out to happy hour together to knowing the details of one another's family life, they're more than just work friends.

2) "The guys" stand up for each other in work-related matters—they also make excuses for each other's bro behavior. When people complain about the guys, they're told they're being too sensitive.

3) When the guys get together, you're shocked at their sexually charged humor. Being in a conference room with them reminds you of being at a fraternity chapter meeting.

4)The guys always seem to want to hire someone just like them.

5)Your company can't retain women or minorities at the senior management level.

Bro culture = Where guys in groups interacting with each other (often in the work place) suppress their own insecurities about their masculinity by degrading women in a hope that they look big, tough and without emotions.

I don't know if "bro culture" exists solely in the tech industry (like the company I temped at), or if its everywhere. All I know is, I complained about it's toxic effects on my work at that tech company and got punished for it -- by a woman (the temp agency branch manager)! Has anyone else experienced "bro culture" at their workplace? What did you do about it (if anything, at all)?

I found an article about a woman blogger who worked for a well-known car company, who also experienced toxic "bro culture" and how she dealt with it.

https://www.recode.net/2017/6/21/158...wler-blog-post

To some extent, I probably dealt with a little bit of that when I was in the Air Force, especially when starting a new assignment as I was in a male dominated field. I found that I had to work harder, had to prove I could do the job every time I was reassigned (when a new male was assigned, it was assumed he could do the job), be ready to be criticized quicker, had to have a take no crap attitude and had to accept that everything was going to be harder for me to achieve (awards, promotions). If I hadn't had to deal with that I probably would have done at least a full 20 years, as it was, after Desert Storm there was a huge decrease in manning, they were cutting 40% of my field, my rank, so I opted for an early out and got paid to get out early. I don't regret my time in and my only regret about getting out is losing retirement pay.

I haven't experience that in my work since I've been out of the Air Force. I've had horrible bosses, but never have worked with a group of men that teamed up like that.

Thanks for sharing your story reb569. How did you deal with the horrible bosses? I've never been teamed up against like this before by male coworkers and a supervisor. I will never accept temp jobs in the future in the tech industry, now that I know that "bro culture" is alive and well there.

I wouldn't rule out the tech industry entirely. It may have been a isolated incident. In my role in Marketing I work a lot with a couple of our systems guys and they are really great, very helpful and team players.

Dealing with horrible bosses can be tough. The last one I had was actually let go about 5 weeks ago. He was horribly critical and I caught him trying to lay blame for one of his mistakes on me and I called him on it. He then ordered me to never contradict him publicly in any way. Our one on one meetings were pure hell. I had several panic attacks after meetings with him. One time after he tore a report I did for him apart for over an hour, which resulted in a few minor changes, his boss asked for an overview of the same report and told me "great work!"

As for dealing with horrible bosses....document everything. If possible discuss with someone you trust and when necessary, go a step up the chain (if there is one) and discuss there. Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, the higher up will win no matter what, but I was lucky because my boss already had a reputation for doing similar things and I had several people who had my back.