Sometimes it is hard to tell whether your work environment is toxic. We are led to believe that others have it worse than us and so we stay. We falsely believe that the uneasiness and the bad energy we feel at our work is normal and that we shouldn’t complain as long as we get paid.
However, when your environment is toxic, your whole health and wellbeing suffer. It also destroys your performance and it makes the best employees quit. Here are 7 signs that you work in a toxic environment and you need to protect yourself because your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing are the most important.
1. THEY LOVE TO LET “JOE BE JOE.”
Perhaps your manager always treats employees badly. Or the top salesperson puts other people down. Or the project engineer is always rude and condescending. In situations like these, the difference between healthy and toxic organizations is that the toxic ones allow these kinds of behavior with the excuse that they are just like that (Joe is being a Joe, right?).
2. THEY OFTEN SAY, “THAT’S NOT MY JOB.”
In a great company, employees help each other to get the job done. Even if this means that the CEO has to help the driver load the truck. Good employees should be willing to do any task as long as it is not immoral or unethical. And if they are saying, “that’s not my job, I don’t care” the whole performance of the company suffers.
3. THEY ACT AS IF THEY HAVE ALREADY PAID THEIR DUES.
If someone whose performance was great the last month or the last year and now they are acting like they don’t need to work, their carelessness will cause toxicity in the work and make other employees question why do they need to work. A healthy environment is when everyone is contributing on a daily basis.
4. THERE IS GOSSIP INVOLVED.
I think that this one is self-explanatory. When you are in an environment when everyone is talking behind each other’s back, that can’t be a healthy workplace. Gossiping is toxic and it is detrimental for the success of the company. No employee feels good when there is gossip involved.
5. THEY LOVE TO GRAB THE GLORY FOR THEMSELVES…
Nothing is ever accomplished alone, but there are some people who like to take all the credit. They are not team players because they are selfish and want to grab all the glory for themselves. A good employee shares the credit with others and appreciates their efforts. If someone says that they did all the work is like saying they are the ones who are the most important and they think the world revolves around them. It’s excruciatingly hard to work in this kind of workplace with toxic people who lack integrity.
6. … AND THROW OTHERS UNDER THE BUS.
Regardless of what happens, it is always someone else’s fault. They never want to take responsibility for things that go wrong. They always throw other people under the bus to save themselves because they don’t care about anyone other than themselves.
7. THEY CONSTANTLY PRESSURE YOU AND CRITICIZE YOU.
If you are the one who is constantly working long-hours and who is hitting targets because you want to do your best, and your colleagues instead of being supportive, are criticizing you and telling you that you shouldn’t work so hard because it makes them look bad – then your environment is toxic and they are clearly jealous. They don’t like you to do more and work more because they don’t like to work more.
If you find yourself in an environment like this, please put yourself first and start looking for a job where you will feel more appreciated because working in a toxic work environment will take a toll on your health.
