7 signs of an unhealthy work environment

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

A toxic team can ruin not only a career, but also life.

This article is part of the One-on-One Project. In it we talk about relationships with ourselves and others. If the topic is close to you, share your story or opinion in the comments. Will wait!

How to tell if the atmosphere at work is unhealthy

1. It is customary to discuss colleagues behind the back

Of course, if you hear mostly praise or discussions behind your back on how to please or help a person, then this is a wonderful team. But in reality, employees are much more likely to wash each other's bones, look for flaws and pass on gossip using the method of a damaged phone.

As a result, the office or factory floor becomes a battlefield. And you don't allow yourself to relax for a second. You are forced to constantly monitor your behavior so that your actions are not misinterpreted, and everything you say is not used against you. Working in such a stressful environment is not easy.

2. Employees are criticized unconstructively

Everyone in a team is people, and people, be they line employees or bosses, tend to make mistakes. So sometimes the result of the work is not what you would like to get it. Moreover, no one can work with the same productivity all the time. Therefore, from time to time there is a need to honestly admit that it did not work out very well, and discuss how everything can be improved.

Criticism helps to develop, so there is nothing to worry about. Another point is how it is presented.

It happens that no one notices successes, but everyone strives to poke their noses into mistakes. It’s unpleasant, although it’s not so bad. The trouble starts where criticism turns into bullying. For example, in response to an idea, albeit not a very good one, a person receives sarcasm and derogatory remarks. Or the boss is not criticizing the work, but the executor himself. Agree, there is a difference between “Let's face it, it turned out frankly bad. It needs to be redone "and" You are just bad, what else could you have done! Redo it."

3. Colleagues make tough jokes

Jokes on the edge are appropriate if people have been communicating for a long time, understand the context of their statements well and know for sure that everyone will understand everything correctly.

In a work collective, this rarely happens, and common sense tells you to hold your horses back. Because among friends, for example, a stupid racist joke can still pass under the sauce "Guys, you have known me for a long time, I am not like that and I understand that these are just stereotypes, but this is a funny thought, and I just cannot resist and speak out." But in the office it will sound unambiguously unacceptable.

It is also offensive to hear discriminatory statements for people to whom they do not apply. For example, brunettes can react sharply to jokes about the stupidity of blondes. Because the blondes are not stupid here, but similar witticisms. When such remarks develop into barbs addressed to those present, this is already an outright evil, the source of which understands well what he is doing. From here to bullying is just a stone's throw away.

4. There is an outcast in the team

Mobbing, that is, bullying a person in a work collective, is a frequent problem. For example, 135 out of 180 participants in one Russian survey were subjected to it.

Even if the victim of bullying is not you, but someone else, its very presence indicates that the relationship in the team is not very healthy. Because adults and emotionally mature people solve problems differently, and they hardly hire kindergarteners anywhere.

It's not just the outcast who gets negative emotions in an atmosphere of bullying. Moreover, if he resigns, it is highly likely that the crowd will simply find a new victim. So it's hard to work in such an environment.

5. Management fosters unhealthy competition

There are companies with a simple and transparent motivation system. Everyone understands how to earn as much as possible and get a promotion - to do their job better or offer fresh ideas. At the same time, employees are assessed strictly according to their professional competencies.

But there are also such companies where they encourage and punish solely by the decision of the management. That is why the team spends a significant part of their time not on work, but on intrigue and searching for opportunities, how to drown their neighbor and rise against his background. The bosses, as a rule, only amuse it, otherwise the processes would be built differently.

Alas, people who are not ready to play by such rules will find it difficult in such an atmosphere. No matter how good a person is, he will be at the bottom of the office hierarchy due to the fact that he is unsuccessful in the undercover games. And although this does not say anything about his working skills and skills, it beats on self-esteem.

6. Corporate values are too peddled

The corporate values themselves are not so bad, but a lot depends on how they are implemented.

Let's take the topic of nepotism. During the time of working in companies with a small staff, everyone becomes really close - almost a family. But in this situation, everything usually comes from within. When these "related feelings" are implanted from the outside, as a rule, nothing good can be expected. This usually does not mean that you will always be understood and accepted by anyone, they will do everything for your well-being. Rather, on the contrary, you are waiting for the pushing of personal boundaries - and what's wrong, we are a family; overwork - it is difficult, perhaps, to go out on weekends for a common cause; accusations of betrayal, if you decide to change jobs - how can you set us up.

Another signal of alarm is the overly frequent statements like “you were just lucky to work for our company”. Usually, this is followed by a devaluation of merits in any controversial situation: you should be grateful, not indignant, not demanding normal conditions and a decent salary, who are you anyway? This attitude towards employees creates an extremely fertile ground for toxicity.

7. Work makes you unhappy

Sometimes the team and working relationships are okay, and the atmosphere becomes unhealthy only for you.

Let's imagine a situation. You do not like communicating with colleagues, you only talk to them when you need to discuss work issues and if you have no other choice. There are no days when you go to work with joy. Your self-esteem and mood are much worse than when you first got a job. You are constantly under stress. It seems to you that you are in corporate hell.

If so, chances are good that for you personally, this is it. You can engage in self-flagellation for a long time and think that it is you who are not able to integrate into the team. That you don't want to go to work because of laziness. That there is no joy in life, because after 25 years no one has it.

In this case, perhaps, the point is not that the collective is toxic, but that you are not in your place and it simply does not suit you.

Why an unhealthy work environment is dangerous

A long stay in a toxic environment is fraught with a decrease in self-esteem, loss of self-confidence, and disappointment in the profession. And if a stressful atmosphere constantly reigns in the office, this can negatively affect your health. Insomnia, loss of appetite, irritability, burnout, depression - the consequences are different, but they are all equally unpleasant.

An unhealthy team climate can affect other areas of your life and significantly degrade its quality.

What to do if you are in a toxic community

Distance yourself

While you are still working in this team, you need to somehow defend yourself against it. And building up in this case is a working option. Especially for people with a heightened sense of justice, who boil, even if the situation does not concern them.

Buy noise canceling headphones to avoid hearing conversations. Mute informal work chats. Sit as far as possible. Finally, remember that you are not responsible for the behavior of your colleagues. You are not one whole, but simply strangers whom the profession has brought together for a while. It should get easier this way.

Find a safe place

Take shelter in case it becomes completely unbearable. This can be a room with a coffee machine or a corner behind a ficus tree, where you will have the opportunity to exhale and take a breath.

Get the support of like-minded people

There are probably several pleasant people among your colleagues who are alien to you in spirit. Communication with them will help to level out the oppressive atmosphere at least a little. It will also remind you that you are not a lonely violet in this world of cacti, and you meet good people no less often than bad ones.

Rethink the potential scale of destruction

Usually, the toxic atmosphere is even more oppressive, because it seems like there is no way out. You get paid to work with the money you live on, so you can't just leave. It makes you feel like you're stuck here forever.

In fact, this is just a job. It is only part of your life and does not define you. Therefore, you can pay a little less attention to what is happening, and the loss of the current place most likely will not be a disaster. Of course, this is much easier said than really accepted. But it's worth at least trying.

Separate work from the rest of your life

Prevent the toxic atmosphere from releasing tentacles outside the office and poisoning your private hours. It is not easy, but necessary. To make it easier, you can, for example, come up with a ritual that will draw the border between the two worlds.

Quit

This advice should not be taken as a recommendation to throw a statement to your boss on the table tomorrow. But the search for a new job will have to be included in the plan to save yourself from toxic colleagues.

If we were characters on the show, we would team up with all the good people against all the bad ones - and we would certainly win. But in life, fighting an unhealthy atmosphere is often a road to nowhere. Therefore, it will be logical to go not to victory, but to another company. So look for a chat with interesting jobs on Telegram and update your resume.