A toxic work environment means you may face negative behaviors each day in the office, whether it’s yelling, manipulation, or bullying. These behaviors can result in high stress and a lack of trust, which can prevent you from fully doing your job. When you decide on the right career it can be easy to forget about also finding the right company under which to pursue that career, but you need to. There are a few signs that you may work in this type of environment, but there are a few ways you can deal with it.
What Can You Do About it?
You have a couple of options when you are faced with a toxic work environment. You can stay and try to deal with your coworkers, or you can leave. It might seem like an obvious choice, but there are reasons why you may not be able to leave right away. Perhaps you need to give notice before heading out. If financial reasons are keeping you in a toxic work environment, there are a few ways you can prepare to leave so you limit your time in the toxic situation. You can start setting aside money to cover living expenses in case you can’t find a new position right away. One way of saving more money each month is by refinancing your student loan debt to get a new loan. Utilizing NaviRefi student loan refinancing can help you build up an emergency fund that much sooner.
You Don’t Have Any Work Boundaries
Toxic environments often result in few, if any, healthy professional boundaries. This encourages people to prioritize work instead of a healthy balance between work and life. Management may encourage teams to push themselves to the point of burning out. Teams might be expected to do the same thing, whether it is through remote or in-person work. This might be visible early in the recruiting process. If you receive a hiring-related task on a Friday afternoon and need to have it back first thing Monday, you may want to stay away from that situation.
You Can’t Make Mistakes
Many toxic situations push the blame on someone else. If you make an error, there is no room to grow from it, and you will instead face backlash for making a mistake. In this type of environment, your coworkers might do everything they can to avoid being the person blamed for a mistake, even if it requires them to step on other people. They might throw their coworkers under the bus to make themselves look better.
Relationships with Each Other Are Not Healthy
You can usually determine how emotionally healthy your workplace is based on how others interact with each other. See if they are chatting with each other while working or not smiling and only focusing on their work. Look at the messages sent across messaging channels to see if they are lighthearted or if there is an undercurrent of contempt. You’ll also want to keep an eye out for stonewalling, where people ignore each other. If you come into the office and greet coworkers, only to receive no response, you may be stonewalled.
