Our workplaces are the environments where we spend a good chunk of our daily hours. They can vary anywhere between 8–10 hrs and it is of utmost importance that we are surrounded by a team that helps, encourages and equips us to perform our tasks to the best of our abilities rather than to hamper our performance. If the team or people we are working around are hell bent to make our life miserable, it is understood that they neither want anything good for us or the very organization itself. Such teams are not playing or working for the organization but are solely working for themselves and their own upliftment at the cost of the entire organization.
Do you also feel devalued, dehumanized, bullied and even harassed on a daily basis?? Are you surrounded by people who don’t give you proper instructions of work, take immense satisfaction in shaming you or insulting and targeting you?? If you find that the rules of the organization are often mended to suit the needs of a certain few while others are bullied into submission by threats to be fired, you my friend are stuck in a toxic and abusive work place. We, very often resort to ignoring the red flags we see at workplace. The first-step towards solving a problem is to identify & acknowledge it. If you find yourself ticking even 3 out of all these points, know that you are stuck in a toxic and abusive environment and stop diagnosing yourself with anxiety.
Here are a few signs of a toxic workplace culture-
1. Being Judged on Your Appearance –
Have you often heard your colleagues comment on any part of your physicality?? The complaints that you look a certain way or make anyone feel a certain way without you actually doing anything is completely uncalled for. What the other person assumes about you, without knowing you or even wanting to know you is them projecting their own insecurities on you. These co-workers do not care if you are the most soft-spoken or respectful person of them all. They have created a notion of you and will go to any length to prove it. Please know that it is not your job to make anyone feel anything by your facial expressions or physicality. Your job is to add value to your role and the organization you are working for. If you are being friendly and respectful while you talk and address people around you and dedicated towards your work, you are not the problem. Making someone feel bad for just how they perceive you and projecting their own deep rooted insecurities onto you is a perfect example of people’s unresolved issues leading to toxic behavior. “Do not let these people make you believe that their behavior is your fault.”
2. You are kept in the dark about changes in strategy or other important information-
If you often find that you are kept in the dark regarding most of the information only to be revealed at the last moment so that you can be projected as ignorant or worse un-interested. If you see a few coworkers always hunched in a corner or going outside the office to discuss information, they are doing this to keep you out of loop! This is how the narrative about you is being made and manipulated into a negative one. Such teams are mostly not concerned about having positive outcomes as a whole. They are not playing for the team my friend! They have their own agendas to follow & their own matches to win. And By with-holding important information is a way to make you feel out of place and clueless.
3. Unsupportive co-workers
Any questions or queries regarding the work given, is met with hostile and passive aggressive answers. You are made to feel inferior and stupid for wanting to avoid making mistakes. People around you divulge as little information as possible and enjoy watching you mess up due to the lack of proper instructions and information. They have no commitment towards making sure that the tasks in their teams are run smoothly and efficiently. They will go to any length to confuse and interrupt you while you try to add any kid of actual value to the work.
4. Normalization of Bully Culture-
If you are expected to silently put up & accept the bulling behavior of your co-workers who have been in the organization for a long time, you are in for some real work place trauma. Such workplaces often give perfect environment for disrespectful and ego maniacs to thrive. If you find your co-workers talking down to you , ill treating you in the absence of your boss or simply manipulating facts and making up fake stories to discredit and dehumanize you, know that you are in a toxic work-place. And the fact that these people have not only survived but also thrived in the office goes to show that a healthy environment is not a criterion for your work- place.
5. Mistakes are not allowed –
Making mistakes is a part of learning and often the first step towards any kind of innovation or improvement in the status quo. If you find yourself being suggested against trying anything new or even presenting an idea that can add any kind of value to the organization; then that’s a sign that the workplace is a stagnant one with not much scope for growth. Furthermore, if yourself find you being shouted at or ill treated for making mistakes rather than given any kind of clarity or support, please know that it’s a lack on the part of those in charge or the entire team itself. Proper training and instructions are very important to achieve good outcomes. Lack of this creates an over-all atmosphere of mistrust and suspicion. Such environments end up giving one a lot of stress and anxiety leading to confusion and chaos.
