10 Signs You Are In A Toxic Workplace

Considering that all of us spend the major portion of our working hours in office, having quality time there is of utmost importance to people who want to lead a happy life. Because of the sheer amount of time that is involved in the same, the mood of a person in their office is well carried over to their personal life.

This may, in turn, affect the relationship they share with their friends and family. After all, a person spends more time with their colleagues than they do with their friends or family members. All of this re-emphasises the importance of having a healthy work environment.

Come to think of it, if you talk about work to an average individual, chances are that you will encounter one of the three reactions; he will be all the way excited and continue ranting about his work, he will be least interested and claim that he does not want to discuss office after working hours or he will speak at length about how and why he hates his job (or boss or colleagues or something of that sort).

Now if you fall into either of the first two categories, chances are that your life is pretty much fine. However, if you are amongst the third category of people, you may well be in a toxic workplace. Now the thing about being in a toxic workplace is that most people who are there do not realise that they are actually there. That is exactly why proper identification of a toxic workplace is of utmost importance.

This article explores the ten critical signs that will help one identify if they are in a toxic workplace.

1. Pessimistic Ambience

If you find your colleagues have an ultra-pessimistic approach to life and notice that whenever a situation pops up, they make the worst out of it, then you are in a pessimistic ambience. Having this kind of negative influence in your life will change your approach and make you a much gloomier person.

2. Work-Life Balance

If at any point in your life you feel that there is nothing more to your life than your career, it is time to reconsider your life decisions. While we admit that an ideal balance between the two is something that is tricky to achieve, having the scale bend too much on one side will have long-term detrimental consequences on your life.

3. You Hate Going To Work

While it is normal for any individual to have Monday morning blues, if you realise that the very thought of going to office steals your thunder, chances are that you are in a highly toxic workplace. While it is obvious that one will not like everything about their office, if we find a person liking nothing about their office, that is alarming.

4. Noticing The Signs

You might feel that the signs have always existed and that you never bothered to notice them. This might make you believe that you are lesser than others, sometimes to the extent of you questioning yourself, "how is it that things that didn't seem toxic in the past suddenly appear to be so?"

However, in a situation like this you must not blame yourself. Remember that it was just because you were in the honeymoon period of your job and things appeared good to you then.

5. Lack Of Cooperation

If you find your co-workers constantly fighting for attention and putting each other down, you may want to reconsider the idea of working in the same place as them. While competition is not bad, unhealthy competition is detrimental to your mental and emotional well-being.

Thus, if you have identified that yours is an unhealthy competition, try to walk out of it as soon as possible.

6.Your Boss Doesn’t Support You

If you have a boss who is merely concerned about getting the work done and does not support you, you are in a toxic workplace. If you find that your boss is partial to others or is deliberately assigning you work that is not challenging enough, you might want to consider your decision of working in the same workplace.

7. Your Intuition Is Asking You To Quit

For any human being, there are three things that speak. They are the mind, the heart and the conscience. If at any point in your career your heart or conscience asks you to quit while your mind gives you reasons not to, listen to your heart.

Usually the heart does not ditch or misguide an individual at times like this. That is why it is all the way more important to trust your gut feeling.

8. People Who Know You See The Difference In You

Your friends or immediate family members have started noticing a change in you that is not all that positive. This may be in your behaviour in particular or in your outlook of life in general.

However, if such a thing is pointed out to you, make sure you make a note of the same and try to introspect what is causing the same. Chances are that this is just reparations of you being in a toxic workplace.

9. There Is Too Much Of Office Drama

All of us know that office is a place where we go to work. If at any point you realise that there is more drama and politics going on as compared to the actual work that is being carried out, know that you are in a highly toxic workplace. Make sure you get out of the place as soon as you can.

10. You Are Just Not Happy

You're in a toxic workplace if there are times when you are absolutely sure that you are just not happy with your job but you do not want to call it quits for some reason or the other. Know that if your job is making you unhappy, it is not just worth it irrespective of what the stakes are. In life, never try to remain in any place that makes you unhappy (it really does not matter if it's a job we are talking about or a relationship).