How to Survive in a Toxic Work Environment

What is a toxic work environment?

According to research done by MIT Sloan School of Management, one in every 9 employees in the US experiences workplace toxicity. A toxic work environment is where bad behaviors go without consequences thus fostering a work culture where an employee doesn’t feel safe, seen and valued. Trust, respect and transparency do not exist, and it feels like everyone is on their own. It is mostly propagated by the leadership whereby a leader has toxic behavior and is not held accountable for it or is passive in addressing the toxic behavior in the team.

How can an employee deal with a toxic work environment?

Speak up calmly and respectfully: Consider addressing any bullying behavior. Ask questions such as ‘’are you saying that my work is below the standards? If it were you, how would you have handled the situation differently?’’. Employees are afraid of speaking up because they feel that nothing will be done but even if that is the case sometimes at least the toxic person will know your boundaries and next time they will think twice before crossing them. Always speak up in a calm, transparent and collected manner and most importantly address this in private so that you don’t end up bruising the ego of the person with whom you are addressing it which can lead them to be defensive and hence not listen to your feedback.

Have someone stand up for you: This can be your HR Manager or line manager or someone in the business whom you trust can address the matter with the employee propagating the toxic behavior in the right way. This should be done with care and confidentiality so that it does not give the impression that you are tarnishing the image of the toxic employee.

Do not take the toxic behavior personally: Toxic work environments in many cases no one wants to take responsibility when things go wrong and hence there is a tendency to make an employee feel as if it’s their fault when things go wrong even when it has nothing to do with them. As an employee put your emotions aside and look at the matter at hand objectively. Give appropriate responses when required and always remember that you can’t control how people behave around you but can control your response to their behavior.
 

Be kind to yourself: Working for prolonged periods in a toxic work environment causes unsustainable stress and can affect an employee's performance and self-esteem in the long term. Be kind to yourself by developing coping mechanisms that will increase your resilience bandwidth. This includes having something else going on in your life outside work even if it is a hobby so that work isn’t the only thing that occupies your mind. Exercise to help release stress hormones and get enough sleep to develop your resilience bandwidth.

Create your exit strategy: As an employee you have to decide whether to wait it out or leave the organization and if leaving then it is after how long? Some of the factors to consider in this are your resilience levels to the stress in the work environment that varies from person to person, organizing your finances and having a plan of what you will do after the exit. This can be another career opportunity, going to entrepreneurship or taking a career break. This is a tough decision as you have to consider the risks involved and what is important to you e.g., you may find an employee's material quality of their life might be more important than their mental well-being and hence might persevere longer in a toxic work environment because of the money.

In conclusion when working in a toxic work environment always choose what is important to you and be objective in doing this while putting feelings aside as there is always a tendency to be caught up and become emotional eg. What is in this environment that is toxic? Is there anything I can do about it? What are the coping mechanisms that have been put in place to be able to survive in this environment before my next step? Choose to do the right thing and remember even in a toxic environment there is a lot you can influence and learn on how not to be a toxic employee or leader in future.