As many people’s workplaces have become their “second homes,” it’s crucial that workers develop routines that help them feel physically and mentally well-balanced, which in turn increases productivity and morale. But let’s say you find yourself working under a particularly poisonous boss or a toxic work environment or among a group of coworkers who aren’t exactly up to snuff. If that’s the case, you could find it difficult to maintain these healthy routines while still dealing with the stress and worry that come with your work.
It’s no secret that workplace toxicity is on the rise and has a devastating effect on people’s emotional well-being. Leaders are accountable for corporate culture, and toxic work environments are detrimental to people and the organization. Toxic work environments, as defined by this body of literature, have a deleterious effect on the long-term health of a business and its workforce. Workers whose actions endanger the company’s assets or employees are considered toxic.
Both individual and interpersonal actions within an organization are critical in establishing its culture. It’s possible to create a hostile workplace by encouraging or tolerating bad behavior among workers. Employees who fail to deliver, who constantly argue with one another, and who engage in obviously inappropriate actions like sexual harassment or theft are not hard to spot. It can be challenging to spot and stop less obvious forms of employee toxic behavior.
Tips For Dealing With Toxic Work Environment
Gather data: Most toxic people don’t know they’re bad. Before firing, the management should learn the person’s motivation. Some have emotional or psychological workplace concerns. Explain how this behavior affects others at work. It causes awkward interactions. Every person must contemplate the implications of poor behavior and appreciate excellent manners.
- Create a feedforward strategy: Marshall Goldsmith advocates “feedforward” to handle problematic personnel. Reverse feedback is feedforward. Feedforward focuses on actionable strategies to overcome undesirable behaviors, not the past.
- Correct wrongdoing: Managers should revise workplace policies to match new corporate culture demands. Keep a list of disciplinary-worthy behaviors. The company may have a toxic employee process. Training or a course can assist improve problematic conduct. It can occur over a book and require counseling. Daily sessions might help the person learn and improve.
- Make tough choices: Toxic people bring down others and can create a toxic work environment. A manager must reduce time spent influencing coworkers. In severe circumstances, when an employee’s behavior is unbearable and cannot be changed, you may need to fire them. Removing a bad member can boost morale.
- Hire carefully: Hire beyond skills. Prioritize character and attitude. Someone toxic makes everything toxic. Ask how they’d respond to hypothetical situations during the interview. Skills are learnable. Attitude isn’t trainable. If a new worker poisons your culture, it’s expensive.
- Be consistent: Leadership must follow the same standards and culture. We can’t repeat it enough.
Kind workers? Be a Kind supervisor.
Respectful workers? Be a respected supervisor.
People follow leaders. Training and accountability are needed for leadership.
- Diversify: Diversity is a catchphrase. Diversity shouldn’t be forced. It implies recognizing that everyone is unique. Do you celebrate their culture, views, strengths, shortcomings, and personalities or strive to mold them? Are you willing to move someone if you find they’d suit better elsewhere? Or do you ignore it and press them down?
- Valuable staff: Your employees are valuable. Replacing them takes effort, money, and something distinctive. You, your bosses, and your staff are humans. Everyone has bad days, good days, failures, and successes. If your company culture fosters growth without being punitive or systematizing negatively, you win.
In a nutshell
Managing toxic employees will be easier than you think if you take the above steps. And remember to be patient whenever you do find a remedy; altering long-established routines is not a simple task. Keep in mind that a healthy and fruitful work atmosphere does not come cheap.
It’s more expensive to have a toxic employee than a bad one. Their actions have a ripple effect on the group and make it difficult to find a new, more suitable employee. However, dismissing problem workers isn’t always the best option; you might be able to eliminate the problem without dismissing the employee. It’s not always obvious when somebody is being socially awkward. Everyone, not just your staff, should do it. Maintain a positive attitude and encourage teamwork to boost productivity.