Changing a Toxic Workplace Environment 

A toxic and negative work environment decreases your energy level, confidence, and your self-esteem. It makes its team members and employees feel judged, disrespected, and discouraged by causing high levels of stress and pressure and impacting their mental and physical health. Today, we’ll discuss changing a toxic workplace environment; its signs; tips, and examples of how to change a toxic work environment.

A toxic work environment not only impacts their mental and physical health. But it also puts employees and team members in a hostile and physically endangering environment; where they feel unsafe and experience sexual harassment. However, the dangerous and dysfunctional environment makes them feel powerless; it is a type of situation that no one wants to be in.

Signs of a Toxic Work Environment 

Before jumping into the discussion of changing a toxic workplace environment or how to change a toxic work environment; it is significant to be aware of the signs of a toxic work environment and they’re as follows;

• Discriminatory treatment and favoritism among employees and team members in terms of wages, bonuses, and working hours
• Creating unhealthy competition among team members leads to anger, drama, and frustration
• Limited transparent communication from the managers, unclear expectations, and resulting in the form of rumors and gossip
• Motivating employees with fear of punishment
• No regard, rewards, or recognition for their performance or good work
• Focus on punishment and no rewards

Causes of Toxic Workplace Environment 

Some of the main causes of toxic work environment in changing toxic work environment or how to change toxic work environment; they’re as follows;

• Management and leaders don’t address the issues and other relevant factors; no accountability at all
• Poor management in terms of executing policies and rewarding team members
• No checks and balances for toxic and negative team members and employees
• Who you know and your references matter, rather than your performance
• Rules and regulations don’t align with the company’s goals and objectives
• Unclear values and roles where employees don’t know about their daily activities
• Higher turnover rate among leaders and managers

Tips for Changing a Toxic Workplace Environment 

Let’s discuss the main tips for changing a toxic workplace environment or how to change a toxic work environment; they’re as follows;

Team of Trusted People

You should gather a team of trusted employees and team members who aren’t involved and engaged in the toxicity and negativity of the working environment. Their role is to recognize other similar and positive team members and managers and develop better relationships with them. It allows you to gather the support that you need.

However, if your company is providing a therapist or counselor, then you should talk with them. They help you to recognize the main cause of the problem and how the working environment is impacting you. you should explore the negative situation and take the necessary steps and actions to protect yourself.

Controllable Elements

Your focus should be on controlling your behavior and attitude and avoiding the things and elements that you can’t like the company’s policies and structure. It is important to feel proud about your healthy and positive practices of positively engaging with your colleagues and team members. You should promote openness and honesty and avoid those team members who disagree with you.

Offering Truthful Feedback

It is not only difficult but also nearly impossible to remain optimistic and achieve a positive work-life balance in a toxic working environment. If you feel safe speaking, you should let your managers know about the toxicity and negativity of the working culture and how you feel about it. You should also mention how it is impacting the growth, productivity, and performance of employees. It is a difficult conversation, and you should avoid making it a personalized and emotional tone. You should try to maintain the neutral or anonymous tone of the voice.

Exit Strategy

Many team members and employees are thinking about how long they need to stay in a negative working environment. It depends on various factors and they’re as follows;

• Availability of new job opportunity
• Family needs and requirements
• Risk tolerance
• Financial conditions

Leaving the negative working environment would badly impact your financial situation; staying too long in the toxic working environment would jeopardize your mental and physical health. You should have a clear exit strategy for leaving the toxicity and negativity of the workplace.  

Examples of Toxic Work Environment 

Some of the main examples of toxic work environment are as follows;

Bullying

A group of employees rudely disrupt the newly hired employees and team members about their dress and appearance. Their questions aren’t inquisitive, rather their purpose is to undermine and jeopardize the credibility of newly hired employees and make fun of them.

In such a situation, you should calmly stand up and tell them their questions and remarks are rude and irrelevant. Their focus should be on dealing with the other important issues at hand. Your stand would tell others what is tolerable or intolerable, and they would follow your lead.

Boundaries Crossed

You are enjoying your weekend on a Sunday morning with your family and having breakfast comfortably at home. Your phone starts ringing and your boss asks you to work hard and do some extra work on Sunday. However, they don’t care that it is family time and off day.

In such a situation, you should avoid their messages if the work could wait. If they are calling, then you should politely explain to them that it is your day. You would work harder and perform better in the working hours. If it is happening often, then you should have one-on-one meetings with your manager and tell them that it is not appropriate to ask for work on the off days.

Conclusion: Changing a Toxic Workplace Environment |How to Change a Toxic Work Environment 

After an in-depth study of changing a toxic workplace environment; we have realized that a negative working environment is highly unproductive and damaging. If you are learning about how to change a toxic work environment; then you should keep in mind the abovementioned signs; causes, tips, and examples of changing a negative workplace culture.