Five Signs Your Office Environment is Toxic

Sometimes when you're immersed in a toxic corporate culture, it's easy to get enveloped by the negativity and doom and gloom that it becomes normal. Well, your friends here at MediaJobsDaily are here to tell you it isn't normal and there's always a way out. AOL Jobs outlined several items that point to toxic environments in the workplace. Is yours one of them? 1. Your boss is a bully. She or he is downright mean and creates an atmosphere of fear. In the piece, Miriam Salpeter writes, "If the boss often berates employees or publicly intimidates them, and no one does anything to prevent or curb the behavior, it's likely the office is toxic." 2. Not only is your boss a bully, he or she takes credit for your work. This can be applied to co-workers as well. Whether it happens once or twice or on a regular basis, let's face it -- it's just not fair. The solution? Document your work and speak up. Make sure colleagues and executives are clear that you came up with the idea and/or worked on it. Plus, as you speak up, you're demonstrating it's not cool to walk all over you. 3. You're workload encompasses three or four times the normal amount and hey, you're not getting any recognition. When a company doesn't backfill, it becomes more and more common to increase the current team's workload. She writes, "If you never earn a raise or any reward for your work, it's likely time to look elsewhere. 4. You're constantly defending yourself. If you have to consistently defend your work or explain why you did something, it could be time to move on. And it's certainly a red flag for a weak office when other people are making up stories and accusing other people of things they didn't do. 5. Excellent performers are fired; poor performers are praised. This is yet another reason blatantly revealing you're working for a toxic employer. It doesn't quite make sense when strong performers are let go and their performance is reprimanded. Of course since it's a warped world, poor performers are getting praisaed as they goof off and miss deadlines. Salpeter points out in the piece, "When the organization values and rewards people who aren't carrying their weight, but potential leaders quickly lose their jobs, it's possible that those in charge are threatened by competent workers."

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Five Signs Your Office Environment is Toxic

Vicki Salemi

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Vicki Salemi