Edition 12 | Recognising Toxic Work Cultures

I took a break from life, I needed to repair.

I know your Linkedin feed has been salivating waiting for my return; good news - I'm back baby.

Maybe for a week, maybe for a month, maybe forever.

I'll be honest with you, over the last few months I have gone through a rollercoaster of emotions. Some things in life come first & mental health is certainly one of them.

So what is this post about & have I finally lost my mind?

Perhaps, but I actually want to talk about a very serious matter, close to my heart.

Recently, the BBC launched an article about companies that churn through young employees . This my friends is a very serious matter which isn't spoken about enough & happens most often in small companies, usually remote which don't have an HR system in place.

Meet Susan, she spent years studying in university, she's in stupendous amounts of high-interest debt & finally, she has graduated filled with hunger, ambition & knowledge. A company comes along offering ￡35,000 p/year with higher responsibilities maybe she has experience for. At this point, Susan thinks all of her birthdays have come at once, she celebrates with her friends & family and goes on to live a happy & prosperous career.

Hmm, if only.

The sad truth is, a lot of these companies are looking to manipulate, extort and ultimately burn you out to only resume the cycle with a younger, newer naive university graduate.

It's now Susan's first day of her new job, and with a belly full of prosecco she clocks in at 9am. All is good at first, but a few things raise an eyebrow, there doesn't seem to be much of the company culture which was promised (just a whole lot of outsourcing) although the guarantee of more money than she has ever seen going into her bank account quickly makes her forget.

It's now 3 months into Susan's employment & a whole lot has changed. She isn't as happy as she used to be, she's lost a few of her friends and has an unhealthy amount of cortisol eating away at her body. Everything wasn't as seemed, she hasn't heard from her boss in a month (they are away partying in another continent) and has been left in charge of the company - something that certainly wasn't in the job description.

It's now 6 months into Susan's job and stress cortisols have completely ruined her immune system & body, spikes in insulin are causing a huge hormone & electrolyte imbalance and despite working out a few times a week to battle this, nothing she does seems to help. Her body is completely knackered & running on empty fuel due to working crazy hours with high amounts of responsibility. Susan hasn't been speaking to her family that much recently, she feels embarrassed & strangely guilty about expressing her concerns about the job because she remembers how happy & proud of her they were when she started the role. Suzan is constantly tired & doesn't do much outside of work, she simply doesn't have the fuel.

One year into the role & Susan leaves her dream job. In fact, she's thinking about moving into a different field altogether. The constant overtime & continuous contact outside of working hours was finally enough. Her genuine good nature & fire in her heart has been extinguished. She has been completely exploited and now sees the working world in a much more negative light.

This story above is happening every single day across the world.

The main red flag I would look out for is whether or not your boss respects boundaries. If the answer is no, I guarantee they don't have your best intentions at heart. Also, don't feel the need to overwork. You've been employed to do a set role, I'm not saying don't go above & beyond (good luck getting a promotion without doing this) but if it gets to the point where you're doing two maybe three roles, you need to speak to your boss, and come to a compromise. Your mental health is most important, look after yourself.