How to deal with toxic workplaces ?

If you’re a smart, young graduate and are given two options, which one will you choose?

1.?????You join a boutique consulting organization, the highest payer during your campus placements. You are all excited. You get picked up at 7 a.m. daily and dropped back at 10 p.m. You are billed for 14 hours a day across various clients. You continue doing this 70-hour billing week continuously for a year. How fast do you think you will burn out?

2.?????You join a law firm and are expected to work 12 to 14 hours at the office. Besides that, you are expected to respond to official emails and messages within 20 minutes, and the ordeal can extend to the 15th hour after you started work, and it happens every day. You do this for six days a week. Would you love this job?

Hopefully, you’ll choose a third one, right? Because both have all the sure-shot signs of a "toxic workplace".

What are the other signs of a toxic work environment?

Around 30 million, or one in nine, US workers experience their workplace as toxic1. A toxic work environment is more than just a job you hate. It is a culture that won't allow you to perform at your optimum level. Here are the warning signs that you should be aware of:

Bad leadership?– people don't leave the organization. People leave bad bosses. Sometimes a bad boss is a by-product of another bad boss and can be a hierarchical issue.

Fear of retribution?– let us assume that your organization comes up with an exit policy that states you have to serve a notice period of 90 days, and the organization has asked for the core team's input. You know in your heart that 90 days is too long, which shows inefficiency in ensuring business continuity. Would you ask such a question? If not, then there is a problem.

Are people in your team always silent??Healthy teams express themselves; they debate; they argue; they talk; they question; they challenge; and they participate. It is a big alert if none of these things are happening.

Insufficient, confusing, or scattered communication?at your workplace.

Exclusion and gossip-y behaviour?– do you think your office resembles your middle-school cafeteria? You hang out with friends, have each other's backs, and exclude anyone outside the tight-knit ring from conversations.

High turnover rates, unmotivated co-workers, stifled growth, no work-life balance, no forward movement, and a bad gut feeling.

These signs typically mean that you are in a toxic environment. Making the toxic environment a positive one will have to be the responsibility of your leadership team. Because the top-down approach makes it easier to drive positivity.

How do you drive positivity as a leader?

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Communicate in a healthy manner.

Communicate what your employees need to know to do their jobs better and understand what is expected of them. Allow them to have their doubts clarified by keeping communication open. Quell any gossip and rumours about layoffs, pay cuts, or the like.

Revisit your core values

The core values of every organization are positive. But do we live by them? Often, we don't even revisit our core values. Make it a point to revisit and live by them. For instance, let us assume that two of your core values are:

1.?????Providing customer delight

2.?????Disrupting the industry with our technology focus

Ensure that every activity that anyone does helps delight your customers and technologically disrupt the industry. Measure customer delight and technology disruption religiously and talk to customers to understand their perception of your ability to deliver on your core values. If you are not doing them, revisit what you are doing to ensure you live by your core values.

Address employee turnover.

Why would somebody want to leave your organization?

They are unhappy with the workplace; unhappy with the work they do; unhappy with their compensation; and unhappy with recognition. Once you clearly communicate what is expected of them and live by your core values – half your problem is solved. Then figure out how you can match their compensation with what the industry is offering and reward and recognize them for their contribution to the organization's growth and customer accounts.

Regularly have one-on-one sessions with your employees, provide continuous feedback, and always keep them a part of your growth plans.

This would help address your attrition levels.

Keep your workplace safe.

No bullying. No discrimination or exclusion Offer platforms to voice concerns and ideas with ease. Celebrate diversity. Value your employees.

Put your employees first and keep them happy. Happy employees would mean happy customers and a great business.

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It takes time to realize that you are creating a toxic work environment. It takes longer to get out of the mess you make.

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Ensure that, as an organization, you respect the individuals, the groups, the customers, and all the stakeholders.

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Thank people for their efforts and be sure to always acknowledge and appreciate them. You will have a fantastic workplace sooner than you think.

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Reference: According to research conducted by the MIT Sloan School of Management.