You know the feeling when going to work is the biggest challenge? The atmosphere, boss, coworkers and the whole workplace are toxic. If you don’t know this feeling – you are really lucky, we’re happy for you, hopefully you will never find yourself in this situation. However, leaving a workplace like this is such a blessing! The last day is like a celebration, and once you find a job that values you, you understand even more how terrible the previous workplace had been.

More info: Reddit

Boss spreading rumors about an employee – that’s definitely not a green flag and it’s probably time to search for a new workplace

Image credits: LYCS Architecture (not the actual photo) 

Guy shared his experience with toxic boss after he handed in his two-week notice and she became furious

Image credits: u/obamallamajr

Image credits: Elisa Ventur (not the actual photo) 

He got a great internship that led to his evil boss spreading rumors about the internship being fake

Image credits: u/obamallamajr

Employee is shocked after finding out about the gossip behind his work, stating that the workplace is a super toxic environment

A few days ago, a guy shared his personal story to one of the Reddit communities that specializes in job-related struggles. He explained that he got a great internship and handed his boss a two-week notice that was taken with face twitching, yelling and rumors behind his back. The story received a lot of attention from folks, and in just 2 days it received almost 15K upvotes and more than 2.6K comments.

The guy starts the story by highlighting that he has been working at the same restaurant for over 2 years and getting paid minimum wage. Additionally, the restaurant is greatly understaffed, the guy does the same amount of work as the assistant manager and the boss takes their tips. Long story short, insanely toxic environment. Additionally, just before him, his coworker who had been there for over 4 years put in his 3-week notice.

Now, the OP got accepted for a great finance internship and finally could give his two-week notice. The boss didn’t take the news very calmly, leading to yelling and reproaches that 2 weeks are not enough to find a replacement. As the author later found out, his coworker was asked on his day off to come to work to talk with the boss just to hear that OP’s internship is definitely fake.

The community members defended and encouraged the author to quit this toxic workplace and not look back. “They don’t own you. You need to take care of yourself,” one user wrote. Another added insight regarding the boss: “She has trust issues with her employees. Probably zero respect as well.”

Bored Panda contacted Debra Falzoi, who is the founder of Dignity Together. She helps turn employees who are suffering from a toxic workplace culture into motivated, strong CEOs of their own lives. She kindly agreed to share her insights regarding toxic workplace culture, understaffing and employees’ morale in such environments.

“Research shows employees need two factors to feel motivated and satisfied at work: social support and job control,” Debra started. “In toxic work environments, employees focus on avoiding embarrassment and lose their motivation for creativity, risk-taking, and high standards. They operate in survival mode. Absenteeism, presenteeism (showing up but checking out), and low morale, commitment, and productivity become widespread.”

Image credits: The Jopwell Collection (not the actual photo) 

Additionally, speaking about the main issues for employees when a company is highly understaffed: “Understaffing means overworking employees. Overworking employees can lead not just to chronic stress and burnout. It can also lead to employees feeling devalued and unheard if they speak up without change. The result is employees feeling stressed, unappreciated, and unhappy,” the expert says.

Now, Debra shares a few of the best ways a manager can deal with overworked employees. “Managers and supervisors can find out what aspects of their workloads their employees would like to hand off to a new employee. If the extra workload is short-term, managers and supervisors can help out with the work, spread it out among several employees, or at least check in with employees about their well-being to show they care.”

“Power and control are especially damaging at the top since higher-ups set the tone for the work culture,” Debra emphasized. “But it’s not just a dictatorship style of management that creates toxic work environments. Passive and weak leaders also allow bullying without consequence, emboldening toxic employees and decreasing psychological safety for employees.”

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“Leaders should prevent, monitor, and adequately address abuse at work by implementing a policy, monitoring the work culture, adequately addressing reports of abuse, and giving consequences for abusive behavior through coaching, counseling, or discipline. Employers typically view those who report abuse as a liability, yet toxic work environments are the actual legal risk as they increase an employer’s likelihood for a lawsuit,” expert shared.

Also, if you are stuck in a toxic workplace or need some healing from one, don’t forget to check out Debra’s website and Instagram!

Image credits: Amy Hirschi (not the actual photo) 

Moreover, Hallie Crawford, certified career coach, speaker, author and founder of Create Your Career Path, shared her insights to Bored Panda!

To begin with, “A toxic work environment smothers productivity and motivation, leading to low employee morale, and employees who dread or are even scared to go to work.” Moreover, speaking about understaffing, Hallie emphasized: “It creates a higher workload for employees, leading to stress and burnout. This causes an employee to no longer enjoy their job, and in some cases, dread going to work.”

“All of this negatively affects an employee’s overall well-being, which can lead to health issues, including mental health. And it impacts productivity because as employees get more overwhelmed, they become less productive and efficient,” the expert says.

Speaking about bad leadership, Hallie emphasizes that “it leads to higher employee turnover, which leads to understaffing and low morale within a team. A good leadership program as well as a clear onboarding system and a support system for employees can help create a positive environment at work. This includes things like regular check-ins with their boss, career growth programs, constructive feedback, and team-building activities.”

And finally, “Leadership plays a big role in this issue. When there is no clear leadership, whether on a department or entire organization level, this can lead to a toxic work environment. But where there is a good leadership structure in place with clear roles and expectations, this foments a healthy work environment and employees can grow and thrive,” the expert noted.

And of course, don’t forget to check out Create Your Career Path website, which is a boutique career coaching firm known for its personal attention and commitment to its clients with a blend of dreaming and practicality in achieving your career goals.

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