Toxic Work Environment: Have a Plan
The best way to stay away from negativity is to have a plan for the day. How will you start the day? What tasks will you accomplish at the end of the day? Having a plan for the day takes your focus away from the toxicity around you and focuses you on getting your work done.
Stay away from toxic people.
This is often easier said than done. Sometimes, toxic people in your organization are your bosses and are unavoidable. However, in most workplaces today, there are quiet corners where you can get on with your work when you see the red flags of a hostile workplace.
Working in an open office can leave you at the mercy of disruptive colleagues and bosses, but if you can find a quiet corner where you can put your head down and work, for the most part, you’ll stay away from the negative forces at work around you.
When you “hang out” with toxic people, they will drag you into their toxicity. Quietly and calmly explaining that you have a lot of work to do and moving to a different location makes you less vulnerable to their negative influence.
Talk to your human resources department.
This is something to be careful about. You don’t want to make accusations or engage in a blame game when you find yourself in a toxic work environment.
Instead, you want to explain to your human resources department that you are finding it difficult to work with a particular person or team and that it is starting to negatively affect your personal life.
Whenever possible, make this his responsibility, not theirs; you don’t want to make things worse for yourself. Explain that in order for you to do your job, you need to be moved to another location so you can concentrate and be more focused.
In a toxic work environment, your HR team is likely to be fully aware of the problem and will understand your request and do their best to accommodate you.
The worst thing you can do is ignore the problem. If the situation is preventing you from doing your job, you should have that conversation with HR or, if you don’t have an HR department, your boss.