Before You Quit Your Job… Part 1 of 5
‘Why do you want to quit your job?’, is probably the first question you would ask a friend if they told you they were writing a letter of resignation. Popular responses are a toxic working environment, monotony, under-appreciation etcetera. The question people fail to ask is;
What role have you played in the reason you gave?
In the next few weeks, I will be writing a series of articles on top 5 reasons people want to quit their jobs, looking into the role they might have played to find themselves in such predicaments, and giving tips on how such could have been avoided.
Disclaimer: Some of my opinions may be unpopular, but it wouldn’t hurt to look at things in a different light. Please feel free to engage in the comment section.
Toxic Working Environment
The working environment encompasses all your surroundings when working, both physical and non-physical. The physical environment can be the people you interact with at work, the tools you use to work, the air you breathe at work or even how you dress to work. The non-physical environment includes the psychological aspects of how you work. How your work or roles are organized and your well being at work.
A working environment becomes toxic when these physical and non-physical surroundings are no longer conducive for you to perform your duties as expected. Toxicity at work does not just happen, people make it happen. And most of the time, toxic workmates do not realize it until they are called out for it. Part one of this blog series will help you “call yourself out”, and rectify before you think of quitting. After all, you may be the problem that you are trying to run away from.
Are you the toxic workmate?
Toxic employees are the most common causes of company culture downfall. Here are a few signs that you could be a toxic workmate and how you can deal with it.
1. Procrastinator
In this era of the internet, social media, and online learning, we are all guilty of small distraction, to look at our timelines and be connected with the outside. When these distractions stop being short and innocent and start affecting your work, to a point when you have to move back activities, ‘I will do that tomorrow…’, problems start to arise.
If you are a procrastinator, I found these tips to be helpful;
- give yourself stricter deadlines
- split your tasks into milestone and probably reward yourself after every milestone
- have an accountability buddy who you inform what you are doing and your deadline and have them remind you when you are falling behind schedule
2. Gossiper
While it is encouraged that workmates get along to have an open communication culture, there should be a line when it comes to what discussions are held at work. Office gossip fuels unnecessary workplace politics, rumour and when it gets too far, can lead to a significant decrease in your team’s productivity.
Even the ‘social butterflies’ can become toxic when they are always preoccupied with fun stories and gossips rather than doing actual work. If you are a culprit as a gossiper, identify people that entertain your behaviour and minimize your interaction with them during billable hours. Another tip would be avoiding things that fuel unnecessary discussion such as social media during billable hours. Make friends outside of work to channel your ‘gossip energy’ to.
A tip for employers would be, if there are specific employees who seem to constantly initiate office gossip, it’s best to speak with them directly and ask them not to distract their coworkers.
3. Know it all
If you have a know it all attitude, you most likely a toxic workmate. People who exhibit this kind of behaviour are not good at receiving constructive feedback. How would you perform better if you do not incorporate criticism into your work?
Such toxic workmates want to quit their job because of stagnation not knowing that they were unable to grow because they did not accept new ideas or solutions from others.
If you have a know it all attitude, you should take a step back to reevaluate yourself. One of the best self-analysis is the SWOT analysis. While it may be easy to see your strengths, try to look for at least a few weaknesses that you have and among your workmates identify those that compliment you and learn to have a symbiotic relationship with them.
Appreciate that we all do not know everything and create room for more learning especially from people you work with.
4. Yes! Always yes
Is your answer always yes? ‘Yes, I agree, if you say so”. That is a toxic behaviour in the workplace. Workmates who do not have a self-drive to question things or even bring new ideas to the table are more likely to be toxic than just easy or polite.
If you always agree with everything means you do not have a push to learn. You put minimum effort to perform exactly what’s expected of you and nothing more, and waiting for detailed instructions, without taking any initiative.
To avoid being such a toxic workmate, challenge yourself to read/research wide about the kind of work you do. That way, you would have something to say when an idea is brought to the table. Present your points even when you are not very sure about them and who knows, there might be a person who resonates with you, or better still, you would inspire your colleagues to look into your ideas. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, why aren’t you?
5. Whiner
It is rather normal for people to have Monday blues, but when that becomes a habit, eating well into the week, is toxic. If you find yourself always complaining about everything? From the broken printer, slow internet to the bathroom door that does not lock from inside, all day every day, it is a sign that you are toxic.
Whiners spend a lot of energy being grumpy which manifests in the kind of work they deliver and such negative energy can easily spread to other team members.
If you are always the whining workmate, you can slowly come out of it by identifying a single thing that you think is going right and draw some positive energy from there even when you feel the world is falling apart. Especially if the things you whine about are beyond your control. The bathroom door not closing should not dull your day while you can easily report the issue to the concerned party and proceed to work.
6. Workaholic
Surprisingly, if you are the hardest worker, there is a possibility that you can be toxic, I am talking about if you are the kind to stay back in the office to work way after everyone else left or even proceeding to bring work talk on the lunch table. Being a workaholic to certain extents breeds toxicity, not just to others but to self. As a workaholic, you find it difficult to unplug from work, even when sick.
Even though it is true you may have times where you would be very productive, you would be prone to burnouts and you can easily make grave mistakes due to stress.
Workaholics may want to quit their jobs citing that they are overworked while they are the ones overworking.
To avoid being a workaholic, seek to know other interests and hobbies to keep you out of the office after working hours. Learn to unplug from work at times even if that means having a separate laptop for work.
7. Self -absorbed
A self-absorbed workmate is usually a top performer. But who said toxic people cannot be high achievers? Another word for such people is narcissistic workmates. If you do not appreciate the value of teams, you prefer working alone and you are constantly undermining/underestimating your coworkers, you are probably a toxic workmate.
If you do seem to see the value others bring to the table, or you are always the one seeming to lead, take a step back once in a while and take directions from someone else, or even try to work in a team where everyone has equal responsibility. You will be surprised how much you do not know, you can learn and even be astonished to realize what a toxic environment you created by not appreciating teams.
8. Excuse maker
Are you always finding a reason not to perform a task, ‘That is not in my docket’, absenteeism, letting coworkers pick your work and slipping under the radar? That is toxic behaviour and if you do not rectify it early, it breeds procrastination and inability to deliver as expected. Excuse makers more than half the time, do not get things done that affects team productivity negatively and consequently creating a toxic working environment when colleagues get overwhelmed trying to always pull up your slack.
Similar to procrastinators, having stricter deadlines, dividing tasks and small doable chunks and having accountability buddies could go a long way in helping come out such toxic behaviour.
If you evaluate yourself and you are convinced that you did not play a role in creating the toxic environment that you are running from, it would be good to openly give feedback before quitting. Giving your employer a chance to look into the matter, if not for your sake, at least for those you leave behind.
Disclaimer: Again, these may be unpopular opinions, but it wouldn’t hurt to look at things in a different light. Please feel free to engage in the comment section.
