Toxic Work Environment
Hello again peoples,
While pulling up the MSN.com website I ran across an article which struck me as being very poignant.
This article was originally posted as https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/5-sure-signs-that-you-work-in-a-toxic-office.html
It is titled “7 Sure Signs That Your Workplace Is Toxic“
Gee… I wonder. Let me go through the talking points and try to go over them.
1. All sticks and no carrots
Management focuses solely on what employees are doing wrong or correcting problems and rarely give positive feedback for what is going right. Or mostly carrots for the best performers, sticks for the rest.
– Yep, this fits our office. If I had a nickel for every time any of us were called “INSUBORDINATE.” The thing is I’m not the only one to feel this way. I just happen to be the most vocal about it. We have all discussed this at great length and all in agreement. We even have people from other units that have signed sworn statements š
HUMILIATION +1
2. The creeping bureaucracy
There are too many levels of approval and management to get things done and a singular focus on micromanaging employees.
– Oh yeah. Dwight has tried to implement us putting everything down on our calendars, which includes going to the bathroom. Every one of us has to run all decisions by her and can’t make any kind of judgement calls on our own. Even for situations where we have years worth of experience dealing with. She is constantly telling us “this is on fire, go deal with it” and then as soon as we are working on that she yells out, “Why are you not working on this other fire that I pulled you guys away from?”
APATHY +1
3. The gigantic bottom line
Profits, beating the competition, and cost cuttingĀ isĀ solely focused on without consideration of other bottom lines.
– I can’t you how often Dwight defends her actions by uttering “I am only looking out for the well being of the state tax payer.” She wastes moreĀ stateĀ time than anyone I have ever met before, and that includes the customer service employees at DMV smacking their gun and rolling their eyes at our woes. She goes out of her way to make it more difficult for us to do our jobs. She even went so far as to turn off my badge so I couldn’t get in work areas.
ROLLING EYES +1
4. Bullies rule the roost
Management bullies employees or tolerates bullying when it occurs among employees.
– Dwight is being protected. Not only have they doubled down on backing the stupid, they have even tripled down with bosses-bosses-boss getting in on the act. They are all a bunch of ostriches with their heads up each other’s butts kissing away.
YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP +1
5. Loss of the human touch
People are considered to be objects or expenses rather than assets, and there is little concern for their happiness or well-being. There’s also little evidence of leaders’ compassion and empathy for employees. As a result, you’ll encounter high levels of stress, turnover, absenteeism, and burnout.
– Let’s see. Out of a unit of 8 personal, we have three new people and of them, one has already found another position elsewhere. The other five, myself included, are all looking to transfer out. The other two new people are fearful of losing permanent status and don’t want to rock the boat. Over the past nine months, we have lost two people, aside from the third new person who was able to secure a position elsewhere, and both of these ended up taking temporary positions just to get away from Dwight.Ā
HELLO! IS ANYBODY LISTENING? +1
6. Internal competition
Employees must compete internally, which is enforced by a performance assessment system that focuses on individual performance rather than team performance.
– Dwight has told each and every one of us we are not to work together as a unit and to allow our peers to fail in their duties should they ask or require help.
SERIOUSLY WHAT IS F-ING WRONG WITH HER? +1
7. Little or no concern for work-life balance.
People’s personal or family lives must be sacrificed for the job; overwork or workaholism is commonly evidenced by 50-hour-plus work weeks, little or no vacation time, and 24/7 availability for work communication. There is little or no commitment to making contributions to the community, worthy causes, or making the world a better place.
– Oh, I can’t tell you the issues I’ve had with this one. Here is but one single example out of the many. The train I ride had a malfunction last winter and I had to adjust my routine getting into work. Well, part of that fix was causing me to be late in picking up my kids after work. By leaving work 5 minutes earlier I was able to get on an earlier train and pick up the kids without having to suffer any late penalties. I offered to cut my lunch short by the difference and she refused. Well, I cut out anyway and she took that my RDO schedule because of it. I even have the emails asking her to help come to a mutual solution and she responded with “This is not my concern.” There is so much more but alas I don’t have the time to list them all.
FU U WITCH +1
GOT TOXIC WITCH?
I do
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