Is your workplace toxic? If going to work makes you feel stressed or depressed or you experience loss of focus, decreased confidence, stomach pain, headaches, or an impaired immune system, then you’re likely working in a bad environment.
Deb Falzoi founder of Dignity Together, a Massachusetts-based organization that provides coping services and resources for workplace bullying targets and for managers to learn how to lead without bullying, says these are all symptoms of a toxic workplace. She says the most effective cure is to “get out of the toxic situation sooner rather than later.”
There is a scientific reason that you feel like you are about to burst into tears at your desk every day. “A toxic environment keeps people in a fight or flight mindset—the constant pump of cortisol, testosterone, and norepinephrine generates physical, emotional, and mental stress,” says Cheri Torres, an Asheville, North Carolina-based business leadership coach and author of Conversations Worth Having: Using Appreciative Inquiry to Fuel Productive and Meaningful Engagement. She says you can’t do your best work when you work in a toxic workplace, and your health and well-being is at risk.
Here’s how to cope with working in different types of toxic work environments until you can finally give your two weeks’ notice.
Read the rest of my Monster article.
