{"id":19736,"date":"2018-06-11T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2018-06-11T14:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/?p=19736"},"modified":"2023-07-08T03:08:39","modified_gmt":"2023-07-08T08:08:39","slug":"surviving-a-toxic-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/blog\/surviving-a-toxic-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do You Survive a Toxic Workplace?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/toxic-protection.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-19740 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/toxic-protection.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"848\" height=\"565\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/toxic-protection.jpg 848w, https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/toxic-protection-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/toxic-protection-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 848px) 100vw, 848px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"http:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/blog\/toxic-workplaces-can-kill-you-really\/\">last week&#8217;s blog<\/a>, we discussed the impact of toxic workplaces on the health of their employees. But what can you do if you find yourself in one of these toxic situations?<\/p>\n<p>The key, really, is to not only identify how bad your work environment is but to take action steps to limit its negative impact on your life. Here are some practical steps we found are necessary when a person works in a truly toxic workplace.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Protect Yourself<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Remember a toxic workplace is dangerous, so you have to proactively take steps to protect yourself from the various risks that are present:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do your job. Don\u2019t get so distracted by all of the chaos that you don\u2019t complete your basic work tasks.<\/li>\n<li>Document what you\u2019ve done, and document (by emails, even to yourself) meetings, phone conversations.<\/li>\n<li>When necessary, have a third-party present for meetings with a toxic leader or colleague.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t sacrifice yourself and your well-being to try to save the organization.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2.<strong> Keep from becoming a helpless victim<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yes, you may work in a negative, unhealthy environment.\u00a0 But you are not a passive victim.\u00a0 There are actions you can take to make a difference in the interactions around you:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Avoid engaging in the negative conversations and behaviors. Walk away. Disengage.<\/li>\n<li>When possible, draw attention to positives. They don&#8217;t have to be work related. Could be about the weather or how the local sports team is doing.<\/li>\n<li>Take steps to develop a long-term exit strategy. Avoid becoming trapped in a desperate situation. Start to explore options. Get additional training.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>3.<strong> When You Get &#8220;Fogged&#8221; from the Dysfunction around You, What Should You Do?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First, and foremost, employees must take care of themselves. If you don\u2019t take care of yourself, no one else will. (The organization won\u2019t.) When individuals work in a toxic environment, they put themselves at risk for physical problems (loss of sleep, weight gain, high blood pressure, medical problems), emotional problems (depression, anxiety, anger), and relational difficulties (withdrawal, irritability, loss of friendships). <strong>So keep important health-maintaining activities in your life \u2013 exercise, sleep, friendships, and hobbies that renew you.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Secondly, make sure you surround yourself with supportive friends and family who can give you objective feedback on your work circumstances. We need others who can help us cope with the stress from work, and who can honestly tell us when we need to consider looking for another job.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, determine how much longer you want to work in this setting and begin to explore other options. For guidelines, see a couple of pamphlets on our website entitled, \u201cHow to Know When It is Time to Quit Your Job\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/shop.appreciationatwork.com\/collections\/books-accessories\/products\/pamphlet-how-to-avoid-being-hired-by-a-toxic-workplace\">How to Avoid Being Hired by a Toxic Workplace<\/a>\u201d. You don\u2019t want to jump from the frying pan into the fire!<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t forget to check out my book, <a href=\"https:\/\/shop.appreciationatwork.com\/collections\/books-accessories\/products\/rising-above-a-toxic-workplace-taking-care-of-yourself-in-an-unhealthy-environment\"><strong><em>Rising Above a Toxic Workplace,<\/em><\/strong><\/a> in which I share numerous stories of individuals who worked in nasty places and what they did to survive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In last week&#8217;s blog, we discussed the impact of toxic workplaces on the health of their employees. But what can you do if you find yourself in one of these toxic situations? The key, really, is to not only identify how bad your work environment is but to take action steps to limit its negative&#8230; <a class=\"view-article\" href=\"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/blog\/surviving-a-toxic-workplace\/\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a>","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[243,541,711,34],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Do You Survive a Toxic Workplace? - Appreciation at Work<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.appreciationatwork.com\/blog\/surviving-a-toxic-workplace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Do You Survive a Toxic Workplace? - Appreciation at Work\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In last week&#8217;s blog, we discussed the impact of toxic workplaces on the health of their employees. 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