How to Survive in a Toxic Work Environment

In the world of work, sometimes, getting into a toxic work environment is unavoidable. The question is how you would be able to balance being in a toxic work environment and often not getting offended, overwhelmed, or tired of your job.

Toxic work environments are defined in different forms, the best of them is the relationship between you and your work colleagues and superiors. When your relationship in your work environment is not good, it could be considered a toxic work environment.

The ideal work environment should have the following key characteristics:
  1. People respect each other
  2. No one intentionally offends a colleague
  3. Achieving the goal of the organization together
  4. Great team spirit
  5. Driving one another
  6. Leaving all personal issues behind.
What to do to survive a toxic work environment are

  1. Always be early to work: being early to your workplace helps your mind rest well to easily execute the task you have ahead. If your workplace resumes at 8am, be there about thirty minutes earlier.
  2. Plan ahead: It is always essential you plan your day, to avoid haphazard work style. Planning your day the previous day helps you prioritize your task adequately and for you to focus on the most important task first before the least important task.
  3. Be 100% efficient: you must take your job as seriously as you would take it if you were the owner of the organization. There is a saying that, the way you look after other people's businesses and nurture them, is the same way you would treat your when you get yours. Always treat the company that employed you with the best efficiency.
The first three points should be adequately adhered to for your colleagues or employers not to have anything against you when judging your performance. After those checks are put in place, the next steps are.
  1. Be corporate friendly to your colleagues: those you are working with are not your enemies, you must always see them as your friends, but certain boundaries should be placed for your corporate life not to meddle with your private life. Your friendly conversation should be corporate!
  2. Be respectful to your bosses: it is not an easy feat getting to the point of being a boss, no matter how small it may look to you. Whoever is your superior at work deserves a great level of respect. Yes, you must indeed respect all your colleagues, but add a little more of that respect to your bosses. When you are respectful to your boss, it is quite difficult for them to be horrible towards you.
  3. Be a staff that cannot be easily replaced: The more you slack at work, the more chances of you being easily replaced and those that are set to replace you would frustrate you till you are. Hence, be diligent enough to avoid being replaced.
In all of this, it sometimes is not even your fault or your work ethic, it could be the character of someone higher than you in a position making the work toxic for you. How do you handle such situations?
  1. Always be calm: there are some people you cannot change, but you can choose how you react to situations however they come. when work throws you a lemon, make lemonade out of it. Always be calm in a toxic work environment. Being calm does not mean you should be lackadaisical with your work, but rather diligent.
  2. Always put on a corporate smile: this makes you approachable or appear that way by many colleagues. 
  3. Adjust your character: when a great number of colleagues think you are the problem or toxic person, then you would need to adjust your character to fit into the organization you are currently in.
Every organization has its core values, and mostly when strictly adhered to would create a conducive environment that attracts people to work in harmony. Be an advocate for a non toxic work environment always!