Toxic works: 11 signs that indicate you have a garbage job

April 4, 2024

People spend many hours at work, so this activity occupies a large part of our lives. Being happy at work improves our self-esteem and positively influences our life satisfaction.

However, many times, we can live a toxic job, a job that does not fill us, in which workers make our lives impossible or in which the conditions imposed by the company end up burning or melting.

Signs that you are in a toxic job

Because, In the following lines we present a list of signs that indicate you are immersed in toxic work , and they warn you that you must take measures so that this does not affect your general welfare.

The signs that indicate you are in a toxic job are the following.

1. You do not feel part of the company

Organizational psychologists are experts in measuring the level of satisfaction of workers within the company, and for this they use different variables that allow them to interpret how a worker feels about the organization and the work he or she does.

The workers who are most satisfied perform more and, therefore, the company also wins because the results will also improve. Unfortunately, there are many entrepreneurs or directors of companies that only have numbers in their minds, so they give little importance to the human capital of the organization and the welfare of its workers.

One of the variables that correlates positively with job satisfaction is the degree to which a worker feels committed to the company. Do not forget that people are emotional beings, and when we feel rejected towards the values of the organization, its operation or the policies within it, we will not be comfortable in the company that has hired us. A low commitment to the company and the idea of abandoning it correlate with high levels of stress and burnout and also with job dissatisfaction.

2. Bad communication

Communication is key in any company, not only for things to work better within this one , but that a bad communication can create high levels of stress and, as a consequence, dissatisfaction in the work on the part of the employees.

The communication does not refer only to communication with suppliers, customers or other companies, but the communication within it, for example, with the orders that superiors give to subordinates (both in terms of verbal and non-verbal language) and how they receive them. Poor communication is synonymous with toxic work.

3. Conflicts with your role

And is that Poor communication can create problems such as role conflict or role ambiguity , which are phenomena that generate great discomfort in the worker, because he feels confused about the role he has within the company and the functions it performs within it.

For example, when a worker has just been hired and is not properly informed of what he has to do. This situation will make the worker feel a great dissatisfaction.

4. Bad relationship with the boss

One of the biggest problems we can find in companies is the bad relationship between employees and superiors , which, in fact, is one of the great stress generators.

This happens because a single person (of a superior rank) exerts a great influence on a group of people, so the problems are not only at an individual level but also at a group and organizational level. Poor leadership style will create a toxic work environment, in which, for example, an entire department can suffer the consequences.

If you want to delve into the leadership classes that exist, you can read our article: "Types of Leadership: The 5 most common leader classes"

5. Problems with coworkers and lack of teamwork

But the relationship with superiors is not the only type of toxic relationship that can occur in a company, but rather the relationship with employees can also be a reality for many companies .

Although it is true that co-workers can have a positive effect in reducing and cushioning work stress, they can generate conflicting situations as well, and therefore it is a variable that is always taken into account when measuring the level of work. satisfaction of workers by experts in occupational health.

6. Mobbing

In some cases, in addition, such negative phenomena can occur for organizations such as mobbing, which is the psychological harassment that occurs within a company. In other words, it is bullying at work. Mobbing can occur at several levels: between co-workers, from subordinate to superior (where the latter is the victim) or from superior to subordinate.

There are different types of mobbing, you can know them in our article: "The 6 types of mobbing or labor harassment"

7. You do not like what you do

While I have spoken in the previous points of some signs that come from the structure of the company and the climate that exists in it, Sometimes you may feel that you are in a toxic workplace because you do not like what you do or you do it for money . In these cases, it may be better to reconsider the situation to enjoy greater occupational health. Sometimes it is the fact of not wanting to leave the comfort zone that keeps us in the same place of work even though we do not like anything.

8. Demotivation

One of the symptoms that you do not like your job or that something fails in the company is demotivation. When you do not want to go to work, you hate to see your colleagues, you do not feel identified with the company or the hours go by slowly, you are unmotivated. The demotivation can have many causes, from the person is not in the right position to overwork what you have to endure

9. Bad working conditions

And there is nothing more demotivating than poor working conditions, which have increased in recent years due to the crisis. There are many workers who endure poor working conditions (overwork, precarious contracts, etc.) so as not to lose their jobs. This added pressure and fear of being fired at any time can cause irritability , difficulty in concentration and great anxiety, among other harmful symptoms.

10. Problems with the structure of the organization and growth impossibility

Many employees feel dissatisfied at work because of poor human resources policies of the organization or the inability to grow and develop within the company. When someone has been in the company for 7 years and sees that there is no possibility of improvement, they may feel that they are in a toxic job.

11. Stress and burnout

Undoubtedly, one of the factors that is most affecting workers in recent times and that meets all the above points is work stress or burnout. And is that the causes can be varied: from a prolonged excess of work, a bad relationship with superiors or work What you do not like does not motivate you, that is, being in the wrong job.

Stress causes many problems for workers and for the organization itself. You can learn more about work-related stress and burnout in these two articles: