How to Identify a Toxic Workplace Before You End Up in One

There are few things that make a job more unbearable than working in a toxic workplace, a place you dread to go to every day, that brings out anxiety every Sunday evening, and that leaves you feeling drained and run down rather than energized and enthused.

Of course, once we’re in a toxic workplace we usually recognize it right away, and if we have some savings built up or a new job offer, we can move on.

However, the best way to avoid working in a toxic workplace is to avoid taking the job in the first place. Here are a few ways to determine if the company you’re thinking of applying to, or accepting a job at, is, in fact, toxic.

Negative reviews. Research the company to see what people are saying about it. Use Google and search Twitter feeds to learn more about the company and how customers experience it and what employees and former employees have to say. Glassdoor is a good resource to get a sense for the reputation of a company among its workers.

Recent layoffs or high turnover. Search the news to learn about recent layoffs at the company and to see if there is a pattern of downsizing. Companies that go through frequent restructuring patterns often have employees with low morale because they fear they could be the next to go.

Negative comments about others. Does the company publicly make negative comments about other brands or businesses? Or have you seen the leadership from the company use social media to attack others? If so, these can be clues to stay away. The company might be led by individuals who think bullying is the way to achieve their goals. When you have an interview at a company pay close attention to the way the hiring manager or HR staff person speaks about current or former employees. This will provide some important information about the health of the company you are considering.

Unclear job description. If the company cannot provide you with a clear and specific job description you might want to steer clear. This can be an indication of a company that is not clear about its goals and does not provide the necessary directives and training for you to succeed at your job.

Trust your gut. In the end, trust your instincts. If your gut is saying no and telling you this is not the right opportunity, then you should strongly consider trusting your intuition. You might be unemployed a few weeks longer, but you’ll appreciate it when you find yourself enjoying your job and the company you work for rather than wishing you could flee after a week or two on the job.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Coping in a Toxic Work Environment

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• Coping in a Toxic Work Environment: "As difficult as a toxic work environment may be, never allow yourself to become less than who you are meant to be out of anger or spite for your current employer.  Always conduct yourself with integrity and always put in your very best effort toward the job you were hired to do."

• What Not to Do After a Job Interview: "Your interview could have gone spectacularly overall, but focusing on one or two things you could have done better will cause you to feel like the whole thing was a failure."

• 5 Smart Ways for Busy People to Stay Healthy: "Even little changes, like upping your daily step count by taking the stairs or parking further away from the entrance to your building, can improve your general health. The mentality that a workout has to be intense to matter is dangerous. Focus instead on fitting small, active bursts into your day."

• 5 Reasons Older Founders Are Generally More Successful: "the experimentally creative do not reach peak inventiveness until their mid-50s and have more than just that one eureka moment."
• Simple Ways Anyone Can Be More Creative:"No matter if you’re just starting out or you’re a seasoned pro, sometimes the best source of creative inspiration comes from others. Creatives often look to the best within their industry—the experts—to learn new techniques and come up with new ideas for their own work."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 6 Keys to Reaching Out for Job Search Help

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• 6 Keys to Reaching Out for Job Search Help: "
  The more precise your ask, the more likely you are to get what you want, or at least not be kept hanging."

• 8 Ways to Increase Mental Resilience & Avoid Burnout: "I like to think of mental health and work resilience as needing a full toolkit of options to work well. It’s not sufficient to have just one strategy for dealing with a difficult amount of work."

• 5 Ways to Fix a Toxic Workplace: "People nowadays are worn down and underappreciated. These two factors are a breeding ground for toxic behavior--because when people don't feel valued, they lose their desire to try."

• 12 Things Mentally Strong People Do That Nobody Else Does: "Mentally strong people aren’t afraid, intimidated by or jealous of their competitors. In fact, they respect and even like them."
• How to Be More Productive: "Take advantage of longer days and your location, doing tasks outdoors when the weather is nice or indoors when the weather is not."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Live a Longer, Happier & More Productive Life

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• How to Live a Longer, Happier & More Productive Life: "If you’re worrying, you’re not working. Many people waste energy worrying instead of focusing on the immediate problem and potential solutions -- which is much more beneficial."

• 4 Ways to Attract & Hire Your Company's Next Leaders: "Millennials recognize that leadership skills are critical to professional growth, but believe that businesses are not doing enough to build the next generation of leadership. If businesses would do more to develop leaders, Millennials would be more loyal."

• 7 Simple Ways to Spread Kindness: "Acting generously not only heightens your happiness, it also releases nearly 50 percent more of oxytocin—the feel-good chemical in your brain—and boosts creativity, resilience and problem-solving skills."

• Why New Hires Should Start on Friday: "No matter how much you love your job, Mondays come with stress. There are meetings to prepare for, schedules to plan and a whole week of deadlines looming over you. Suffice to say this isn’t the optimal environment to help a new hire settle in."
• How to Avoid Hiring Toxic Employees: "The more team members who interview a candidate, the better. Each candidate that begins the interview process with your company should be introduced to a well-rounded roster of current employees who will be calibrating the candidate for the role."

Daily Leap Career Video of the Week: How Do You Handle a Toxic Work Environment?

Each week we present our Daily Leap Career Video of the Week. The video we share presents news or advice related to career and life development, searching for a job, the economy and employment, and other career-related topics.

In the video below, author and speaker Simon Sinek discusses some ways to handle a toxic work environment and encourages viewers to "become the leader you wish you had". He reminds us that "leadership has nothing to do with rank." Watch the video for more.

5 Indicators Your Workplace is Unhealthy for You

All companies and workplaces are not created equal. The great work environment you find in one might be entirely missing from a similar company in the same field. Or you might just discover that you and the company you're in are not a good match.

Below are five indicators that your current work situation is unhealthy for you and it could be best to look for an alternative situation.

Your company is no longer aligned to its values. If your company starts cutting corners, rejects excellence and settles for mediocrity, or makes every decision based on the bottom line it might have turned its back on its values in order to maximize profit. 

  

Your life is focused on work to the detriment of other aspects of your life. Are you staring at your work email during dinner with your family or working on that spreadsheet during your daughter’s dance recital? If so, work just might be intruding into your personal life causing unnecessary stress to you and your family.

You are unable to share your true opinions at work. When you attend meetings with your manager, your team, or company-wide, do you feel free to share your opinion, especially if it runs counter to conventional wisdom? If you find it difficult being honest with your colleagues and managers, it might be time to look for something new.

Decisions are made by many levels of decision-makers. In other words, nothing gets done because there are too many hands in the pot, too much bureaucracy, or too many layers of decision-makers. This is a great way to kill individual initiative in employees and destroy morale.

You begin to feel anxious about work on Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon and evening should be a time to begin to return your attention work and is a perfect time to consider your plans for the week ahead. But if you are filled with apprehension about heading to work the next day this common experience is giving you a clear message: you don’t like your job and it is time to consider something else.

These indicators can provide with you some clues about your current work environment and suggest whether it might be time to look elsewhere.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Ask These Two Questions to Build Resilience

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• To Build Resilience, Ask Yourself Two Simple Questions: "Anxiety can lead to exaggerated worry, irrational fear, and obsessive thoughts. So how do you maintain your calm when the roof is falling on you?"

• 6 Questions to Help You Handle Criticism: "It is important to learn how to take criticism seriously but not personally."

• 9 Toxic Behaviors and How to Avoid Them: "What you probably haven’t heard much about, however, is self-destructive behavior that all-too-often claims the careers of aspiring executives and business leaders."

• 4 Ways to Maintain Momentum: "Here are four strategies that you can use to sustain momentum, avoid having to feel activation energy again, and keep moving in the direction of your dreams."
• 2 Things You Need to Remember When You're Burned on the Job Search: "Part of staying positive throughout your search is managing your expectations."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Growing Your Job and Unleashing Creativity

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share these every weekend so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• 6 Ways to Grow Your Job: "When a new project is simply not available, look for roles outside your group or organization that allow you to learn and practice new skills and raise your profile. Teach, speak or blog on topics relating to your interests."

• The Incivility Crisis in America: "Americans are working longer hours as wages stay stagnate and the job market remains weak, so it’s not surprising that tensions in the workplace are running high. The problem is these tensions can often result in frustration and interpersonal conflict leading to toxic work environments."                                                      
• 8 Interview Tips You've (Probably) Never Heard Before: "Experienced hiring managers who have interviewed many candidates will often say they don't get nervous at their own job interviews anymore, because they've done so many interviews from the other side and understand how an interviewer's mind works."


• How to Get Unstuck and Unleash Your Creativity Today: "There’s nothing wrong with strategically mitigating risk, but brilliant bodies of work are built by those who are willing to take the small, calculated risks necessary to take new ground."


• 6 Ways I Find and Hire Hardworking Millennials: "Remember, everyone announces themselves in the interview. I learned this the hard way when I ignored my gut response and hired a young woman who made me feel uncomfortable in the interview."