Six Signs Your Job Is Toxic

One of the major scales for judging success today is career. Does she have a job? Does his job pay? Yes? Then he/she has made it! There is also the ‘Is she married? Does he have kids?’ scale but that isn’t what this is about.

We Nigerians have this keep pushing mentality. Making money is a major priority for us. There is nothing wrong with this attitude. In a bid to make money, however, it’s important that we consider our mental health. How do you feel about work? What kind of thoughts do you have when you remember work? Are you satisfied? Are you always complaining? Is this the path you want to thread? Are you happy?

These are very important questions you should ask yourself. There are times though when you feel like you need to get away from work, this doesn’t necessarily mean your work is toxic. It’s normal to want to some ‘you’ time sometimes. It’s normal to get tired and need a break.

Here are however clear signs that your job is toxic and no good for you:

1) You have no time for yourself

If there is no balance, the amount of time you have to spend on earth may not be enough to achieve all you want to.Then when you are 50, it hits you and you realize how many years you have wasted doing ‘nothing’. Only then, it will be too late.

There is a lot to life than career and your work should be flexible enough for you to explore them even if it’s a few.

If the amount of time you are given at work is never enough to finish the amount of work you have to do, this is a red sign. No matter how much you are paid and how important your position at work is, it is even more important that you have time for yourself. There are other areas of your life apart from career and your job is toxic if these other areas suffer because of it.

Sometimes, you do not have time for ourselves because you are too lazy to finish your work during the working hours and have to take it home thereby making it encroach in time we should have to yourself. If this is the case, you are to blame.

2) You are unhappy and unsatisfied

Life is too short to be unhappy, no matter what the take-home pay is. Does your job make you happy? Do you have the fulfillment that comes with doing what you really want to? Do you wake up in the morning looking forward to the day? if your answer to these questions isn’t yes, jf you can barely get out of bed every morning, if you loathe your job, if you have lost the passion for it that you might have started with, if you get negative vibes from work, if you strongly feel this is not what you should be doing, if you are always complain, if you are not happy, these mean you are unsatisfied with your job.

If your job makes you unhappy and unsatisfied, it is toxic. You should probably leave

3) You are constantly stressed out

If the amount of what you have to do or its nature keeps you constantly stressed, this is a sign your job is toxic. It’s normal to feel stressed from work sometimes, we are only humans but if stress is what your job is all about, you should probably start looking for another.

4) You are underpaid or salary is always paid in arrears

Your pay is basically an exchange for your labour. It’s only fair that after you have laboured and done your part, your employee does his/hers and rightly so.

If you are underpaid and or your salary doesn’t come on time, these are signs your job is toxic. You may be wondering how you will know if you are being underpaid. One of the major ways to know is to find out the average pay other people occupying your positions in other companies. If your pay is obviously lower, this means you are underpaid. While making this research, it’s important to know that some companies are bigger than yours and naturally their employees take a bigger pay home.

It is not right if your employer to constantly delays your pay. If it is anything to go by, you do not delay the work you do for him/her. Your pay may come late once or twice because shit happens but if shit keeps happening all the time, this is a red sign.

5) The work you do is not appreciated

Appreciation goes a long long way. Even if your boss does not verbally say you are doing a good job, telling you how you always do things wrong can be emotionally wrecking. If you are made to feel that you do not do what you do well enough and you know you give it your best shot, your job is clearly toxic.

There are times when you may not do some task as well as expected, we are only humans you know but if you are made to feel most of the work you do isn’t done as it should, that means your efforts isn’t appreciated. It might be time to take it somewhere else.

You can actually be getting things wrong and in this case there is no way your effort will be appreciated. It’s either your fault that you don’t do your job well enough to deserve appreciation or your boss’ because he/she just refuses to see how good you are. It is toxic either way.

If you can’t do a job well enough to be appreciated for what you do, that is not where you should be.

6) You are bullied

Gary and Ruth Namie define workplace bullying as “repeated, health-harming mistreatment, verbal abuse, or conduct which is threatening, humiliating, intimidating, or sabotage that interferes with work or some combination of the three.”

If your are being mistreated by others at work (employer or fellow employee) that work environment is obviously toxic. This could be any form of abuse, physical, verbal etc. If you are in a situation at work where you feel bullied, try to work it out. Talk to whoever you feel it is coming from, let them know how it makes you feel and find out why they do it. Communication solves a lot of problems that could otherwise become worse.

If this approach does not work, involve other respectable people in at work, if that too doesn’t work, it may be time to take a bow.

If it’s your boss who is constantly bullying you, there is very little you can do about it other than going somewhere else where there is positive energy.