Spotting Toxic People at Work
The effects of toxic people in the workplace can be far-reaching and often very damaging to workmates, the entire team and the organisation as a whole. From lowered team morale to decreased productivity and increased stress levels, a toxic individual can do enormous damage to a business. Here’s how to spot one:
They are moody
As soon as a toxic person walks into the office, they have the ability to set the mood for the day. If they are in a bad mood, they somehow make sure everyone is aware of this and it affects the mood of the whole office.
They don’t share
Unless it’s a boast, they don’t generally share personal information about themselves. They are very interested in obtaining the gossip about everyone else, but sharing their day-to-day life with you – not likely – you may have something on them in that case.
They are spiteful
They pass backhanded comments on workmates’ performance, looks, dress sense, relationships etc. They also act out of jealousy, so if one member of staff is praised for doing something well by the Manager, they will tell everyone that the individual is just sucking up and being a creep.
They love to gossip
This is one of the favourite pastimes of a toxic person. They absolutely love to talk negatively about others and to criticize workmates. Nothing nice about anyone ever comes out of their mouth, all the gossip is negative.
They are manipulative
A strong trait that toxic people have is selfishness, as a result of this they are manipulative in order that they always get their own way. They also are able to manipulate situations in order that workmates do the bulk of the work or even worse get the dirty jobs.
They complain a lot
Your toxic colleague will frequently complain about work and about team decisions, making out that they are always excluded from decision making and if they were involved, they would have decided on a better way of doing things.
They are overconfident
They are certainly not shy individuals, a toxic person will always be self-assured, very confident and firmly believe they are better than everyone else. No-one can do the job as well as them and equally no-one is as important as they are.
They are bullies
A toxic person was the playground bully, they always grow up to be toxic adults and you are really unlucky if you get one in the workplace. Watch your vulnerable colleagues though because a bully always picks on weaker individuals, don’t let them get away with it.
They have favourites
Toxic people pick out favourites and make sure that everyone knows that they like this person or group of individuals better than anyone else. Their chosen few are special and no-one else will be able to compete with how wonderful they are.
They don’t take blame
I’m not saying toxic people are fibbers but put it this way if something goes wrong, or a job has not been done, or a job has been done badly, it definitely isn’t their fault! A toxic person will deny having anything to do with anything that shows them up in a bad light.
The best way to deal with a toxic workmate is to establish boundaries with them, don’t allow them to bully or manipulate you and if necessary, make a formal complaint about their behaviour to your line Manager or the HR team.