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WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOSOCIAL STRESSORS AT WORK?

Working in a toxic environment is no one’s ideal situation. While it’s normal to have a stressful day every now and then at the office, there are key signs that you may have a toxic work environment.

Employment is linked to health in positive ways, both as a predominant mode of earning income and other material benefits, and as a source of social integration, prestige and meaning. However, employment also exposes workers to potentially health-harming physical and psychosocial stressors.

A toxic work environment is any that makes you feel uncomfortable, unappreciated, or undervalued. This can range from all out bullying, screaming and talked down to, to more subtle forms of poor communication, setting people up for failure, mismanagement and an air of hostility. It can come from your boss, your peers, your juniors and even your clients. No one should ever have to work in an environment that causes your stomach to go in quivers but the unfortunate reality is it’s more normal than we’d prefer.

While it’s nearly impossible to have the perfect work-life balance, it’s vital to have a healthy relationship with your career. “Even if the elements of your toxic workplace aren’t quite that obvious, you may notice your morale plummeting, a lack of work-life balance (what life?) and an inability to learn and grow, as well as constant stress and deteriorating mental and physical health.

Have you ever worked in a toxic office environment?

Do any of these signs sound familiar to you?

  • Sometimes toxic work environments are derived from how the boss treats their employees. Supervisors can take advantage of their power, and make their staff feel inferior by bullying them.
  • Colleagues who throw you under the bus, take credit for your work and constantly gossip also constitute a toxic work environment.
  • You’re Not Excited About Going To Work Anymore. There are just some days when you don’t feel up to working. And while those days are completely normal to have every once in a while, it’s a huge sign that you might be working in a bad work environment if you’re feeling this dread all the time.
  • Your Boss Doesn’t Support You. I’m saying that your boss needs to be a good leader supports your dreams and ideas rather than just using you for their own purposes.
  • Your Boss Is Preventing You From Growing. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine you could live in a world where your boss doesn’t want you to grow, and instead, controls your career path by preventing you from getting a promotion. Most of us, ideally would like to work with someone who sees our potential and wants us to grow. “Your boss may start getting jealous of your performance and start blocking opportunities for you to advance to the next level. Your boss may start taking credit for your work, undermining you, and giving you ‘busy’ work even though you’re capable of so much more.
  • You’re Not As Happy As You Used To Be. Whether you like it or not, there will always be those days when your work causes you stress. However, that doesn’t mean that it should steal your happiness entirely. Your job should be fueling you because you’re doing work that you’re proud of, not sucking your energy and preventing you from enjoying life.
  • Your Gut Is Telling You To Leave. That gut feeling is there for a reason, so trust your instincts – if you sense you work in a toxic environment, chances are you do.
  • You’re Constantly Getting Sick. Sometimes people get sick not because the flu is going around, but simply because they are feeling stressed.
  • Your Personal Life Has Taken A Nose Dive. Take stock of your mental and physical health and look at your personal life — what are your nutrition, sleep and exercise like? Has anything changed significantly? And are you spending time outside the office? If you never feel like doing anything after work and on the weekends, that’s definitely a bad sign.
  • Your Friends & Family Are Noticing A Difference In Your Character.
  • It’s important for you to be taken seriously when you’re working at your job. Your boss shouldn’t be ignoring your thoughts or disrespecting you when you’re giving 110 percent. “Are you respected? If not, demand it.
  • Your Boss Or Employees Communicate Poorly.In any type of relationship, communication is vital to make things go more smoothly. No one wants to be surrounded by negativity, especially from a boss who communicates poorly.
  • If your boss tells you what your co-workers aren’t doing well or what he/she doesn’t like about them, it’s unhealthy and can feed tension. It also might suggest they are doing the same to you behind your back.
  • No person or job should ever make you feel like you’re not smart enough or good enough for the position you are in, especially when you’re giving it your all.
  • These types of exposures at work “get under the skin” to affect health in a variety of ways changes in levels of hormones in the body in response to stress, and subsequent HPA axis dysregulation and somatic disease and psychopathology.

Protect your well-being from the effects of a dysfunctional job

You deserve a healthy life and career you love.

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