By Kimani Wiseman
Having a job is a blessing, it makes you an independent person to provide food, clothing, and shelter for yourself and family. However, at some Government Departments and private firms, it is a nightmare for some workers who have to go to work every day.
Waking up early in the morning, everybody should feel elated going to work because it is a place where you spend most of the day from Monday to Friday and in some cases those who work from Monday to Sunday. For workers to be productive at their job, they must feel happy and comfortable to boost productivity. There are some bosses and supervisors at some private firms and Government Departments who would bring their family problems, financial problems, and other problems in their life and take out all their problems on other members of staff causing these workplaces to be very toxic. In some cases, junior staff also bring all their problems that they are having in their life at work.
Some bosses and supervisors are “demons in human form”. They get happiness from making other members of staff life a living hell. It is amazing in this day of age that some workers cannot get time off to collect their salary, pay their utility bills and can hardly get bathroom breaks. Misery love company. Has slavery been abolished? These people are work bullies and are over abusing their power. Some private firms are guilty of having their employees working overtime and not paying their workers overtime. Recommendations are made to promote delinquent workers while hard working staff who would have invested money into their education and “burn the midnight oil” to pass their studies are left in the dark.
Here are a few tips for dealing with a toxic job:
Sometimes in life, we have to train our mind to block out toxic people and focus on your duties that you are getting paid for.
Request a transfer to another unit, department or Ministry.
If you get another opportunity for a new job where it is less toxic, take that job even if the salary is the same or more. Your happiness and peace of mind should be paramount.
Although a few tips were given on how to deal with a toxic job, not everybody is strong mentally to deal with a toxic job. There are a lot of workers who are extremely close to having a nervous breakdown or ending up at the mental asylum if help is not given immediately. We cannot be celebrating “World Mental Health Day” every year and not looking at these toxic work places that is contributing to mental problems. I would strongly recommend, the relevant authorities conduct a survey in the public and private sector and reach out to those workers who need help and also these supervisors and bosses would need counselling and some training in leadership. There are some workers who are also suffering from anxiety and depression as a consequence of these toxic work places. If we want our nation to be a productive nation, let us make the workers happy.