When you go to work you expect it to be stressful at times when there is a lot of work or maybe that business is not going well. It happens and you can’t expect to work in harmony every day.
However, there are places where the people are toxic and the workplace is hostile. Every day there is some drama and you dread going to work.
When quitting isn’t an option you have to find some way to get through it and soldier on.
This doesn’t mean that you should just put your head down and deal with it, though. There are ways that you can beat a toxic workplace and make it so that you aren’t working in that type of environment. In this article, we will go over what you can do to turn things around in a hostile workplace.
There’s strength in numbers
You’re going to need to find some allies at your workplace to be able to take back the office and make it less toxic so you can work in peace. It’s very likely that you aren’t the only one there who thinks that the atmosphere is hostile and needs to change.
This means that you need to seek out the people who are going to stand up and work in tandem to confront the problem.
There is a risk that if you were to go at it on your own that you can face retaliation when you try to lodge a complaint. If that happens and you’ve lost your job unfairly then there is recourse but it’s much better if it doesn’t come to that.
The first thing to do when you’ve got a group together is to not just complain and rant about things but to find some solutions. Do a brainstorming session to come up with a strategy to be able to make a complaint so that you can also lay out some ideas on how things can be improved.
Keep detailed records
You may end up needing to talk to a lawyer at some point. Going into the consultation with some records that detail everything that is happening will be helpful to them if you need to be represented.
Even if you're planning to go to the HR department you need to come with some hard evidence of what is happening. Save all the emails that you’ve gotten that have displayed any bullying language as well as any text messages.
Keeping a journal that has incidents logged with the date, time and any witnesses is also helpful.
Figure out the root of the problem
Hopefully, the hostility you are facing is caused by an individual or department so that you can work on a solution. If it is systemic then it will be difficult to turn an entire organization around to be friendlier and peaceful.
Once you have identified the root of the problem then you can also identify solutions that will work to cease the hostilities.
