SINGAPORE: Can quitting a toxic job really buy you peace of mind? Last year, The Independent Singapore reported that a Singaporean woman walked away from her S$6,000-a-month job to escape her toxic boss.
She subsequently accepted another job that paid half of what she used to earn, convinced it would come with a healthier, calmer work environment.
She didn’t care that the pay was lower or that she’d have to cut down her expenses in the coming months. All she wanted was a good work-life balance and a supportive manager.
Resonating with her experience, one of our users commented below the article, “Sometimes it is really difficult to decide whether to stay at a high-paying job when the work environment isn’t pleasant, or to take a lower-paying job but not be able to live as comfortably as before.”
And it’s true. It’s a dilemma many of us face at least once in our lifetime.
For the woman, she chose the latter.
Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out the way she hoped. Not long after she started, she realised the new company was just as toxic as the last.
It was a nightmare. She traded a toxic job for another toxic job with lower pay.
This leads us to ask: If there’s a possibility we’ll end up in another toxic job anyway, should we still hand in our resignation at our current one? Are there other ways to deal with the situation, and how can we be certain that the environment is really toxic?
How can we tell if it’s time to walk away?
Boundaries don’t exist
If you’re constantly being nudged by your boss to work overtime, or worse, work on the weekends, career coach Eli Bohemond says that’s a clear sign that your company has a toxic work culture.
These workplaces often normalise and glorify a lack of healthy boundaries. They don’t care about letting their employees rest. They only care about projects and deadlines.
Some bosses even go as far as bombarding their staff with late-night messages and emails after working hours, expecting them to respond instantly.
Trust is a myth
In a toxic work environment, higher-ups or managers don’t trust their own team members.
Ask yourself, have your suggestions ever been ignored, even when they were plausible solutions? Have you ever been assigned irrelevant tasks? Have your abilities ever been called into question? Have your tasks ever been reassigned to another individual?
Aside from these, you should also watch out for whether your boss constantly micromanages your work, even when it isn’t necessary.
Contempt is normal
Leadership coach Lisa Quinn told The Muse that in a hostile environment, people treating each other with contempt is normal. A boss rolling their eyes at a staff member’s suggestion is normal. Shouting is normal. Even backstabbing other colleagues is normal.
Unhealthy interrelationships
You can often tell how healthy a workplace is by observing how people within it interact with each other.
Are they smiling and chatting while making their morning coffee, or does everyone sit there frowning at their screens? When something goes wrong, do they back each other up, or immediately start pointing fingers?
Do colleagues share memes and dumb jokes on WhatsApp, or is it just a stream of short, cold messages that feel a bit hostile?
You’re left to your own devices
Of course, this doesn’t mean that your hand has to be held all the time, but if you enter a company and no one teaches or guides you along the way, or if your mentor constantly scowls at you the moment you ask a question, that’s a different issue.
You’re constantly sick
Being constantly exposed to a toxic environment will eventually take a toll on your physical health. According to medical experts, one can suffer from stress, insomnia, depression, heart disease, headaches, anxiety, digestive issues, and even hair loss.
There’s no room for mistakes
If your mentor or supervisor blows up every time you make a mistake, whether that’s shouting at you or calling you out in front of everyone, that’s a pretty clear red flag. In places like this, people start doing whatever they can to stay out of trouble and come out on top.
High turnover
And finally, if people in your department rarely stick around for more than a year, that’s usually a big warning sign. Constantly seeing colleagues come and go can mean the environment isn’t great; maybe it’s stressful, unsupportive, or just plain unpleasant to work in.
How do you deal with a toxic environment
Once you realise you’re in a toxic workplace, career experts say you basically have two choices: leave or stay. Of course, this depends on your finances and whether you’re ready to deal with the possibility that another job might not come along right away.
If you decide to stay, career coach Bohemond suggests either tackling the problem head-on or reaching out to someone who’s been in your shoes. This could be a friend, an ex-colleague, or anyone in your field who can give you advice on how to stand your ground.
You could also talk to a therapist to get a better understanding of how the toxic environment has affected you and to figure out ways to take back some control.
Read also: Singapore employer at wits’ end as helper keeps going to toilet to watch TikTok
