Finding your calm in a toxic work environment

A Gurugram-based content strategy professional still shudders at the thought of her previous workplace. Most of my team members couldn’t stay beyond a few months.” Unlike the Gurugram professional who eventually quit the job and is now happy, for her new workplace allows her to strike a work-life balance and take care of her physical and mental health, the Mumbai resident doesn’t want to quit his job because he likes his role as a sales manager. “Work life plays a huge role in overall well-being and satisfaction,” says Pallavi Singh, a Delhi-based trauma and grief-in-formed therapist at mental health not- for-profit I Am Wellbeing. “Someone who bullies and exhibits unethical behaviours that cause serious harm to an employee’s well-being by breaking their confidence, self-esteem, motivation and performance can be termed toxic.” According to G. Ravindran, the former managing director and global business leader of SHRM and the founder of start-up Leadership-next, a toxic manager gets personal, even when the relationship with the employees is strictly professional. “The decline in human connection made it even more ruthless, making it easier for managers to give ungodly commands.” There are some companies that have formal systems in place for employees to reach out and inform the manager’s superior or an impartial ombudsman to tackle a situation of workplace toxicity.