Everyone complains about their job occasionally or has times when they dread returning to work on Monday. But for some people, their workplaces aren’t just occasionally frustrating, but truly toxic. Good work isn’t recognized, dissent is penalized, managers are punitive or belittling and employees are subjected to impossible expectations, punishing hours and a fear-based atmosphere.
It might seem obvious that if you’re working somewhere toxic, you should be actively hunting for a new job. However, toxic workplaces often break down people so much that it makes job searching much more difficult. Toxic jobs can destroy your self-confidence, make you accept your workplace dysfunction as normal or just leave you without any energy at the end of the day to launch a serious job search.
But it’s crucial to get out of toxic jobs quickly because staying can warp your norms and do real damage to you professionally. Here are five reasons that you may not have considered to kick your toxic job escape plan into high gear.
1. A toxic job will change your idea of normal. When you’ve worked in a dysfunctional workplace for a while, you can lose sight of how bad things really are, and practices that would have horrified you previously can start to feel normal. This can make it difficult for you to recognize how bad your working conditions really are, which in turn can make you less inclined to take on all the work of a job search in order to get out. It can also make it harder for you to screen for functional workplaces and good managers in your next job, which can mean that you end up repeating the cycle.
2. A toxic job will give you bad work habits that you’ll take to your next job. Spending too much time in a dysfunctional workplace or working for a bad manager can make you adopt “survival habits” that might help you get by now, but which will hurt you once you move to a more functional company. For example, if your manager berates you for even minor errors, you might learn that you need to cover up mistakes. But if you do that in a healthy workplace, that behavior can cause big problems, and even get you fired. Or, if your manager doesn’t recognize great work and accepts poor performance from your co-workers, you might decide that there’s no point in trying hard — but when you move on, that habit could be disastrous.
3. The longer you stay in a toxic job, the more likely you’ll be to need your bad manager as a reference in the future. If you and your boss don’t get along, you probably don’t want to use her as a reference in future job searches. But the longer you stay at this job, the more likely prospective employers are to want to talk to her because of the length of time you worked together. (That may not happen on this job search since you can usually avoid using your current manager as a reference — on grounds that you don’t want to tip her off that you’re leaving — but it will become an issue the next time you search). The longer you stay, the deeper this problem will become.
4. It will slow your professional growth. Even if you like your work, having a boss who you don’t get along with or who’s simply incompetent will generally hold you back professionally. Managers have an enormous amount of control over your career, from what projects you get to what development opportunities and recognition you’re given to what kind of raises you receive. A bad boss is less likely to champion you or be well-positioned to give you the sort of projects that can raise your visibility and set you up for your next move.
5. It may be making you sick. Various studies show that bad bosses — managers who are hypercritical, unfair, inept, hostile or harassing — are linked to an increased risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, depression, sleep problems, anxiety, overeating and more. What’s more, the longer you work with a bad boss, the worse the health effects become.
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5 Reasons to Leave Your Toxic Job Right Now originally appeared on usnews.com
