Working under a toxic boss can be detrimental to your well-being.
This poisonous workplace dynamic can wreak havoc on your mental health, making you question your self-worth and even hate your career. Unfortunately, toxic bosses are common. According to a recent study by The Muse, 64% of its 1,300 respondents had experienced a toxic work environment and 44% blamed leadership.
Read on for the telltale signs of toxic bosses and effective ways to deal with them.
[Related:What Is a Toxic Work Environment — and How Can I Avoid It?]
Signs Your Boss Is Toxic
— Micromanagement. Toxic bosses often feel the need to control every aspect of an employee’s work. They may constantly check in to ask for updates, question your abilities, demand that you add them to every email and discourage you from making decisions without their input or supervision.
— Lack of boundaries. Bosses who lack boundaries may pry into your personal life or expect you to be available at all hours. This toxic behavior creates a lack of separation between work and personal life and can lead to employee burnout.
— Dismissiveness. A toxic boss often downplays your successes, refuses to take you seriously and ignores your suggestions without giving them fair consideration.
— Unfair treatment. Toxic leaders may also play favorites in the workplace by unfairly assigning tasks or projects, disproportionately burdening certain individuals while others receive lighter workloads.
— Inconsistent behavior. Inconsistent behavior that toxic bosses exhibit, such as mood swings or contradictory instructions, can often leave employees feeling stressed and confused. If you’re constantly walking on eggshells, trying to navigate the unpredictability created by your boss’s inconsistency, you may be in a toxic work environment.
— Blame shifting. Toxic bosses often deflect blame and responsibility onto others when they make mistakes or are faced with challenges. And by pointing fingers at others without proof or justification, toxic bosses erode trust in the workplace and create a culture of fear.
[Read: Things Your Boss Can’t Legally Do.]
5 Effective Tactics to Handle a Toxic Boss
A toxic boss can turn your work life into a waking nightmare and make you dread heading to the office. Unfortunately, politely asking them to change their behavior often yields little result since toxic bosses generally lack respect for their employees. Here are five better ways to handle a toxic boss.
Do Not Take Their Treatment Personally
“The best way to deal with toxic bosses is to remain neutral,” says Ashley Rudolph, business advisor and coach at Work With Ashley R. “Their treatment of you has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.”
By understanding that your toxic boss’s behavior may be rooted in their own struggles or insecurities, you can approach the situation with a sense of empathy. Of course, this doesn’t mean condoning toxic behavior, but it allows you to detach emotionally from your boss’s actions and not blame yourself.
Find Allies and Support
According to Rudolph, establishing a visible presence within the organization can serve as a protective measure, especially if your toxic boss is unfairly targeting you. “If you keep your head down and focus on your work in a silo, your boss owns your career narrative,” Rudolph says.
Instead of isolating yourself, she suggests that you find opportunities to present your work, help out colleagues and find allies in other members of the leadership team. These connections might then open doors to alternative opportunities, such as the chance to transition to another team.
Take Time Off to Recharge
Working in a toxic environment can take a toll on your mental health. Without intentional breaks, you could quickly burn yourself out. “This may be easier said than done, especially if your boss creates anxiety around team members taking time off or never miss a day of work themselves,” Rudolph says. “But, still, you need to take time off.”
Reflecting on her personal experiences with a toxic boss, Rudolph shared her own struggles with anxiety about requesting time away from work. However, she said that no matter how uneasy she felt, she still made an effort to schedule some Fridays off because she knew how important it was for her well-being.
So, if you still have plenty of vacation time saved due to fear or anxiety, know that taking a break once in a while is neither selfish nor wrong. As long as you properly ask for time away from work, you’re entitled to use all the days off provided as part of your compensation package.
Document, Document, Document
There can often be legal ramifications from a toxic work environment. Try writing an email to yourself at least every week to document the events that happen with your toxic boss, says Kat Campbell, founder of HowardHelen, a people and culture consulting firm. “Be specific about the context, who was involved and how it made you feel,” Campbell says. “Hopefully, you will never need these emails, but it’s important to prepare for the worst-case scenario.”
Memories of specific incidents may fade or become blurred over time, so having a written account will also help you accurately recall the details of events and could come into handy when you seek intervention from human resources or take things to court.
Be Your Own Advocate
“When your mental, physical or emotional well-being is suffering, you must be your own advocate and protect yourself in whatever way you can control,” Campbell says. She notes that being your own advocate could take many forms. You could make a list of your boundaries, post them on your bedroom wall and hold firm to them. Or you could seek help from a mental health professional and confide with friends outside of work.
Being your own advocate also means speaking up if you feel safe doing so. If you choose this route, Campbell suggests that you address concerns calmly with your manager or HR by providing examples and being open to solutions. “Just be ready to back up your claims if needed,” she says.
[Read: 5 Leadership Styles for the Workplace.]
Don’t Be Hard on Yourself
Dealing with a toxic boss can drain your energy, ruin your mental health and knock down your self-esteem. And when you’re already facing a tough time at work, the last person you should be pointing fingers at is yourself. Your boss’s toxic behaviors often stem from their own issues, not yours.
However, if the toxicity is seeping into your personal life and making you miserable, it may be time to hand in your two-week notice and trust that you’ll find better opportunities elsewhere.
More from U.S. News
How to Professionally Handle an Uncomfortable Situation in the Workplace
How to Handle Conflict in the Workplace
6 Ways to Become a More Inclusive Leader in the Workplace
How to Handle a Toxic Boss originally appeared on usnews.com
