Psychological Contracttoxic Job
It’s the job that seeps into your whole system like venom, slowly incapacitating you. This is the toxic job. When you are caught in this kind of job you know it. You may not have the words to describe what’s happening but you can definitely feel the toll that it’s taking on your well being. The toxic job has some very clear markers.
Deception
In many ways, it’s deceptive. This job may pay well and offer attractive benefits. There may be a sense of stability because it is found within a large institution. But before long, you realize that it’s these very things that trap you. And you recognize after painful experience that not only is the job toxic, its administration from the top down is causing the toxicity.
Loss of Trust
One of the major markers of a toxic job is the inability to trust in the word of your supervisor. He or she says one thing but the reality is much different. You receive a smile and a gentle reminder about punctuality, only to find this crop up in your negative performance evaluation as a “counseling session.” You feel duped. Or there is the deniability factor: your supervisor denies that you said such-and-such. Or the supervisor refuses to admit that they have made a particularly important statement. These incidents become a pattern, leaving you frustrated, angry and powerless.
Lack of Advocacy
Most employees enter a job with an implicit understanding that their boss is their advocate, there to look out for their best interests and that that of the team. In a toxic job, you realize with a shock that your supervisor will not stand with you. He or she is not your advocate. You are alone and subjected to false accusations, innuendo or gossip.
Fuzzy Logic
Explanations for a new course of action or a new procedure are missing vital links in logic. In other words, you try to understand from a reasonable point of view, but have to give up. The logic is fuzzy or faulty or altogether missing. Work processes are time-consuming. Some are unnecessary. Many seem like simple time hogs, in place to keep your hands busy and your mind numb.
The Uglies
You begin to hear the ugly rumors and notice the internal cliques. Your coworkers are acting like high school sophomores or bonding with all the enthusiasm of a cult. To survive, you have to take a side, and that means engaging in backbiting behavior and intentional sabotage of someone else. The supervisor is aware of these rifts but does nothing to stop them. Internal division helps her cause; there is no desire to produce an amiable, cooperative team. This pervasive ugliness is changeable, too. From one week to the next, a victim can become a leader.
Violation of the Psychological Contract
Each marker alone is not an indication of a toxic job. But when they all appear together, then you are in a toxic job. The most comprehensive explanation for this work environment is described as a violation of the “psychological contract” between the employer and employee.
In this situation, the employee makes assumptions about their employer, and these assumptions are breached. These beliefs include qualities like objectivity, compassion, respect, honesty and fairness. In the toxic job, these implicit ideas are constantly violated by the employer at all levels of management.
If you are at the mercy of a toxic job, get out as soon as you can. Save your sanity and your self esteem. The situation will not get any better and is likely to get worse.
