Why are most, if not all workplaces so toxic?

John_

Planet_Switzerland said:

Dox said:

Planet_Switzerland said:

TELLIT01 said:

Comms69 said:

I've found the more you bring to the role, the better you are treated.

Competence is king.

I wish that was always the case.  Some people seem threatened by new staff who do come in with a positive attitude.  I worked for a subsidiary of a major financial institution and one of the guys who worked for me put in many, many hours outside work hours in order to obtain formal IT qualifications, all of which were directly relevant to the job. The training was funded by our subsidiary but required a lot of work to be done outside office hours. Following a restructuring in the parent bank, all IT was taken under their control, and my team transferred into that environment.  Initially some other managers refused to accept that he could possibly have obtained the qualifications he had, at his comparatively young age.  When evidence was provided, instead of welcoming the expertise there was a sustained attitude of negativity towards him.  Various projects came along and despite his ability he was never given a place on any of them.  Just as an example of the way he would put effort in to achieve whatever he wanted to do, he paid off his mortgage in 7 years by sheer hard work.

That sounds quite similar to my story in a way, though I don't work in IT. When I first joined the company I was the only person in my department who did my job. There was one area of my job I became particularly good at and there became a lot of demand for me to do said work. After a while though I wanted to develop in other areas of my occupation as my job was becoming a bit one dimensional. Then I was moved departments to work for someone who specialised in these other areas, but he kept telling me to stick to what I'm good at and wouldn't let me near the work I was interested in doing, so my job didn't really change. Then I changed teams again, this time I had to stop doing all the work I was doing before. I did learn a few new things, but the work was a bit patchy and some of what I was tasked with wasn't challenging at all. Then I ended up with a manager who wanted me to stop everything I'm doing and spend 100% of my time on a particular project. Since that project ended I hardly ever get any work given to me by my manager, I've had to force myself onto other peoples projects. If somebody from my old department asks for my help, I'm not allowed to help them.

The obvious thing to do is find another job and I've been looking for over 2 years now, but 25 interviews later I've had no job offer. That's not to mention the interviews I had beforehand when I wasn't actively looking. 

25 interviews and no offers...do you think there's a message there, particularly taken in conjunction with your hyper-critical attitude to your workplaces?

Well I'm never critical of my workplace at job interviews, I say positive things about it. What would you do if you were in my situation then?

I’d work out why I was failing at so many interviews, and fix the issue. Where do you think that you’ve been going wrong?

I’ve not succeeded in every interview I’ve had, but think I’m at about 30% success rate. A streak of over 25 suggests that there’s some consistent mistake that you are making.

Do you always turn up on time, dressed well, having done your research on the role and the company, listen attentively, answer the actual questions asked, rather than what you wanted to talk about, and so on?

TELLIT01

I certainly wouldn't say that in my personal experience most workplaces are toxic.  I've worked at places where everybody got on really well, others where there were plenty of a***holes who loved nothing better than making the life of their subordinates miserable, but in most there were people I got on well with and others I got along with because the job demanded it. 

Dox

Planet_Switzerland said:

Dox said:

Planet_Switzerland said:

Dox said:

Planet_Switzerland said:

TELLIT01 said:

Comms69 said:

I've found the more you bring to the role, the better you are treated.

Competence is king.

I wish that was always the case.  Some people seem threatened by new staff who do come in with a positive attitude.  I worked for a subsidiary of a major financial institution and one of the guys who worked for me put in many, many hours outside work hours in order to obtain formal IT qualifications, all of which were directly relevant to the job. The training was funded by our subsidiary but required a lot of work to be done outside office hours. Following a restructuring in the parent bank, all IT was taken under their control, and my team transferred into that environment.  Initially some other managers refused to accept that he could possibly have obtained the qualifications he had, at his comparatively young age.  When evidence was provided, instead of welcoming the expertise there was a sustained attitude of negativity towards him.  Various projects came along and despite his ability he was never given a place on any of them.  Just as an example of the way he would put effort in to achieve whatever he wanted to do, he paid off his mortgage in 7 years by sheer hard work.

That sounds quite similar to my story in a way, though I don't work in IT. When I first joined the company I was the only person in my department who did my job. There was one area of my job I became particularly good at and there became a lot of demand for me to do said work. After a while though I wanted to develop in other areas of my occupation as my job was becoming a bit one dimensional. Then I was moved departments to work for someone who specialised in these other areas, but he kept telling me to stick to what I'm good at and wouldn't let me near the work I was interested in doing, so my job didn't really change. Then I changed teams again, this time I had to stop doing all the work I was doing before. I did learn a few new things, but the work was a bit patchy and some of what I was tasked with wasn't challenging at all. Then I ended up with a manager who wanted me to stop everything I'm doing and spend 100% of my time on a particular project. Since that project ended I hardly ever get any work given to me by my manager, I've had to force myself onto other peoples projects. If somebody from my old department asks for my help, I'm not allowed to help them.

The obvious thing to do is find another job and I've been looking for over 2 years now, but 25 interviews later I've had no job offer. That's not to mention the interviews I had beforehand when I wasn't actively looking. 

25 interviews and no offers...do you think there's a message there, particularly taken in conjunction with your hyper-critical attitude to your workplaces?

Well I'm never critical of my workplace at job interviews, I say positive things about it. What would you do if you were in my situation then?

1. Get feedback from failed interviews wherever possible
2. Consider how you are coming across at interview - something is clearly not working in your favour
3. You may not be critical of your workplace, but it's not difficult to read between the lines, particularly for an experienced interviewer. Think hard about whether that could be true; for example, what are you giving as your reason for wanting to abscond?
4. Look again at your own behaviour - that's under your control, so you can work on changing it. The behaviour of others might be open to influence, but that's all
5. Based on your post (which is all anyone here has to go on), you do seem to cast yourself in the role of victim. Could it be that your current and previous employers weren't thrilled with that stance?
6. If you believe that all workplaces are toxic (whatever that means - bit of a meaningless buzz word), set up your own and work for yourself.

With the way things have gone for me at my work and my inability to get another job, my confidence is at an all time low.

I wondered if that might be the case - not surprising you feel like that. Are there any practical steps you can take to boost your own morale, work related or otherwise? If you're constantly working in environments you find less than congenial, it becomes - and in your case probably has become - a vicious circle. The more you need to escape and fail to do so, the worse you feel and the less able you are to tolerate what's going on around you, whether actually around you or at long distance if you're working from home. 

You might think about reading a book on assertiveness, which is a skill most of us (even the stroppiest!) need help to acquire and use effectively.

Pajaro

If you have a personality problem or are really talented then you will find most workplaces toxic in this country.

Nearly everyone is mediocre and this country celebrates mediocrity on the whole,  therefore talented people out of the norm do not get very far unless they work for themselves - I am trying to get into a position where I will be able to work for myself in about two years.

Martin_the_Unjust

Pajaro said:

If you have a personality problem or are really talented then you will find most workplaces toxic in this country.

Nearly everyone is mediocre and this country celebrates mediocrity on the whole,  therefore talented people out of the norm do not get very far unless they work for themselves - I am trying to get into a position where I will be able to work for myself in about two years.

Really?

........ I think I may have discovered why some people have problems at work.

Pajaro

Martin_the_Unjust said:

Pajaro said:

If you have a personality problem or are really talented then you will find most workplaces toxic in this country.

Nearly everyone is mediocre and this country celebrates mediocrity on the whole,  therefore talented people out of the norm do not get very far unless they work for themselves - I am trying to get into a position where I will be able to work for myself in about two years.

Really?

........ I think I may have discovered why some people have problems at work.

I take it on statistical probability you also are another person with mediocre abilities?
You seem to have taken my comments personally.


You do not know me or my abilities and so do not comment about something you know nothing about.
I just gave the OP my advice after experiences in multiple organisations large and small.

It stands to reason most people lack talent and the few that do usually become successful by their own efforts, rather than through fighting the mediocrity worshipping culture in this country.

motorguy

Practically every work environment you work in is "toxic", AND you've applied for 25+ jobs and not got any?

Hmmm... i wonder what the common denominator is?

Martin_the_Unjust

Planet_Switzerland said:

motorguy said:

Practically every work environment you work in is "toxic", AND you've applied for 25+ jobs and not got any?

Hmmm... i wonder what the common denominator is?

You're the second person to say that. It must be true then, I manage to single-handedly make every workplace I go to work at toxic.

What is this specialist skill I must have in order to do that? I believe the largest company I've worked for had 350,000 employees and I went to work there in an entry level role for 5 months. How did I have such an impact on so many people in such little time?

Well to be honest it's not necessarily true but it may be a factor. You are coming across on this thread as a little arrogant and unwilling to consider alternative views, if you behave in a similar way in the workplace I can understand why it causes you problems.

JReacher1

I can’t imagine you turn all workplaces toxic as that would be an impressive skill!

I would imagine it’s more likely you just don’t like any work place you go to and as a result you think all workplaces are toxic.  Maybe you are a bit too sensitive?

[Deleted User]

Comms69 said:

I've found the more you bring to the role, the better you are treated.

Competence is king.

I've found it's usually the opposite. Incompetent people protect themselves by creating a toxic environment where anyone good either leaves or fails.