Toxic jobs: 11 signs that you have a junk job

Several indisputable signs that your workplace is a living hell.

People spend many hours at work, so this activity occupies a large part of our lives. Being happy at work improves our self-esteem and positively influences our life satisfaction.

However, many times, we can live a toxic job, a job that does not fulfill us, in which workers make our life impossible or in which the conditions imposed by the company end up burning or melting us.

Signs that you are in a toxic job

That is why, in the following lines we present a list of signs that indicate that you are immersed in a toxic job, and warn you that you should be aware that you are in a toxic job.The signs that indicate that you are in a toxic job, and warn you that you should take measures so that this does not affect your general wellbeing.

The signs that tell you that you are in a toxic job are as follows.

1. You don't feel part of the company

Organizational psychologists are experts in measuring the level of satisfaction of workers within the company, and to do so they use different variables that allow them to interpret how a worker feels about the organization and the work he/she performs.

Workers who are more satisfied perform better and, therefore, so does the company. and, therefore, the company also wins because the results will also improve. Unfortunately, there are many entrepreneurs or company directors who only have numbers in their minds, so they give little importance to the human capital of the organization and the well-being of its workers.

One of the variables that correlates positively with job satisfaction is the degree to which an employee feels committed to the company. We must not forget that people are emotional beings, and when we feel rejection towards the values of the organization, its operation or the policies within it, we will not be at ease in the company that has hired us. A low commitment to the company and the idea of leaving it correlate with high levels of stress and burnout and also with job dissatisfaction.

2. Poor communication

Communication is key in any company, not only to make things work better within the company, but also because poor communication can create a high level of stress, burnout and dissatisfaction at work.Poor communication can create high levels of stress and, as a consequence, job dissatisfaction on the part of employees.

Communication does not only refer to communication with suppliers, customers or other companies, but communication within the company, for example, with the orders that superiors give to subordinates (both in terms of verbal and non-verbal language) and how they receive them. Poor communication is synonymous with a toxic job.

3. Conflicts with your role

Poor communication can create problems such as role conflict or role ambiguity. poor communication can create problems such as role conflict or role ambiguity, which are phenomena that generate great discomfort in the worker, as he feels confused about his role.These are phenomena that generate great discomfort in the worker, because he feels confused about the role he has within the company and the functions he performs within it.

For example, when a worker has just been hired and is not correctly informed of what he/she has to do. This situation will make the worker feel a great dissatisfaction.

4. Bad relationship with the boss

One of the big problems that we can find in the companies is the bad relationship between the employees and the superiors, which, in fact, is one of the main problems that we can find in the companies.In fact, it is one of the great generators of stress.

This occurs because a single (senior) person exerts great influence over a group of people, so the problems are not only at the individual level but also at the group and organizational level. A poor leadership style will create a toxic work environment, in which, for example, an entire department can suffer the consequences.

• If you want to learn more about the types of leadership that exist, you can read our article: "Types of Leadership: The 5 most common types of leaders".

5. Problems with co-workers and lack of teamwork

But the relationship with superiors is not the only type of toxic relationship that can occur in a company. the relationship with employees can also be a reality in many companies..

While it is true that coworkers can have a positive effect in reducing and buffering work stress, they can also generate conflictive situations, and therefore it is a variable that is always taken into account when measuring the level of worker satisfaction by occupational health experts.

6. Mobbing

In some cases, moreover, phenomena as negative for organizations as mobbing, which is the psychological harassment that occurs within a company, can also occur. In other words, it is bullying at work**. Mobbing can occur at various levels: between co-workers, from subordinate to superior** (where the latter is the victim) or from superior to subordinate.

• There are different types of mobbing, you can learn about them in our article: "The 6 types of mobbing or harassment at work".

7. You don't like what you do

While I have talked in the previous points about some of the signals that come from the structure of the company and the climate that exists in it, sometimes you may feel that you are in a toxic workplace because you don't like what you do or you do it for money, sometimes you may feel that you are in a toxic workplace because you don't like what you do or you do it for money.. In these cases, it may be better to rethink the situation for better occupational health. Sometimes it is the fact of not wanting to leave the comfort zone that keeps us in the same workplace even though we do not like it at all.

8. Demotivation

One of the symptoms that you do not like your job or that something is wrong in the company is demotivation. When you do not want to go to work, you hate to see your colleagues, you do not feel identified with the company or the hours go by slowly, you are demotivated. Demotivation can have many causes, from the fact that the person is not in the right position to the excess of work that he/she has to endure. that he/she has to endure.

9. Poor working conditions

And there is nothing more demotivating than poor working conditions, which have increased in recent years due to the crisis. There are many workers who put up with poor working conditions (overwork, precarious contracts, etc.) in order not to lose their jobs. This added pressure and the fear of being fired at any time can cause irritability, difficulty concentrating and great anxiety, which can lead to a loss of job security.difficulty concentrating and great anxiety, among other harmful symptoms.

10. Problems with the structure of the organization and impossibility of growth

Many employees feel dissatisfied at work because of the organization's poor human resources policies or because of the impossibility of growth. or because of the impossibility to grow and develop within the company. When someone has been with the company for 7 years and sees that there is no possibility of improvement, he/she may feel that he/she is in a toxic job.

11. Stress and burnout

Undoubtedly, one of the factors that is affecting workers the most in recent times and that brings together all of the above points is work-related stress or burnout. And the fact is that the causes can be varied: from a prolonged overwork, a bad relationship with superiors or working on what one does not like or does not or working in a job that one does not like or does not motivate, i.e. being in the wrong job.

Stress causes many problems for workers and for the organization itself. You can learn more about work stress and burnout in these two articles:

• 8 essential tips to reduce work stress