This is a guest by Bea Potter. Bea is a highly regarded writer and editor at Essay Service and Academized.com. She is a former HR manager at Essayroo and now she writes articles focused on career development.

The workplace is a strange environment. Everything is saddling a boundary between personal and professional. On the one hand, it’s a professional environment, on the other, it’s just a group of people spending most of their year in the same confined space together. The majority of the time, people know how to keep a friendly, polite but distanced demeanour that has come to be identified as a ‘professional’ demeanour. But when there are people who aren’t able to do that, for who co-existing in the workspace encourages them to become toxic, in any way, it can be a nightmare for you.

Having to go into work every day knowing that you are going to have to go through the same old situation, again and again, is demoralising and can ruin your experience of your career. But all is not lost. Let’s look at a few ways to handle having a toxic coworker.

Draw Up Distinctions

Identifying what denotes toxicity in a coworker is an important place to start in handling an issue. Things that a toxic coworker is not: sexually abusive or aggressive, racist, physically abusive, extortionate, an alcohol or illegal drug user. Things a toxic coworker could be: manipulative, self-obsessed, greedy, verbally offensive, overly-dramatic, irresponsible. If you see anything that falls into the former category, then you’re beyond toxicity and well into a fire-able territory for breach of employment conditions and this sort of individual should be reported without question. If you put them in the latter category, then you’re dealing with toxicity, which is difficult because there’s no regulation on someone who always puts themselves above others. It’s just a very unfortunate situation which you have to deal with in other ways, on your own.

Talk To Them

Societally speaking, everything about our lives in the modern age seems purpose-built to avoid being candid. “A toxic coworker may not realise how bad their behaviour is, or the negative impact it is having on others for ages, simply because they’ve never been told. People are so afraid to have a conversation when, in my experience, it’s always best to just speak clearly about the issue in a mildly confrontational but mostly pragmatic manner”, says Jonathan Blackett, HR rep from Big Assignments and BoomEssays. Ask to see them privately and express your issue in terms of how it is affecting you, not in broad moral terms. The individual is far less likely to adjust their behaviour if they feel like you’ve made an objective, God-like judgement about who they are. Sometimes the simple answer to a problem is the best.

Don’t Complain

Again, if you see something that transcends toxicity and enters serious offence territory, then report the person, by all means. But, anything short of that and reporting them could back-fire. In general, it’s always better not to look like ‘a grumbler’, someone who has nothing better to do than whine to their superiors. It will also come back to bite you if the individual find out, which they almost certainly will. So, find your own methods of dealing with something.

Focus On Yourself

You need to keep yourself in check to make sure that you can minimise the effects of having to engage with this toxic individual. Firstly, you should avoid them as much as you can. Secondly, you should confide in someone who isn’t in the office, or acquainted with the individual so you have someone to talk to about the problem. And, finally, you should keep track of how you are being affected. “Every time a toxic coworker says or does something that upsets you, you should write it down. It’s a good technique for distancing yourself from the psychological and emotional effects of the event whilst also allowing you to keep a handle on the how and why of your dislike for the individual”, recommends Martin Lau, lifestyle writer at Essay Writer and Paper Fellows.

Conclusion

It’s never easy when you find yourself having to deal with the person in the context of the professional. But, if you remain measured and in control of yourself, there’s a way for you to navigate these scenarios and leave behind the difficulties associated with an individual and move forward.

Beatrix is a highly regarded writer and editor at Essay Service and Academized.com. She is a former HR manager at Essayroo and now she writes articles focused on career development.

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